Sony Online Entertainment Appoints John Smedley to President
- Company Announces Promotion of Additional Key Executives -
PRNewswire
SAN DIEGO
11/18/2002
In an effort to further strengthen its organization in the online games market, Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE) today announced the promotion of John Smedley from senior vice president and chief operating officer to president, effective immediately. In this capacity, Mr. Smedley is responsible for all of SOE's operations and functions. Mr. Smedley will continue to report directly to Yair Landau, vice chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment. As chief operating officer, Mr. Smedley has been instrumental in the continued growth of the company's flagship product, EverQuest® which currently has more than 430,000 subscribers, as well as expanding SOE's presence onto new devices including the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the Pocket PC and wireless handsets.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011203/LAM002 )
"With the continued success of products like EverQuest and the anticipation of top title launches on the horizon, we are confident that this senior staff will drive the company's continued growth," said Yair Landau, vice chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment. "The SOE team has done a phenomenal job creating interesting and dynamic online worlds and have played an important role in the emergence of massively multiplayer online gaming. We look forward to more of the same groundbreaking results from the newly structured management team."
To further fill out the executive management staff, the role of chief operating officer will be assumed by the current chief technology officer, Russell Shanks. Mr. Shanks assumes responsibility for SOE's international expansion strategies, product development studios, and oversees all software games including EverQuest® II, EverQuest® Online Adventures™ for the PlayStation®2 and PlanetSide™, the first massively multiplayer online first person action game for the PC.
In addition, John Needham has been promoted to chief financial officer. With more than 10 years of financial management experience, Mr. Needham will be responsible for overseeing all of the company's accounting and financial operations.
Finally, Adam Joffe, currently vice president of information technology, assumes the role of chief technology officer. In this role, Mr. Joffe is responsible for overseeing the entire IT network and gaming infrastructure which hosts as many as 100,000 simultaneous EverQuest fans. Mr. Joffe will also be responsible for overseeing the rollout of an expanded online network to host such anticipated titles as Star Wars Galaxies and PlanetSide.
About Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, is a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming that creates, develops and provides online entertainment for the personal computer, console, wireless, and online markets. With more than 13 million registered users, SOE's award-winning website, The Station ® ( www.station.com ) hosts a variety of entertaining games and player communities spanning numerous genres. In addition to blockbuster hits EverQuest® and Jeopardy! Online, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development such as PlanetSide™, Star Wars® Galaxies™, EverQuest® II, and the world's premier online-only console game for the PlayStation® 2, EverQuest® Online Adventures™.
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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
CONTACT: Christy Fritts of Sony Online Entertainment, +1-858-577-3295,
cfritts@soe.sony.com ; or Brandon McCormick of Access Communications,
+1-415-844-6218, bmccormick@accesspr.com , for Sony Online Entertainment
Web site: http://www.station.com/