Former SOE/DGC CEO John Smedley to Start New Company
In 1998, John Smedley co-founded Verant Interactive with current Daybreak Games CEO Russell Shanks. Riding on the overwhelming success of EverQuest, the company was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000, which saw the company renamed to Sony Online Entertainment. Fast forward 15 years to February of this year: Sony Online Entertainment was sold to investment group Columbus Nova after a two month year search for a suitable buyer. In the American corporate world, it is standard practice that a CEO will typically remain with the company for a six month transition period after a buyout, upon which they depart with a healthy golden parachute. However a group of ne’er-do-wells based in Scandinavia Northern Europe had other plans.
One year ago, a group of “hackers” took SOE’s games offline for several days. They then proceeded to call in a bomb threat on a commercial airliner on which Smedley was a passenger, attempt murder-by-cop by SWATting his family, and otherwise invade his life by sharing personal and financial information about him and his family on the internet. After one of the responsible teenagers received a slap on the wrist by a Finland-based court with the equivalent of deferred adjudication probation, Smedley went on the attack, engaging in a very public spat with this individual (and the group) on Twitter, Facebook, and in the gaming and mainstream Press. This escalated into a media circus which led the group to once again attack Daybreak Games, bringing their games and web services offline for nearly 72 hours.
Last month, John Smedley stepped down from his position as CEO of Daybreak Games. We can only assume that this very public debate between Smedley and this group accelerated our purported six month transition timetable, leading CN to request an early departure. While the official press release released by Daybreak promised that he was “transitioning to a different role” within the company, his Facebook commentary on the departure posted on the same day, which I am not permitted to repost here due to Facebook etiquette preventing the publication of Friends-only posts, made it unambiguously clear that he was leaving the company for good.
John Smedley is clearly restless as, less than a month into his unexpected vacation, he has updated his Facebook profile teasing the formation of a new company:
Few CEOs are universally loved, and John Smedley has certainly instilled powerful emotions in his customers. It will be interesting to see what the next phase will be.
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Comments (16)
Katz
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Is he working at or starting a new company? I assume he started a new game company?
I hope he is left alone by the evil computer groups. No one deserves being harassed like that.
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Cyliena
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Looks like he has started one, since the Facebook job update lists him as CEO of “New Company”.
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Feldon
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Starting
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Anaogi
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Hoping he’s learned from experience and wishing him well. Whatever disagreements I may have had with his choice, he still deserves that much.
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Sunje
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hmm its not interesting for me, because its only Smed…
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Moose
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I called it on Reddit and he’s not a smart man at all, going from stressful job to mega stressful.
As far as someone like me following him, nope. The man’s a ticking time bomb and it’s a matter of time until he loses it completely.
Good luck Smed, you’re going to need it.
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BlacktopNL
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he got himself in trouble a few times. but that’s what i like about him. On a business standpoint it’s not smart to poke the bee hive, but i can understand how frustrated it can be if your being herased and doxed by teenagers.
But then again, you shouldn’t just bend over and unclench because your customers expect you to. sure I couldn’t log in but hey its not the end of the world.
i’m interested in what he’s up to i hope you keep us informed Feldon 🙂
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Hoot
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A few times? One of the most understated statements. Smedley’s made so many mistakes, bad decisions, and selfish goals, that as of right now, he’s packed his bag, got on the last lifeboat on a sinking ship, and is being chased by a bunch of lizard like crocodiles since he rubbed raw meat over all his body looking for the closet island to setup shop.
Let’s be honest, there’s a reason why the hackers went after him. Smedley ultimately gave them the reactions they were looking for. Why else would they target in on him out of all the other companies they DDOS’d? Smedley’s always been an enigma, so it’s hard to say why he went out of his way to make an embarrassment out of himself on Twitter. I assume that’s one of the reasons he left is because Columbus Nova saw his stunts and track record and ultimately felt they really needed to get rid of him. And don’t believe he left by ‘choice’, they’ll ALWAYS say they ‘resigned’ or were ‘pursuing different interests’ when ultimately it’s internal disagreements or firing. It’s Corporations 101.
I won’t miss Smedley. The only really good decision he ever made was pressuring to make EQ1 into a 3D game during its per-development stage. Outside of that, he’s made SoE/DBG into a company that is infamous on having a really bad reputation. It’s so isolated from the rest of the gaming industry that Smedley came off as this strange out of touch foreigner who could never truly grasp how the industry worked yet bizarrely enough was still able to keep his tiny shop afloat.
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GriffonLady
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I wonder if the new company will be some sort of DDOSer hunting thing? Like Cyber Batman. >.>
If it is a game company, I’m looking forward to what it’ll produce. I’ve loved Norrath for over a decade. ^_^ /hopes for something like a non-solid holodeck
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MTK
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Except Finland is not in Scandinavia. It’s among the Nordic countries but Scandinavia is the three contries contain the scandic mountains: Sweden, Norway, Denmark.
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Striinger
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I had the same thought; cyber vigilante or game maker?
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Kinya
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> Few CEOs are universally loved, and John Smedley has certainly instilled powerful emotions in his customers<
LOL, thit is so polite way to describe it 🙂
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madrat
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best comment of the day there Kinya you win the internets. I happen to agree it was a polite way.
giggle snort with an evil grin. 😈
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Carnifex
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I’m calling it now, McQuaid and Smedley together again in ’16!!!
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Iadien
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Smedley is clearly starting his own company that will have a goal of tracking down script kiddies and turning them over to authorities. Dog the bounty hunter, but with cyber criminals.
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Malade
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Image made me wonder what kind of golden parachute Smed had.
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