Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is a computer game developer division of Sony that mostly creates massively multiplayer online games. SOE is best known for producing EverQuest , PlanetSide , and Star Wars Galaxies , which have gained hundreds of thousands of subscribers. SOE also owns Verant Interactive.

=History=

Sony Online Entertainment and Verant s history can be seen as starting with Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA), an internal game development studio of Sony that formed around 1995. In 1996, John Smedley was put in charge of SISA s development of an online computer role-playing game that would evolve into EverQuest . He hired Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover as game programmer for the game in March.

In April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment was formed by merging Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment. [http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/19841] Within months SISA was renamed 989 Studios. EverQuest , which was credited to being developed by 989 and published by SOE at launch, entered beta in 1998.

Towards the end of 1998, 989 Studios shifted strategy to making PlayStation video game console games only. The company s computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after Verant Interactive. [http://www.cdmag.com/articles/017/143/verant.html] EverQuest was released in March 1999 and promptly earned commercial success.

==After EQ==

In April 2000, Verant hired former MMORPG. [http://www.sigilgames.com/000003.php]

SOE released Star Wars Galaxies in in September.

Currently, John Smedley is the president of Sony Online Entertainment. SOE s headquarters are in San Diego, California, with studios in Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington (formed on February 3, 2005). The company released the first SWG expansion, Jump to Lightspeed in October 2004 and EverQuest II in November 2004. SOE continues to maintain its other online games, including the original EverQuest , and releasing more EverQuest expansions.

On expansions.

SOE has produced numerous EverQuest expansions and spin-off .

SOE also makes more casually-oriented online games through [http://www.station.com/ Station.com], such as Jeopardy! Online and Wheel of Fortune Online , Infantry (computer game) , Cosmic Rift (computer game) , and Tanarus (computer game) .

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