Sony Sells MMO Publisher And EverQuest Creator Sony Online Entertainment

Sony has sold Sony Online Entertainment, the studio and publisher that created EverQuest (and, to a large extent, the modern MMO genre), in a deal that will see it owned by investment management firm Columbus Nova and rebranded as Daybreak. The studio originally began as an in-house product at Sony Interactive Studios America back in 1995, when John Smedley, Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover began the project that would become early category-defining MMORPG EverQuest.

SOE is currently home to EverQuest, PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online and H1Z1, and previously played host to Star Wars Galaxies, The Matrix Online and others. It received an Emmy in 1998 for EverQuest, and its role in the development of the MMORPG genre. Sony Online Entertainment did see significant layoffs in both its Sand Diego and Austin studios last year, however, and was the target of an attack that resulted in 24.6 million customer accounts being compromised back in 2011.

The new owners plan to continue to offer and expand on SOE’s existing lineup, and said in a statement that they intend to release EverQuest Next in the “near future” as was the plan under the company’s previous owners.

Developing…

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