
You know, you’re not reading this piece until January, but I sat down to write it ahead of the turn of the year, when we’ve just had a really good quarter for Daybreak with high praise for everything from Lord of the Rings Online to DC Universe Online (after not a great year for DCUO otherwise). We even found out Palia – which Daybreak bought in 2024 – is doing great, though it seems to have delayed H1Z1’s next big thing a little. Overall, Daybreak seems to be in a much better place, though we’d surely like to hear some more about EverQuest 3.
But since I wrote it, Daybreak news has been weirdly volatile, so I’ve had to edit this thing several times – and that’s thanks to the PlanetSide 2 is in limbo / now it’s not news.
Either way, this Leaderboard is a tradition here on MassivelyOP, one we’ve been doing for now 10 years, not so much to be mean to Daybreak but rather to take stock of how one of the oldest core MMO studios is doing. Readers will remember that back in 2015, the situation was dire: SOE, the studio that once won best studio four years in a row, became Daybreak and brought its total of purged MMOs to something like 20 games, with layoffs and cancelations, followed by the weirdly secretive SSG acquisition, the Columbus Nova debacle, and then the sale to EG7 (which Daybreak has since taken over from the inside). So naturally, we debate what Daybreak/EG7 might dump overboard next.
- In 2015, you picked Dragon’s Prophet (you were right; it died that same year).
- In 2017, you picked PlanetSide 2 (but Landmark sunsetted in 2017).
- In 2018, you picked Just Survive (definitely did not survive).
- In 2019, you picked the unannounced EverQuest game aka EverQuest III (which was apparently canceled but now is back in dev).
- In 2020 and 2021 you picked PC H1Z1 aka Z1 Battle Royale (that which is ignored can never die).
- In 2022, the Z1 franchise took both first and second place, followed by EverQuest III. (nope, but Daybreak did kill the Marvel MMO for the second time in 2022).
- In 2023 and then again at the top of 2024, you guys once again picked the H1Z1 franchise over all others.
PlanetSide 2 aside, I tend to think Daybreak is on the upswing and none of these games is really at risk. I don’t even think PlanetSide 2 is that much at risk. Earlier this year, I would’ve said DCUO after the layoffs, but not so much now. Daybreak just bought Palia and is apparently aiming to launch it next year, so that put a little delay on H1Z1, but are the H1Z1 games really at risk? Isn’t ignoring them safer? Would Daybreak really can them just in time to open a new one, thereby crushing any remaining goodwill? Look at how many years y’all have been guessing this franchise, and it’s still not dead! They barely mentioned EverQuest 3 until the tail end of the year – is it even more backburnered than H1Z1? Or is one of the smaller MMOs like Dungeons and Dragons Online going to bust out and surprise everyone with a sunset? I doubt that too. They all seem pretty safe. For once!
But you tell me: Which Daybreak MMO do you think is most vulnerable now?
