Sony Sells Sony Online Entertainment (H1Z1, Planetside 2, DC Universe, etc)
I woke up today with a huge surprise sitting in front of me on my news feed: Sony just sold Sony Online Entertainment. You know, the company responsible for a ton of MMOs and free to play games over the past two decades. Now a private investment company, Columbus Nova, bought SOE and renamed it “Daybreak Game Company”. I kept asking myself, “What the hell were they thinking?”
If there’s any positive out of this, they are now an independent studio and can develop on other platforms such as the Xbox One, the Wii U, and mobile devices. However, this is leaving many fans of their operating MMOs wondering what’s going to happen. Also, if you just purchased H1Z1, what is going to happen with their newest franchise? According to their forums post, which we have below, everything is going to be “business as usual” and “SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation”. Hopefully they follow through with that and don’t mess with the games that have a working ecosystem.
Dear Players, Partners and Friends,
Today, we are pleased to announce that we have been acquired by Columbus Nova, an investment management firm well known for its success with its existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multi-platform gaming company. Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile and more!
As part of this transition, SOE will now become Daybreak Game Company. This name embodies who we are as an organization, and is a nod to the passion and dedication of our employees and players. It is also representative of our vision to approach each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward.
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.
Our games and players are the heart and soul of our organization, and we are committed to maintaining our portfolio of online games and pushing the limits of where we can take online gaming together.
Thank you for your continued support. See you in game!
The Team at Daybreak
