The former head of SOE and Daybreak. Affectionately known to gamers as “Smed.”
john smedley
End-of-Year Eleven: The biggest MMO stories of 2023
Some years, it's hard to really cut a distinction between the biggest stories of a year and the biggest surprises. There can be a...
Perfect Ten: Times when MMOs brought about world-shattering cataclysms
The notion of an in-game cataclysm is hardly the sole domain of Activision-Blizzard; on the contrary, large-scale apocalypses pop up all the time in...
The Game Archaeologist: EverQuest Mac, the O.G. classic server
In 2003, Sony Online Entertainment tried an experiment to reach out to the (then) small-but-growing community of Mac users. The company released EverQuest Macintosh...
Working As Intended: My 20 years of Star Wars Galaxies
Last year, when Ultima Online turned 25 years old, I did a piece reminiscing on those early days and marveling that so much of...
New World announces second season, Blood of the Sands, launching July 6
Amazon just announced New World's second season, dubbed Blood of the Sands and due out on July 6 with a rather DUNE-like theme, right...
Amazon Games hit with layoffs, but ‘the New World team in Irvine will grow’
Amazon is apparently continuing its mass layoffs, as this week the company slashed jobs even more relevant to MMO fans than Twitch: This time,...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 405: Give me throne or give me liberty
Justin and Bree discuss Throne & Liberty, Skull & Bones' delay, roadmaps for the EverQuest MMOs, and John Smedley's departure from Amazon, with adventures in LOTRO, Elder Scrolls Online, and Guild Wars 2, plus mailbag topics on the Wizards of the Coast D&D mess and reimagining alts in MMOs.
John Smedley is leaving his position as head of Amazon Games’ San Diego studio
John Smedley is moving on from his role heading the San Diego branch of Amazon Game Studios, according to a memo sent to staff...
Massively Overthinking: Our MMO predictions for 2023
Nobody can see the future, but it sure is fun guessing, and that's exactly what we're going to do for (to?) the MMO genre...
Amazon canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO over Tencent complications, Smed’s new game is still in production
Almost exactly four years ago, we first learned about the existence of a new Lord of the Rings MMORPG, backed by Hong Kong-based Leyou...
The Game Archaeologist: The origins of Blizzard, Mythic, Funcom, SOE, and BioWare
A good origin story always captivates me, especially when it gives me a new perspective on something I've come to appreciate over the years....
Perfect Ten: Abrupt MMO sunsets that shocked us
Not all MMO sunsets are equal, when you look at them. Sure, all impact players who made those games a home, but some titles...
These are the online gaming companies supporting reproductive choice and healthcare for workers
When news of the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United first leaked in early May, so few games companies spoke up...
Free Realms would’ve turned 13 years old this week if it were still alive
If you were around the MMO genre back in 2009, you might remember when SOE launched Free Realms, a cutesy kid-centric MMORPG that was...
The Game Archaeologist: Tanarus, Sony Online Entertainment’s first online game
While EverQuest is perhaps thought of as Sony Online Entertainment's first online game, the truth of history tells us differently. Just as how Mythic...
Amazon is publishing Glowmade’s new ‘creative online co-op experience’
What else does Amazon Games have cooking besides New World, Lost Ark, and that unnamed game from Smed? Apparently, it's also publishing a game...
Amazon Games hired a former Ubisoft Toronto boss to lead its new Montreal studio
Amazon Games announced today that it's picked a new leader for its new Montreal-based studio: Alexandre Parizeau. If that name sounds familiar, it's because...
The Game Archaeologist: SOE’s many MMO spin-off digital card games
One thing that I deeply admired about old Sony Online Entertainment was that it strove to experiment, innovate, and take risks. Sometimes those special...
EG7 Q2 2021: What the heck is going on at EG7 and Daybreak and who the heck owns Cold Iron
Last week, we covered the puzzling news that EG7's CEO Robin Flodin has been (at least temporarily?) replaced by Daybreak's Ji Ham, a move...
Global Chat: Revisiting all of SOE’s game history
I'm always a sucker for a good timeline, which is why I perked up at seeing Wilhelm at Ancient Gaming Noob trace out the...
