John Smedley is stepping down as president and CEO of Daybreak.
Smedley has been with Daybreak’ MMOs since the beginning, when it was originally known as Sonly Online Entertainment. SOE was pivotal in online gaming at the start, launching Star Wars: Galaxies, EverQuest II, and The Matrix Online. SOE is more famous for their second upswing, when they switched directions from subscription based MMOs and embraced F2P with the likes of Planetside 2, DC Universe Online, and now, H1Z1. Even before that, Smedley was pivotal in the creation of the original Everquest, under both Sony Interactive Studios America, and Verant Interactive after that.
This announcement comes shortly after Smedley’s comments against Lizard Squad. He said he was happy LS member Julius Kivimaki was arrested, unhappy he would only be getting a 2 year commuted sentence, and said he would be suing Kivimaki’s parents. Lizard Squad perpetrated a series of hacks on game companies, including PSN and Xbox Live outages. While most of these were innocuous, Smedley was particularly placed in an ordeal when LS forcibly grounded his plane over a fake bomb threat.
While Daybreak’s tussle with Lizard Squad will be fresh in everyone’s minds, this should be acknowledged as the loss that it is. Smedley’s rescue of Daybreak from the brink by switching to free-to-play ensured they would find and hang onto a dedicated niche of MMO fans. It should also be noted Daybreak did not acknowledge Lizard Squad as the reason for Smedley’s exit. Smedley did recently quit social media.
Smedley will take a break and return to the company in a still undetermined capacity, while COO Russell Shanks will take over as president.
