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PlanetSide 2 Dev SOE Is Now Daybreak Game Company

New dawn

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will now be known as Daybreak Game Company after being acquired from Sony by investment management firm, Columbus Nova.

SOE is the studio responsible for games including EverQuest, PlanetSide 2, and the early access zombie survival game, H1Z1. The company notes that the acquisition will not disrupt any of its current games, but will allow them to pursue multi-platform projects.

There's an official press release over on the site but a warmer version on Reddit offers:

"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."

Columbus Nova manages around $15 billion-worth of assets and portfolio companies across a wide range of fields. You might be interested to know that an affiliate of the firm acquired Harmonix (the company behind Rock Band and Dance Central) from Viacom back in late 2010.

Following their own acquisition Daybreak expects to operate like an independent studio.

The press release version of all this has Daybreak's president, John Smedley adding:

"We are excited to join Columbus Nova’s impressive roster of companies. 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."

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Philippa Warr: Pip wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2014-2017, covering everything from MOBAs, hero brawlers and indie curios. She also had a keen interest in the artistry of video game creation, and was very partial to keeping us informed of the latest developments in British TV show Casualty.
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In this article

EverQuest

PC

PlanetSide 2

PS4, PC

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