SOE dispels rumors: The Agency isn't canceled

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 18th 2008 at 10:45AM }

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL
On November 18th, PS3 Fanboy HQ received a tip that the PS3/PC online spy game, The Agency, had been reportedly canceled. GameFly listed the project as dead, but we doubted such an ambitious game would be killed by SOE. We did some further investigating.

According to SOE's Katie Hanson, there's no reason to believe that The Agency is canceled. Why GameFly would list the project as canceled is beyond. Perhaps ... there's foul play involved?! (cue dramatic music)

Evidence is presented, after the break.

Update: Yet another official statement: "Sony Online Entertainment's game, The Agency™, is still in development for release on both the PLAYSTATION®3 and PC platforms. The game sku has been reinstated to GameFly's website. Feel free to add The Agency to your GameQ!"

EXHIBIT A
Dear L.,

We have removed The Agency (canceled) for PlayStation 3 from your GameQ. There are two possible reasons for this removal:
(1) For released titles, we no longer carry the game and do not know if or when we will acquire new copies.
(2) For unreleased titles, the game has been canceled by its publisher.

We apologize for any disappointment this may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us.
- GameFly Support

EXHIBIT B
Dear Katie,

Some retailers have been listing The Agency as a canceled project. I was wondering if you had any comment on the current situation of The Agency -- it's been a while! Is the project still alive and kickin'?
- Andrew

EXHIBIT C
Wow. It's still alive! Where did you see that information? Thanks for the heads up BTW!
- Katie, SOE

Tags: gamefly, soe, the-agency

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

William @ Nov 18th 2008 11:03AM

And where did we get this Katie quote? From some random person's email? Right. I believe that over the other big sites.

Andrew Yoon @ Nov 18th 2008 11:05AM

Yeah, 'cuz we don't know anyone that works at Sony Online Entertainment? /facepalm

Kspraydad @ Nov 18th 2008 11:08AM

Katie is Andrew's mole at SOE...shhhh.

Devin @ Nov 18th 2008 11:41AM

She's like his C.I. except w/o pay and a way out....

Jerses @ Nov 18th 2008 11:04AM

This game belongs to the PC only. I was fine with this been cancelled.

MATT @ Nov 18th 2008 11:07AM

GameFly: your number one source for video game news.

TuxBobble @ Nov 18th 2008 12:07PM

It's funny because sometimes GameFly IS my source. When games get rescheduled, I find out about it via GameFly up to a week before any news sites publish it sometimes, haha...

Marius @ Nov 18th 2008 11:34AM

On a side note;
Did PS3Fanboy forgot that yesterday was the PS3 BDay, or were they just to busy partying???

CrzyNick @ Nov 18th 2008 6:13PM

How cares when ps3 "birthday" was.
It's just a console, it doesn't need a party.

CrzyNick @ Nov 18th 2008 6:19PM

Who not How

Jon Acheson @ Nov 18th 2008 11:36AM

"The greatest trick the Agency ever pulled was convincing the world it didn't exist..." ;)

Gambit07 @ Nov 18th 2008 5:26PM

movie with devil involved... uhhh brain freeze

leatherface @ Nov 18th 2008 11:50AM

We need a agency to investigate the Agency.

TuxBobble @ Nov 18th 2008 12:08PM

Glad it's not canceled though. I've been looking forward to this game for MONTHS (since I first heard about it not long after getting my PS3)

punkateer @ Nov 18th 2008 1:05PM

I would consider it dead. We won't be seeing it for another year or so which is why they went silent. Don't start torturing yourselves over the release date. This will be the next KZ2.

tdrules @ Nov 18th 2008 1:06PM

it better not be
ive been interested since i applied for the closed beta
releasing new info on the game would kill these rumours in my opinion

Mike @ Nov 18th 2008 1:07PM

I'm not trying to poke holes, more just curious - what exactly does Katie do at SOE?

Mike @ Nov 18th 2008 2:23PM

After a little googling around, I found her name shows up w/o a title associated with it at the bottom of a few press releases - my educated guess here would be that she's in PR or marketing. If I'm correct in my assumption, I wouldn't consider this particular rumor "smashed" just yet. See, PR and marketing often wind up lower down on the phone chain than they should. That's not a dig at Sony, it's a statement about general business practices at a wide variety of companies in a wide variety of industries. It's POSSIBLE that Ms Hanson either didn't know about the cancellation, or has been instructed to maintain the image that it is still in production until a final decision has been made. Retailers are often the first to hear about decisions like this (again, a generalized statement about how business is conducted) due to the fact that it creates more hassle to return money than to never send money in the first place. Don't take any of this as my attempting to predict one way or the other what's going on w/ the Agency. It may very well have been a simple error on GF's part, or perhaps they decided not to carry it for some reason, and a form letter went out with possible cancellation listed as a reason. Bottom line is I'm waiting for an official statement saying it's still in production.

ScuubyT @ Nov 18th 2008 1:15PM

Is it possible that Gamefly decided not to carry it because it is an MMO? The two possible reasons that Gamefly gave are probably standard reasons, since I'm sure there aren't a lot of games that they decide to cancel pre-launch...

Mike @ Nov 18th 2008 1:19PM

hard to say for sure - they carry Phantasy Star Univers for x360, but not FFXI for 360, though I think they did at one time have it in stock. I suppose it's possible - that email is definitely a form letter. Given that they have at least one other MMORPG, my GUESS would be that that's not the reason.

ScuubyT @ Nov 18th 2008 1:23PM

That makes sense, I haven't used Gamefly for a VERY long time so I don't even look at what they have. I guess it's possible though, who knows. I would be surprised if they cancelled it though, they know they need good exclusives and MMO's have been one of SOE's strong points (i.e. Everquest).

SOE dispels rumors: The Agency isn't canceled