John Smedley has headed up Daybreak Game Company for nearly two decades and weathered a few company ownership and name changes in that time, but now the Everquest co-creator is stepping down from his role as president and CEO of the studio.

“Daybreak Games confirms that John Smedley will be taking some time off from the company for the near-term and transitioning to a different role to be determined,” a Daybreak spokesperson said in a statement. “Upon finalization of his plans, further communication will be provided.”

Smedley’s reign at Daybreak, formerly called Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), saw the release of several iconic multiplayer games, including Everquest, Planetside and Star Wars Galaxies. More recently the studio has released moderately successful games like Planetside 2 and the zombie survival game H1Z1.

While there has been no comment from Smedley yet on his reasons for stepping down, one possible factor is his recent encounters with hacker group Lizard Squad, who have personally targeted Smedley in the past and continue to do so. Lizard Squad frequently attack Daybreak’s servers to prevent fans from playing their games, and some members of the group have previously posted Smedley’s personal information online and even diverted a plane he was on by calling in a bomb threat.

Smedley “ran SOE like a family”

While Smedley has sometimes been a controversial figure for gamers thanks to unpopular decisions made regarding games like Star Wars Galaxies, he had a profound impact on the industry. Matt Higby, former creative director of Planetside 2, made a heartfelt post to the Planetside subreddit where he praised Smedley’s impact on game development.

“It’s tough to overstate how gigantic of an influence Smed has had on my life and the lives of many of my friends, both through the games he helped create, the company he built, the mentorship he shared and the opportunities he opened up,” Higby wrote. “Although we argued about a ton of things over the years, one of the best things about him as a leader is I never felt like I wasn’t allowed to make my case – I even won a couple of those arguments from time to time. He taught me a ton and always treated me super well – I owe him a great deal.”

Higby said that Smedley “ran SOE like a family,” and he preferred to promote people from within who had already proven themselves to the studio. Higby himself had originally been a QA Lead at SOE since the early 2000s before he later moved into game design and eventually lead the Planetside 2 creative team.

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