And wow. The team is huge. https://twitter.com/everquest/status/1219666153410387969?s=20 Happy to support the game!
Glad, they’re named Darkpaw because they never give up and keep pumping out expansions like Fippy spawns.
Good move, if only because it allows the team to be more focused and makes it harder for DBG to take EQ's profits and throw them down non-EQ money pits.
They replied on Twitter saying that he wasn't available the day they took the picture, but he sure still is on the team.
A good read where Holly shares her thoughts on today and beyond: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ho...s-reveals-three-new-franchise-studios-1269929
"It’s a bit of a dream come true, because now we can dream big, focus on our audience instead of trying to consider everything for a pretty broad and diverse company." Great news for us.
Name changes don't mean a whole lot if the same people are producing/developing the game. The game has needed a strong leader directing development for a long time. Holly has not been it. Now she may have had a lot on her plate, but the fact remains that she has been and is still the Everquest producer. This is window dressing until we see something good come from this change.
Daybreak Games are still publishing all these titles. So as long they are being published by Daybreak's all access system, you will have the same access as before.
Holly seems bearish which is a great thing for a struggling studio. On the other hand, we had leaders who were a bit bullish (perhaps fatally) like Dave Goergeson. John Smedley seemed more moderate but lacked focus toward the end of his tenure (e.g. challenging hackers). If this is an earnest effort, the spin-off might provide new, clearer lines of authority and jurisdiction. Decentralization is all the craze (books by Jocko Willink and Stanley McChrystal) with the advantages and disadvantages of autonomy and accountability. Edit: For another comparison, Andy Sites, who led Planetside Arena development (which flopped) now leads Rogue Planet Games. I'd much rather have Holly steering this ship.
So do we keep calling them DBG or is it time to switch to DPG. I remember when they tried to get us to call them DGC but that didn't stick.
Lifetime accounts better still work. That's the only thing that matters to me. Using the word "currently" in that producers letter makes it sound pretty suspicious.