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EverQuest co-creator John Smedley is leading a new San Diego-based studio for Amazon Game Studios, the company announced today.
Smedley, previously the president of Sony Online Entertainment and Daybreak Game Company, will lead an “all-new team” in San Diego on an unannounced title. In a release, Amazon said Smedley’s “ambitious new project” will tap “into the power of the AWS Cloud and Twitch to connect players around the globe in a thrilling new game world.”
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“John’s pioneering work helped define the modern MMO, and his influence can be felt in thousands of games that followed,” Amazon said in a statement. “He helped create the blueprint for fusing massive game worlds with vibrant player communities, a vision that we share at Amazon Game Studios.”
Amazon says Amazon Game Studios San Diego’s project is still “early days.”
Smedley stepped down as CEO and president of Daybreak Game Company in 2015. Later that year, he founded Pixelmage Games, which developed action role-playing games Hero’s Song. In 2016, both Pixelmage Games and Hero’s Song shut down.
Amazon Game Studios has other locations in Orange County, California and Seattle, Washington. The company is working on a handful of announced games for PC, including mythological sport brawler Breakaway, massively multiplayer sandbox game New World and sci-fi survival game Crucible.
