Sony Online Entertainment announced today the developer has been sold, and bought by a company called Columbus Nova, and renamed to Daybreak Game Company.

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.

The developer also posted a few Twitter updates with more information.

GamerHubTV has two new interviews from SOE Live 2014. The first video interview is with Sony Online Entertainment producer Holly Longdale about EverQuest II.

At SOE Live 2014 in Las Vegas, Sony Online Entertainment producer Holly Longdale explains what's new in the free to play MMO EverQuest II in this exclusive gameplay interview.

The second video interview is with a few developers about EverQuest Next

Sony Online Entertainment developers discuss EverQuest Next (EQN) at SOE Live 2014 in Las Vegas in this exclusive gameplay preview interview.

Thanks to zentr we have news that Sony Online Entertainment has annouced a new post-apocalyptic MMO called H1Z1, and surprise it's another zombie game.

if you're interested check out Polyon, or Reddit.

Special EXTENDED episode of Game Talk Live features the first EVER reveal of gameplay from the highly anticipated zombie MMO from Sony Online, H1Z1.

We have Sony President John Smedley and Jimmy Whisenhunt as our guests to discuss the project, as they detail nearly every aspect of the new game and fields questions from members of the Skype audience.

Sony Online Entertainment has a new interview at gamesindustry.biz with the Director of global community relations Linda Carlson. Let it be said watch what you say anywhere online because you can now be banned from their games permanently.

"Not only will we ban your forum account, but if it's serious enough we'll call up customer service and have you banned from all of our games. We do not need those individuals as customers," Carlson says of the most offensive and anti-social players. "A very influential player, high up in a huge guild - we'll still ban them... In our games, if you are an exploiter we don't care who you are, how big your guild is, how many people you threaten to take with you when you go.

"We can control anybody who's playing our games...[but] if we know who you are and you're abusing somebody on Twitter, we will ban your game account and we will not accept you as a customer ever again. It's not always possible to identify people [in that way], but we take that seriously."

I recommend reading the article before commenting as it will give you the whole picture not just the quote.

SOE have layed of 5% of its workforce equaling 41 individuals in a wish to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs as the main motivator. read more about this on Massively.

An anonymous reader wrote in to say SOE has apparently filed for two new trademarks, possibly indicating new EQ and EQ2 expansions that might be revealed at the upcoming Faire.  Since the tipster didn't provide a link, Google comes up with this from a site called Curse:

Through a bit of internet sleuthing we've discovered that recently, Sony Online Entertainment decided to trademark two new titles, one each for EverQuest and EverQuest II. The trademarks in question took place on June 10th, 2009 and are EverQuest Underfoot, and EverQuest II Sentinel's Fate. While nothing is announced yet, there's a good chance these two titles are the names of each game's respective expansions.

Sony Online Entertainment have joined Valve's digital distribution platform Steam with the launch of four games: Everquest, Everquest II, Vanguard - Saga of Heroes and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Here's what CEO of SOE John Smedley had to say to this:

"We are always looking for additional ways to introduce our great catalog of games to new audiences. It's hard to think of a larger group of PC gamers interested in multiplayer games than those connecting to Steam," said John Smedley, president of SOE. "We've long been a leader in MMOs and this agreement will help bring our exciting content to millions of additional online gamers around the world."

Read the full announcement on Steam here.

Is this really Gonzo? Nah, but you can still check out Christian Donlan's write up of his visit to the Sony Online Entertainment's annual Fan Faire in Las Vegas.

Although 2008 was a year in which three new, and pretty exciting, products were on close-up show for the first time, the most oversubscribed panels were for the existing games. EverQuest and EverQuest II frequently packed the halls with round-table Q&A sessions, often of a staggering granularity; one particularly involved query about the availability of old quests was written out on two closely-typed sides of A4, and took over five minutes to ask. We got a peek at the new Guild Halls available for EverQuest II, and there were raid workshops.

It was also these two games that caused the biggest splash during CEO John Smedley's annual address, with the announcement of their new expansions. "EverQuest and EverQuest II are still going as strong as ever," Smedley argued. "And we're coming to a milestone I never expected: our tenth anniversary." Both expansions - EverQuest's Seeds of Destruction and EQII's The Shadow Odyssey - have the tangible scent of a Greatest Hits collection to them, bringing a smattering of new features, but focusing predominantly on a return to many of Norrath's most iconic dungeons and zones. As senior producer Clint Worley put it, "Every expansion is the result of brainstorming with the entire team. This time we're rekindling fond memories."

 G.I.R.L breaks into video game industry.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - July 8, 2008 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC today announced that Julia Brasil of San Francisco has won the 2008 G.I.R.L. Game Design Competition. The competition was the first of its kind and was promoted in conjunction with The Art Institutes system of schools, to encourage students toward career paths in the creative and applied arts, ultimately resulting in the development of games that are more interesting for women to play.

