EG7 hopes to develop a new EverQuest MMORPG (EverQuest 3?) for 2028 after years of rumors

Also, a new H1Z1 entry too

September 20, 2023 7:00 PM

So, who had EverQuest 3 announcement on the 2023 predictions list? We award you half points for your prescience tonight.

Admittedly, a new installment in the long-running MMORPG franchise has long been rumored – since at least 2018 (ah, wasn’t 2018 Daybreak fun?). In fact, back in 2019, Holly Longdale was still promising that there was a “future” for the franchise and that Daybreak would “definitely do something with the IP,” though not a “strict remake.” But lots has changed since 2019, starting with Holly Longdale herself no longer being at Daybreak (she’s now ensconced as a VP at Blizzard overseeing World of Warcraft). Daybreak, of course, was bought out in 2020 by EG7, a Swedish gaming conglom that has since been taken over by Daybreak’s executives from the inside. And EG7 has been touting unannounced projects under the EverQuest banner for the last three years.

The first confirmation we’ve had that Daybreak is still working on something in the EverQuest universe in years comes via EG7’s own Capital Markets Day stream this morning. Right around the 2:18:00 mark, CEO Ji Ham shows a slide for three of its hoped-for in-development titles, one of which is for the EverQuest. However, the company makes clear that it’s still in the “ideation phase” (after all these years!) and won’t see this theoretical investment until 2025, with a target launch of 2028. Ham refers to EverQuest as the company’s “most important IP” but quickly notes that it still may not happen – this is just what the company hopes to do.

Amusingly, Ham says that if he announced EverQuest 3 today, it would immediately be global gaming news. I’m afraid we’ll be helping to prove him right.

Worth noting is that EG7 is also apparently hoping to revive the malingering H1Z1 franchise; it says it’s in the concept phase with pre-production starting in the first half of 2024.

Still, these estimated dates are a long way out, and as those of us who lived through the last two EverQuest failures can tell you, you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up until the game is in your hands. And maybe not even then.