Loyal EverQuest fans, brace yourselves for another dose of bitter disappointment. For over 18 months, Daybreak Game Company has dangled a Creative Director job for Darkpaw Games like a carrot on LinkedIn. Posted in July 2023, this supposed “visionary” role for an unannounced EverQuest title remains unfilled, with a measly 43 applicants to show for it.
I’ve sniffed around this cesspool of corporate nonsense before, and I’m calling it: this is a ghost job listing—a sham, a mirage, a slap in the face to a community that deserves better.
Ghost Job Listing Definition
So what is a ghost job listing?
A “ghost job listing” refers to a job posting advertised online that appears to be for a real open position, but in reality, does not exist or is already filled, meaning the company has no intention of hiring for that role at the current time; essentially, a fake job posting used to potentially gather applicants for future needs or simply to give the impression of a growing company.
Let’s tear this apart, piece by putrid piece, and expose the rot at the heart of Daybreak’s so-called ambition.
The Stench of Stagnation: 18 Months and Counting
Eighteen months. That’s how long this Creative Director gig has festered on LinkedIn, gathering dust while EverQuest’s legacy limps along on life support. A role this critical—helming a new title for Darkpaw Games—shouldn’t take a year and a half to fill if Daybreak were serious. Are we to believe they can’t find a single soul worthy of steering the EverQuest franchise into the future? Or is this just a hollow shell of a posting, left up to placate fans and investors while Enad Global 7 counts their coins?
The silence is damning—18 months without a hire screams either incompetence or indifference. I’m betting on both.
Penny-Pinching in Paradise: A Salary That Insults San Diego
Let’s talk money, because this is where the mask slips. Daybreak’s offering $125,000 to $160,000 for a Creative Director in San Diego—a city where the cost of living could bankrupt a small nation. Median home prices flirt with a million bucks, and a one-bedroom apartment will gouge you for $2,500 a month. In a gaming hub where seasoned MMO talent can pull $180K–$200K elsewhere, this range is a joke—a lowball so shameless it’s no wonder only 43 people applied.
For a role demanding deep MMO expertise and a passion for EverQuest’s community, Daybreak’s basically begging for a bargain-bin hire. Newsflash: visionaries don’t work for peanuts, especially not in California’s priciest sandbox.
The Applicant Abyss: 43 Souls in a Desert of Ambition
Speaking of those 43 applicants—how pathetic is that? A studio with Daybreak’s pedigree, tied to a franchise as storied as EverQuest, should be drowning in resumes. Creative Director postings at lesser outfits rack up hundreds of hopefuls in weeks, not months. Yet here we are, 18 months in, with a number so low it’s practically a rounding error.
Either Daybreak’s not promoting this gig worth a damn or the word’s out: the pay’s trash, the project’s shaky, and Enad Global 7’s running the show. Talent’s staying away in droves—43 applicants isn’t a pool, it’s a puddle.
Besides, Darkpaw Games is a revolving door. For some reason, they are unable to keep the talent they already have.
Enad Global 7’s Greedy Pawprints: Profit Over Passion
Make no mistake, this reeks of Enad Global 7’s fingerprints. These aren’t stewards of gaming history—they’re profiteers, picking the bones of IPs they’ve snatched up cheap. EverQuest and EQ2 keep printing money with expansions like The Outer Brood, so why risk a new game? That Creative Director listing might’ve started as a real dream—an unannounced title to breathe life into Darkpaw—but under EG7’s miserly gaze, it’s likely morphed into a ghost. It’s a cheap ploy to signal growth without spending a dime, collecting resumes for a rainy day while the real focus stays on milking the faithful. It’s vulture capitalism at its ugliest, and EverQuest deserves better.
Ji Ham’s Visionless Reign: A Banker, Not a Bard
And then there’s Ji Ham, EG7’s acting CEO and Daybreak’s puppetmaster—a man I’ve grown to loathe for his spineless stewardship. This banker-turned-gaming-overlord once teased a new EverQuest by 2028, promising a hardcore return to roots during a 2023 investor call. I bought it then, hoping for a successor to fill the void EverQuest Next’s 2016 implosion left. But the 25th anniversary came and went in 2024—prime time for a reveal—and we got nada. Zilch. Just more expansions and nostalgia bait.
Ham’s not a visionary; he’s a bean-counter, obsessed with “sound profitability” while slashing jobs at Toadman and Piranha Games. His cold feet—or lukewarm toes—on a new MMO are palpable. Why bet big when the old cash cows still moo?
Conclusion
So, is this Creative Director gig a ghost job? You bet your greaves it is—or damn close. The evidence piles up like corpses in Blackburrow: 18 months of inaction, a laughable salary for San Diego, a pitiful 43 applicants, and EG7’s tight-fisted DNA all point to a listing that’s more theater than reality.
Maybe it was real once, a flicker of hope for Darkpaw’s future, but it’s stalled out—either too cheap to attract talent or too low-priority for Ham’s bottom line. Meanwhile, I’m left fuming at Ji Ham’s lack of guts. EverQuest’s faithful deserve a bold leap forward, not this tepid limbo. Daybreak, prove me wrong—or keep proving me right as you coast into irrelevance.
–Wolfshead