Brasil, a student in the Game Art & Design program, was awarded a $10,000 tuition scholarship toward her education at The Art Institute of California – San Francisco and a paid internship of up to 10 weeks at the Sony Online Entertainment studios of her choice in Austin, Denver, San Diego or Seattle.

"I am shocked and overjoyed to be the first G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipient," said Brasil. "I'm really looking forward to my internship with SOE, and getting some hands-on experience at such a well-known company. It's such a great opportunity."

Brasil was one of nearly 100 applicants vying for the winning title of the 2008 SOE G.I.R.L. Game Design Competition. In order to become the winner, Brasil had to submit an in-game design, original concept art and two essays.

"We believe our groundbreaking G.I.R.L. scholarship can give Julia the foundation she needs to pursue a successful career in the video games business. SOE is thrilled to jumpstart the first step in pursuing her goals," said Torrie Dorrell, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "We anticipate G.I.R.L. continuing to evolve and snowball, creating even more opportunities for women to get behind these games."

Due to the popularity of the initiative, SOE will make official G.I.R.L — Gamers In Real Life — T-shirts available for purchase sometime this summer. For more information about G.I.R.L., go to girl.soe.com.

MMOs like 3d graphics.

Speaking to the Seattle Times, president John Smedley said that Sony Online Entertainment - the operation he runs which recently became part of Sony's PlayStation-managing Computer Entertainment division - is banking big on this philosophy when it comes to new titles, including its next game The Agency.

"I would say [MMOs are] getting more mainstream. If I were characterizing it, I would say think of the video-gaming industry five years ago. That's kind of where I think we're at. ... Five years ago, do you think Grand Theft Auto IV would have done $500 million [in opening-week sales]? To me, video games are just reaching the real mass-market now. That is going to translate to the MMO side of the business.'

SOE's John Smedley interviewed as part of GI's MMO week.

Q: How do you manage the rising costs of development - it's getting pretty tough?

John Smedley: You manage it by looking very strategically at where your costs are. For example, we've invested in one of our divisions out in Taiwan where the costs are lower, so we can do art cheaper than we can here. We're very conscious of using our outsourcing dollars for art, so we can keep our budgets down.

And we're very focused on the return on our investment, looking to take our products to as wide a variety of countries as possible, so we're going to develop in places like India, for example, with the Ramayan license.

We're very focused on those emerging markets where the cost will be low to build in the first place, so the return on investment will be disproportionately high, and that's the only way you can really do it.

That, and get a lot of users...

The Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire will be returning to Las Vegas this year. The convention will be held in the period of the 14th-17th of August:

Fan Faire Returns to the Las Vegas Hilton,
August 14 – 17, 2008!

If you've never been to an SOE Fan Faire before, you've been missing out! Fan Faire is a great place for SOE gamers to mix and mingle with each other and meet some of the faces behind their favorite SOE games. Here's just a taste of some of the great stuff we're planning:

• In-game tournaments
• Live, game-themed tournaments and quests
• A costume contest
• Lots of social activities, including a Kickoff Reception, a Grand Banquet and a VIP Party with live entertainment
• Sneak peaks at SOE titles currently in development
• The 2nd Annual Community Address from SOE President John Smedley
• Developer forums and roundtables

And that's just the beginning! Get More Details

Sony Online Entertainment has released podcast #31 with the following content description:

You are listening to Podcast 31, where we chat with the lead designer of EverQuest Travis McGeathy and he chats with us about EQ's 9th anniversary, Nathan McCall and Liz Sigmund return to tell us about Brew Day and Bristlebane day in EverQuest II. The Grumpy Old gamer makes an appearance to reminisce about the good old days of EverQuest and we interview the Fabled Mithaniel Marr.

CEO of SOE John Smedley has been interviewed by GameDaily, where he is quoted for saying: "It's ridiculous and foolish to say that PC gaming [is in decline]". 

I keep reading all this doom and gloom. It's the same guys that have been telling us for years that mainframes are doomed. If you just look at the actual facts on the ground, World of Warcraft – and I have to give props to our competition here – it sat on top of the PC charts for three years now. At some point, and everybody keeps talking about this, but they're just not realizing that a lot of people's dollars are going into these online games now and a lot of them you can buy truly digitally, which isn't getting tracked. It's as simple as that.

WarCry has done an interview with CEO of SOE, John Smedley. John Smedley responds to the recent announcement of the restructurement of SOE:

Practically speaking, this is apparently a simple change in who Smedley calls boss. Previously, SOE had been under the Sony Pictures corporate umbrella and its President Yair Landau. Now, SOE is under the SCEI group, which is the corporate name for the Playstation or gaming division, and its President Kazuo Hirai.

Sony joins forces with erm Sony in this press release. 

“We are thrilled to become a part of the incredible team that has made PLAYSTATION 3 the premier platform for next generation online gaming,” said Smedley. “This move is going to broaden our capabilities and expand the development of our products into new and exciting directions.”

PS3 Fanboy reports that SOE is considering a free-to-play business model for its upcoming spy-themed MMO, The Agency.

