Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they have broken away from Sony and are now operating as an independent company.

Renamed Daybreak Game Company, the separation from Sony comes as a result of a deal enacted by Sony to sell the studio to Columbus Nova, an investment management firm based in New York.

“This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multiplatform gaming company,” the studio commented in a post. “Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile, and more!”

To further the studio’s initiative toward multiplatform development, Daybreak Game Company President Jon Smedley took to Twitter to voice his enthusiasm.

Despite the recent acquisition, Daybreak Game Company assured gamers that there would be no disruptions to its current fray of online games during the transition.

“It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation,” stated the studio. “In fact, we expect to have even more resources available to us as a result of this acquisition. It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.”

Founded in 1995 as Sony Interactive Studios America and then later as Sony Online Entertainment in 1998, the studio’s major mark in the industry comes from their work on the ‘Everquest’ series, which played a big part in popularizing the MMORPG genre in the late 90’s. However, during their recent years working under Sony, the studio was behind a variety of PlayStation exclusive MMO titles such as ‘Planetside 2’, ‘DC Universe Online’ and ‘H1Z1’.

“Our games and players are the heart and soul of our organization, and we are committed to maintaining our portfolio of online games and pushing the limits of where we can take online gaming together.”

Source: Sony Online Entertainment, Jon Smedley Twitter