Our friends over at Gamesindustry.biz are reporting that Daybreak Games, known for MMOs like Everquest, DC Universe Online, Planetside, and H1Z1, are restructuring into three separate studios.
A representative for Daybreak Games said the following regarding the restructuring:
“The studios have been given greater autonomy under these new franchise business teams. The heads of these games have seen their roles expand to studio head roles and, especially in the case of Austin, they are actively hiring additional staffers for their teams. They are now their own business units, whereas they were formerly one Daybreak studio with offices in San Diego and Austin.”
Dimensional Ink Games in Austin, Texas will continue to work on DC Universe Online along with a new MMO project beginning in 2020.
Darkpaw Games in San Diego, California will focus on Daybreak’s flagship IP, EverQuest. Led by Holly Longdale, the studio will continue to support EverQuest games while developing the “next innovation for the franchise.”
Rogue Planet Games (also in San Diego) will continue development on PlanetSide while also working on a new project.
Our Take
On the surface, this seems like good news which will give greater autonomy to the individual studios and the ability to focus on their core IPs. MMOs are notorious for needing greater support than traditional development so it’s also very good to hear they are doubling down on support of their teams. We’re interested to see how this evolves.
