The studio Daybreak Games Company, formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment, now has an investor as president.
SOE is responsible as a publisher and studio for many MMORPG classics: such as Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, or Vanguard. At the helm for many years was John Smedley, a quite controversial figure. But it was thoroughly an MMORPG studio with innovative ideas and concepts.
Many hopes were associated with the separation from Sony
The studio was sold by Sony in February 2015 and continued as “Daybreak Game Company”. The studio found a place with the investment firm Columbus Nova, where it was meant to operate as an independent company. The change was sold at that time as the right decision under Smedley. At Sony, they would never have fit in anyway, they weren’t allowed to develop anything for Xbox, a serious drawback. Now they could really take off.
The new Daybreak Game Company seemed to pursue an austerity policy under Columbus Nova. Employees were laid off under Smedley because “the numbers no longer added up.” Some of the prominent faces and figureheads of the studio lost their jobs, such as EQ-Next guy David Georgeson or Planetside 2 Creative Director Matthew Higby.
Austerity policy under new investors costs creative minds
Some time later, in July 2015, John Smedley stepped down as president of the company – apparently due to disputes with a group of hackers. In retrospect, the impression arises: Perhaps there were other reasons behind it. Russel Shanks took over his position. But Smedley was not tired; he founded his own studio and brought colleagues from SOE along.
Finally, a year after the takeover by Columbus Nova, the prestige project Everquest Next was canceled.
The third president in two years
Now president Russel Shanks has also left the company. His job is taken over by Ji Ham, someone from the investor group Columbus Nova, who has been there for ten years. This no longer sounds like an “independent company” to many. Many fears after the sale from Sony seem to be coming true with a two-year delay now.
Where to now?
Daybreak Game Company, as SOE, was one of the studios that shaped the MMORPG genre. They did some things differently than everyone else. Many genre veterans still trusted them with ideas and innovations.
The current situation is probably not rosy.
Daybreak now primarily has older free-to-play titles in its program, such as Planetside 2, DC Universe Online, Everquest, and Everquest 2. Not much has happened in the last two years since the takeover. The only thing on the agenda is that they managed to bring DCUO to Xbox One in May 2016 without the Sony connections, which was a glimmer of hope. Sure, Everquest is still being fed with expansions like all the years before – but the games are not getting any younger.
Newer games like H1Z1, a favorite project of Smedley, seem to be stuck in development. The zombie MMO was split into two parts in February 2016, but they missed a release date in the summer for the action half. The last completed project was with “Landmark” probably a flop. A major project, as Everquest Next would have been, is not in sight.
In comments on Shanks’ departure on English news portals, users already scoff: It won’t be long before they start developing mobile games for Asia.
After the cancellation of EQ Next, developers of the game commented on the decision:
