John Smedley will be stepping down as CEO of Daybreak Game Company. It is currently unknown whether the move was of his own volition or a company decision.
It also appears that Smedley will be returning to Daybreak after a brief hiatus, albeit under a different role.
It would appear that Smedley’s resignation comes in relation to a series of cyber attacks that took down many of the company’s games. Smedley has also made several bold statements regarding Julius Kivimaki, a hacker convicted on over 50,000 charges.
Seemingly appalled by the lack of serious repercussions, Smedley said over Twitter that he will be “coming for” Kivimaki personally. In response, Kivimaki’s hacking group, Lizard Squad, took down many of Daybreak’s games, including H1Z1 and Planetside 2.
Smedley first came to prominence with the release of EverQuest in 1999. He continued his work throughout the following years, eventually guiding Sony Online Entertainment in its transition to Daybreak Game Company.