At this week's Leipzig Games Convention, the president of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley held a talk on "Subscriptions vs Micro-transactions" in regards to MMO games. During the briefing, he indicated that Sony was looking at making their upcoming pc/ps3 spy-themed MMO a free play title, meaning there would be no subscription fee (unlike World of Warcraft). Instead, SOE would fund the title via micro-transactions and a 'velvet-rope policy' where certain area are only available if people pay for access.

FiringSquad and Ten Ton Hammer share impressions of SOE's Free Realms, as seen at this years SOE Gamer Day.

FiringSquad

Sony Online officials during the press event told the media that the game would also be designed to offer up a gameplay experience that won't take hours in front of a PC screen in order to enjoy it. It's clear that Free Realms is going after a much younger player crowd than the normal MMO, although Sony Online officials said it can also be enjoyed by older players as well. For example there will still be combat in the game and the trailer showed some brief looks at what the combat will look like which basically doesn't involve any blood. The trailer also had what looked like mini-games that have nothing to do with the typical fantasy MMO. Overall, Free Realms is looking like a game that Sony Online hopes moms and dads will play with their children.

Ten Ton Hammer

The game takes place in a fantasy setting that has a cartoony, Shrek-style sort of look to it. The artwork is bubbly and bright but isn’t so over the top that it can’t satisfy both the younger and older gamers alike. This is certainly a game geared around the younger audience and the artwork reflects that. Overall, the movement of the characters and NPCs looks fluid and polished, which adds an element of complexity to the graphics. The lighter style of the game certainly looks to enhance the fun factor of a title that everyone can play.

GameSpy previews The Agency, SOE's upcoming spy-themed MMO.

The Agency is one of those ideas that seems painfully obvious in retrospect. The MMO genre is replete with overwrought fantasy universes filled with glowing swords and entirely too many elves. Surely there must be other genres out there that provide plenty of action without resorting to pixies, orcs and wood nymphs? Enter Sony Online Entertainment (no stranger to the fantasy genre itself with the EverQuest games and the recently-released Vanguard) and a spy-themed MMO for the PC and PS3. At a recent Sony Online Entertainment event, the development team presented a detail-light but very intriguing glimpse into the clandestine world of The Agency.  

GamesIndustry.biz reveals that Sony are working on a spy-themed MMO.

During his speech Landau showed a clip of the company's new spy-themed MMO, stating, "We think this will take espionage entertainment to a new level."

But according to Smedley, "It's not really just an espionage game. It's a combination of espionage... Think 24 meets Alias meets Counterstrike."

Gamasutra has interviewed Sony Online's John Smedley on a white paper Sony is about to release detailing the year's trading with Station Exchange:

Gamasutra: When the topic of the white paper came up, you mentioned that your interests here were possibly 'not what we'd expect.' What does interest you in about this topic?

John Smedley: I'm interested in shining the light of day on this subject. It's real. It's a billion dollar industry worldwide and we as game makers need to seriously work to handle it in-game. There is rampant farming in these games (yes, ours included). I believe we should work to include some element of this in some games, but do a better job of cracking down on it in a big way. I have personally had it affect my gameplay and I think it's very negative. Our goal for getting this information out there is to show exactly what's going on so everyone understands. With this kind of money involved, it's not going away. I strongly believe in the idea of separate servers to allow people that want to engage in this sort of activity to do it.

Online console games are going to be huge. They’re growing at an extremely rapid rate and we already have several MMO’s in development for the PS3 that are cross platform with the PC. We’re working on cool new ways to allow people to communicate (online keyboard interfaces, voice-to-text and other ideas). The power of the PS3 is going to allow us to bring a lot of computing power to bear on the challenges of communicating with other players. To me the idea of an online universe of gamers as large as 100 Million or more is really exciting and is going to end up really allowing all kinds of awesome games.

Here at SOE, we are dedicated to providing our players with a world-class gaming experience. As our player base grows and changes, so do the many variations in system configuration, and we find it necessary to learn more about the systems being used to enjoy SOE products. While the system information already provided on a volunteer basis has been helpful, it presents an incomplete picture of the wide variety of system configurations used to play SOE games.

When EverQuest II and PlanetSide players login beginning on Tuesday, August 29th, SOE will begin collecting data to assemble a more complete picture of the systems currently using the SOE family of products. We will gather some basic hardware information from those systems logging into PlanetSide and EverQuest II [...].

Though players have yet to spend time with its advanced technology themselves, Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is already a ubiquitous part of next-generation development. Today, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) announced it is has licensed the engine for its own future titles, including the still-mysterious DC Comics MMORPG project. SOE will use Unreal Engine 3 for both PC and console titles.

"Our development teams are very excited about harnessing the power of Unreal Engine 3," said SOE president John Smedley. "The combination of a top-notch graphics engine and a robust set of design tools will enable our teams to deliver incredible and innovative game content for next-generation consoles and the PC."