EverQuest Next Summary
Latest Updates
Everquest Next is canceled, but Landmark is launching this spring
Daybreak president Russ Shanks announced today that Everquest Next, the follow-up in the franchise that defined MMOs, is no longer in production.
Daybreak is switching focus to EverQuest Next, but don't expect a 2015 release
We haven't heard much from Daybreak Game Company (formerly SOE) regarding its ambitious MMO EverQuest Next for a while, which is why the game's senior producer Terry Michaels felt the need to pen a blog post explaining the current situation to concerned fans. Daybreak is now shifting priority from closed-beta building game Landmark, a testing ground for some of EverQuest Next's core mechanics, over to the MMORPG itself.
Daybreak Game Company "eliminate positions" at San Diego and Austin studios, "will not affect" MMO projects
Sony Online Entertainment is no more, as they acquired themselves as an independent studio and re-branded as Daybreak Game Company. Unfortunately this upheaval has now led to staffing reductions as they 'realign assets'. EverQuest franchise lead Dave Georgeson and EverQuest Next’s lead content designer Steve Danuser have fallen prey to that 'realignment'. EverQuest Next has been quiet, with Landmark stealing the spotlight.
Sony: Content consumed 'too fast' in MMOs, player generated content is future
Sony Online Entertainment's Clint Worley says the biggest threat to MMOs is just how fast players consume new content, and how their voracious appetite leads them to go elsewhere for the next meal. Developers end up "chasing our tail," he said. They spend all those resources on new content only for it to be digested so quickly. The future is letting players create the content.
Gamers "should want their MMOs to be" free-to-play, says EverQuest Next director
Controversy! Development director David Georgeson of EverQuest Next believes that, while there's "nothing wrong" with subscriptions, we should all want our MMOs in free-to-play flavour. It's to 'our benefit'. Put simply, if the experience is free-to-play then it has to be entertaining or "we don't make a dime." The F2P games are "street performers" while $60 up front is 'a gamble'.