Editing EverQuest (section)

===Release===
''EverQuest'' launched with modest expectations from Sony on 16 March 1999 under its [[Verant Interactive]] brand and quickly became successful. By the end of the year, it had surpassed competitor ''[[Ultima Online]]'' in number of subscriptions. Numbers continued rising rapidly until mid-2001 when growth slowed. The game initially launched with volunteer "Guides" who would act as basic customer service/support via 'petitions'. Issues could be forwarded to the Game Master assigned to the server or resolved by the volunteer. Other guides would serve in administrative functions within the program or assisting the Quest Troupe with dynamic and persistent live events throughout the individual servers. Volunteers were compensated with free subscription and expansions to the game. In 2003 the program changed for the volunteer guides taking them away from the customer service focus and placing them into their current roles as roving 'persistent characters' role-playing with the players.

In anticipation of [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]]'s launch, Sony Interactive Studios America made the decision to focus primarily on console titles under the banner [[989 Studios]], while spinning off its sole computer title, ''EverQuest'', which was ready to launch, to a new computer game division named Redeye (renamed Verant Interactive). Executives initially had low expectations for ''EverQuest'', but in 2000, following the surprising continued success and unparalleled profits of ''EverQuest'', Sony reorganized Verant Interactive into [[Sony Online Entertainment]] (SOE) with Smedley retaining control of the company.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sam |first1=Parker |title=Sony Acquires Verant |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-acquires-verant/1100-2580857/ |access-date=19 January 2021 |work=GameSpot |date=17 May 2006}}</ref> Many of the original ''EverQuest'' team, including Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover left SOE by 2002.<ref>{{cite interview |last=McQuaid |first=Brad  |interviewer= Morgan Ramsay |title= The Inside Story of How a Major MMO Went Wrong |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/13/the-inside-story-of-how-a-major-mmo-went-wrong |publisher= IGN |date= 14 February 2014 |access-date= 19 April 2017}}
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