The hemorrhaging of talent at Darkpaw Games continues. As I suspected, Jonathan “Prathun” Caraker a designer with 18 years experience working on EverQuest, is now working as a game designer for Blizzard Entertainment. He revealed this via his LinkedIn profile.
It is unclear if he will be working on World of Warcraft or some other title at Blizzard.
Jonathan recently made the news in a Washington Post article about the effects of COVID-19 isolation on people. Here’s a reprint of the story for those that can’t afford a WaPo subscription.
Jonathan left Darkpaw Games without any fanfare — not even a farewell message to the community that he dutifully served for 18 years. That seems a bit strange as Holly Longdale did leave a heartfelt message to the community. I wish Jonathan the best of luck at Blizzard.
In recent months, a steady stream of Darkpaw and Daybreak Games devs have left including Luke Sigmund, Holly Longdale, Josh Augustine, and Steven Danuser just to name a few. It’s not a good sign when employees who’ve been there for almost two decades leave the company.
Maybe the writing is on the wall for DarkPaw games and the entire EverQuest franchise and veteran devs not wanting to be hit with even more layoffs are jumping ship to Blizzard. Perhaps, the gaming studio is trimming the fat before they are about to be sold.
Months ago, I speculated in a series of articles that a new EverQuest was in the works. I now believe that that project was cancelled. It’s hard to believe that if a new EverQuest was being developed that long-time veteran talent would be leaving and missing the opportunity. This news today, just confirms my suspicions that a new EverQuest is dead in the water. Instead, Daybreak Games will continue to milk dedicated EQ fans with new TLP servers, Krono, and their infamous SOE/DBG cash shop.
What a tragic way to end the franchise that could have ruled the MMORPG world.
