Stepping down – MMO Fallout

Daybreak Game Company has confirmed that John Smedley will be stepping down as president and chief executive officer, following a lengthy period of harassment from the cyber group Lizard Squad. A spokesperson from Daybreak confirmed to Venturebeat that Smedley will be relinquishing his role, although he will not be leaving the company entirely.

“I can confirm that John Smedley will be taking some time off from the company for the near-term and transitioning to a different role to be determined. Upon finalization of his plans, further communication will be provided.”

John Smedley made headlines earlier this month after one Lizard Squad member was convicted of over fifty thousand counts of cyber crime, only to see no jail time. After Smedley called out multiple members on Twitter, the group launched a multiple day DDOS attack on Daybreak’s servers as well as offering a $5000 reward for anyone who defaced the grave of Smedley’s father.

The office of CEO will be filled by current COO Russel Shanks.

(Source: Venturebeat)

screenshot_2009-09-13-13-20-53 — What does this mean for Foxbat?

Bill Roper is to the MMO genre as JK Rowling is to children’s literature. On one hand, the man had a big role in Blizzard during the glory days of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. More recently, Roper’s name has been tied to Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both titles are doing quite well despite comments otherwise by trolls. On the other hand, Bill Roper is also responsible for the train wreck that was Hellgate: London, a game that (as it turns out) was only as good as its launch, and didn’t survive long enough to make those lifetime subscriptions worth it. Roper is also partially responsible for the coined term Flagshipping, named off of the company Flagship Studios, referring to a product being released in a buggy, unfinished state missing many of its promised features.

I should probably get to the point (and why 80% of you clicked this link…I’m talking about the title). Well, to the dismay of some and joy of others, Bill Roper has been replaced by Shannon Posniewski, as Executive Producer of Champions Online. Poz, as he is called on the forums, is expected to take the game in a brand new direction. Shannon has been the lead programmer on Champions Online and has been with Crptic since the City of Heroes days.

Now before you get your pants in a bunch, or start throwing a goodbye party for Mr. Roper, he is still working with Cryptic, just on other things (the rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO? He asked, stirring the pot). This announcement has come alongside the State of the Game, that promises more stitching of the level gaps in content, among other changes.

Poz has had quite a relationship with the community, so hopefully this will bring along the Cryptic I (and others) have been asking for for a long time: one that actually listens to player feedback and stores that feedback for future reference.