He left in 2001 to form Sigil Games, which was later bought by SOE in 2007. McQuaid has decided to return to the series he helped create, finding it ”still very much the EQ I was involved with.”
”When I was given the opportunity to return to the team it was something I just had to do!” declared McQuaid. It seems he’s destined to work under the Sony roof.
”I found, in addition to all of the great new features and UI elements, that the game, at its core, was still very much the EQ I was involved with. In fact, some of my first work as a game designer on the team will be working on areas that have been alluded to since launch,” he continued.
”I can’t say more than that, of course, but I’m sure you can imagine how exciting this is for me.”
Right now SOE is working on EverQuest Next which isn’t a direct sequel or prequel to any of the current instalments but is instead presented as a ‘parallel world’ of Norrath. Essentially it is a reboot for the EverQuest universe with similar characters and the like but free to tweak their roles and fortunes.
”What we are building is something that we will be very proud to call EverQuest. It will be the largest sandbox style MMO ever designed… We are remaking Norrath unlike anything you’ve ever seen, but you’ll recognize it,” said Sony Online Entertainment boss John Smedley at the Fan Faire event last October.
EverQuest Next is expected to launch in 2013. Check out below the original launch trailer for EverQuest back in 1999.
