Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

[cleramsey]

Dear Players, Partners and Friends,

Today, we are pleased to announce that we have been acquired by Columbus Nova, an investment management firm well known for its success with its existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multi-platform gaming company. Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile and more!

As part of this transition, SOE will now become Daybreak Game Company. This name embodies who we are as an organization, and is a nod to the passion and dedication of our employees and players. It is also representative of our vision to approach each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward.

So what exactly does this mean for you? It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation. In fact, we expect to have even more resources available to us as a result of this acquisition. It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.

Our games and players are the heart and soul of our organization, and we are committed to maintaining our portfolio of online games and pushing the limits of where we can take online gaming together.

Thank you for your continued support. See you in game!

The Team at Daybreak

https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/i...ompany.217508/

Wondering what this really means for EQ in the Long run.

[Sakrateri]

I hear the bells toll already......

[vsab]

Thank goodness for EQ Emulator!

[nenelan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17HRV8k1YMw

[chrsschb]

Rip soe/eq

[PathToEternity]

Massive layoffs:

Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson (Director of Development for the EverQuest brand, @DaveGeorgeson)
Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Community Manager, @Brasse)
Akil “Lyndro” Hooper (Everquest II developer, @akilh)
Aaron “Gnobrin” Bisnett (Weapon and Armor designer for 12 years, @Gnobrin)
Douglas “Endymion” VanDerveer (Everquest II game designer, @douglastweets)
Aimee “Ashlanne” Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Eric "Felgon" Smith (Associate Producer for EverQuest Next and Landmark, @F4Felgon)
Steve "Moorgard" Danuser (Lead Content Designer and Head of Story, @Moorgard)
Tiffany "Amnerys" Spence (Social Media, @JustTiffy)
Kyle "Hats" Manchester (Community Manager, @Hats)
Racheal "Afista" McKenny ( Everquest II community Manager, @Afista)
Noah Watkins (Graphic designer, @noahwatkins)
Kelduum Revaan (Programmer for H1Z1, @Kelduum)
Katharine Anderson (Build master for PlanetSide 2, @katharinelilly)
Xander Clauss (Base designer for PlanetSide 2, @XanderClauss)
Taylor Dowell (Systems designer for PlanetSide 2, @Tayradactyl)

[chrsschb]

And Jeff Butler (EQN Creative Director. Also was co-founder of Sigil with Brad McQuaid)

[jdoran]

They were trying to spin this as a positive move: More resources for development etc.

The only thing that would bring me back to a live server is a special ruleset, such as progression. I've been pretty tolerant of SOE over the years, but the game has evolved beyond my interest (to put it as nicely as I can).

Now if Daybreak wants to head in another direction, perhaps they would just pull the plug on EQ and open-source the client.

[Huppy]

Originally Posted by jdoran

They were trying to spin this as a positive move: More resources for development etc.

The only thing that would bring me back to a live server is a special ruleset, such as progression. I've been pretty tolerant of SOE over the years, but the game has evolved beyond my interest (to put it as nicely as I can).

Now if Daybreak wants to head in another direction, perhaps they would just pull the plug on EQ and open-source the client.

I agree with you totally. I got in to EQ (live) when they started selling the "Evolution" pack, and I loved the game back then. But your right, I think it evolved way too far past the interests of many seasoned players, especially those who were around it at the beginning. I wasn't there in 99, but my friend told me how he loved it. I quit playing on live servers in 2010. It seemed like it had become a "Saturday morning cartoon", if one can understand that.