Sony Online Entertainment is no longer a Sony joint, according to an announcement released by the studio today. Venture capital firm Columbus Nova has purchased the developer from Sony, and rebranded it as Daybreak Game Company.
"We are excited to join Columbus Nova's impressive roster of companies," said John Smedley, president of Daybreak Game Company. "They have a proven track record in similar and related industries and we are eager to move forward to see how we can push the boundaries of online gaming. We will continue to focus on delivering exceptional games to players around the world, as well as bringing our portfolio to new platforms, fully embracing the multi-platform world in which we all live."
The studio, which had been a part of Sony since the mid-'90s, is best known for its work on the EverQuest series of MMOs, as well as Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, and recent Early Access release H1Z1. In addition to H1Z1, the company had been working on at least two EverQuest-branded projects--EverQuest Next, and Landmark--which will continue to develop, albeit now with an eye toward multi-platform releases, according to a post by a Daybreak developer in the company's official forums.
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.
If you're specifically wondering if this will mean Daybreak titles will end up on Microsoft's Xbox One console, studio head John Smedley has a tweet for you.
can't wait to make Xbox One games!
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) February 2, 2015
So, there you have it. I ask you, Giant Bomb commenters, are you excited at the prospect of being able to play SOE Daybreak's games on new platforms?
- Daybreak Game Company