Columbus Nova a New York-based investment firm has acquired Sony’s MMO studio rebranding it Daybreak Game Studio.
Sony online entertainment was responsible for developing and releasing numerous online titles for PC including the recently launched MMO H1Z1 and the soon to be released EverQuest Next, popular shooter Planetside 2 and many others.
SOE just rebranded as Daybreak will be a great addition to the existing portfolio we have of media and entertainment and technology focused businesses, We can see tremendous growth opportunities with expansion of the game portfolio through offerings on multi-platforms and an exciting group of new games, said Columbus Nova Senior Partner Jason Epstein.
The Early Access launch of H1Z1 has been successful and is just a single testament to the dedication and talent of the developers in the studio to create great gaming experience for online.
The current president of SOE John Smedley will stay on as Daybreak president.
Smedley in a prepared statement said the he was excited to be joining the impressive lineup of companies owned by Columbus Nova. They have a very good track record in related and similar industries and we at SOE are eager to move ahead to see how we are able to push the boundaries of online gaming.
Smedley added that he and the rest of SOE would continue focusing on the delivering of exceptional games to the many players around the globe and taking the portfolio to new and different platforms while embracing fully the multi-platform world we all live in today.
In the past few years, Sony Online Entertainment met with both great success as well as failure. It struggled in competing with some larger names in the online market that is massively multiplayer.
The games will now start moving to cross-platform releases with some titles likely reaching Xbox One.