As many of us know, Sony-Online-Entertainment was spun-off and became Daybreak years ago. They are currently the owner of EQ and EQ2 among other games.
At the time it was announced that Daybreak was owned by Columbus Nova.
Various assets owned or controlled by certain "Russian oligarchs" have been frozen by the United States government. Columbus Nova is potentially involved in a way that is not yet entirely clear.
Daybreak has now officially stated that they are not owned by Columbus Nova after all and their various statements saying that they were had been mistakes. They are *really* owned by an individual who had been an officer of Columbus Nova. They are also reportedly deleting posts on their game forums that raise questions about all this.
Nothing to do with Pantheon directly or indirectly - but surely of interest to EQ/EQ2 players or former players. It may all be a tempest in a teapot and blow over with no impact on EQ or EQ2 or LOTRO (Daybreak became the publisher for LOTRO a year or two ago). That would be my guess - people are just having fun inventing crisis and disaster.
To say I never liked SoE/Daybreak is a mild understatement. They communicated slowly and with questionable accuracy with customers, and acquired Vanguard and failed to support it - quite possibly with the purpose of elimination of potential competition for the EQ games. To now compare their *official* statements years ago that they were owned by Columbus Nova and their *official* statements now that they are not, oh no, nothing to do with Columbus Nova is entertaining. It is so much in character for them.
I've been following the drama - it's very interesting. I've never been a fan of Daybreak either; they destroy anything they touch. They're too big for their own good and are in it for the money, not the games. I don't want anything bad to happen to EQ, but if it does meet its demise, that could mean a huge migration to Pantheon much like after EQN. I feel like we should be prepared for that.
I most certainly do not want anything to happen to EQ or EQ2 either.
While I very much doubt that there is more here than a drama storm (and some entertaining lying by Daybreak) even if I am wrong this isn't the kind of thing that should shut really impact any of the games unless Daybreak actually folds and no one else wants the games - IMO unlikely.
I note that the chief publishing officer of Daybreak just left. What a strange ...coincidence.
There's been plenty of discussion about SOE and Daybreak; however, I am glad the split happened. I would like to see Sony succeed. Love or hate them, they made a huge impact on defining MMORPG's. The success of PS4 and all their exclusives staved off some other areas that were performing poorly. I hope the PS5 will have complete (and free) backwards-compatibility. Work on restoring their reputation ... then maybe one day they can go back to work on publishing MMORPG titles. I doubt Sony has any direct dealings (like facebook) with those companies. I hope they don't anyways. Too many publishers to hate (EA & Activision).
I have resigned myself to the fact that the server where my character has been for the last 18ish years, will probably become just a memory. I have been back several times over the years. But I don't see Daybreak as a good company to deal with. Played a few months on Agnarr..they like the money they get from the gamers, but pretty much anything goes in regards to griefing. I doubt they have any experience running gaming worlds, doesn't seem like it.