by Lady Rukiara in Mar 12,2016

For 17 years the EverQuest Franchise has reigned supreme in the hearts of many loyal and dedicated fans, as I write this now I feel as if I am writing the obituary of a dear, and cherished friend. I, myself, have played the game since I was 9 years old and it has molded me in many ways, met many cherished friends, and I could not imagine life without them.

Daybreak Studios has announced their cancellation of the EverQuest Next Project, with this we have high hopes but as many players know it feels as if the EverQuest Franchise has become a bit of a money dump, and though many people saw this coming, many others had high hopes or lived in denial. The Letter was released earlier today from Daybreaks' president Russel Shanks.

To Our Daybreak Community, I’m writing today to let you know that, after much review and consideration, Daybreak is discontinuing development of EverQuest Next. For the past 20 years EverQuest has been a labor of love. What started as a deep passion of ours, as game creators, grew into a much larger passion shared by you, millions of players and Daybreakers alike. Watching EverQuest’s ability to entertain and bring people together has inspired and humbled us. It’s shaped our culture and has emboldened us to take aggressive risks with our game ideas and products. When we decided to create the next chapter in the EverQuest journey, we didn’t aim low. We set out to make something revolutionary. For those familiar with the internals of game development, you know that cancellations are a reality we must face from time to time. Inherent to the creative process are dreaming big, pushing hard and being brutally honest with where you land. In the case of EverQuest Next, we accomplished incredible feats that astonished industry insiders. Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn’t fun. We know you have high standards when it comes to Norrath and we do too. In final review, we had to face the fact that EverQuest Nextwould not meet the expectations we – and all of you – have for the worlds of Norrath. The future of the EverQuest franchise as a whole is important to us here at Daybreak.EverQuest in all its forms is near and dear to our hearts. EverQuest and EverQuest II are going strong. Rest assured that our passion to grow the world of EverQuest remains undiminished. Yours truly, Russell Shanks President, Daybreak Games

Though many people are canceling their accounts, wanting refunds from Landmark, there is a mixed response in the community. Many believe this was the right decision for Daybreak to make, while others are completely torn about it.

Landmark is said to still be released this spring for $9.99 as a sandbox, more complicated Minecraft. While this may be a relief to some it is also insulting to others who spend $100 on their packages in support of the game. Many faithful MMOers are choosing to follow Brad McQuaid, a key designer of EverQuest over to a new project he is involved in called Pantheon.

Head over and check it out, their livestream is March 11 (tonight) at 4PM PST.

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