The struggling studio behind cozy MMO Palia now belongs to the company that's still keeping EverQuest alive after 25 years

Jul. 2, 2024

EverQuest studio Daybreak itself recently laid off a small number of its workforce

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Singularity 6, the independent developer behind the cute and cozy MMO Palia, has been acquired by Daybreak Game Company, the company known for running some of the biggest and most enduring MMOs including EverQuest and The Lord of the Rings Online.

We’ve described Palia in the past as something of a mish-mash of Valheim and Animal Crossing, and although the free-to-play game has been generally well-received,its studio laid off about 40% of its workforce back in May and cast the game’s future in shadow. However, it seems Palia is in good hands now that Daybreak has announced its acquisition of Singularity 6.

Not only does Daybreak havea tonof experience with massively successful and long-running MMOs, it also confirmed in a statement that it plans to keep Palia running for the foreseeable future.

“We are thrilled to welcome Singularity 6 to Daybreak Games,” said Daybreak CEO Ji Ham. “S6 is an excellent addition to our development studios, renowned for their success in creating large-scale online games and content. Their debut title, Palia, is a fantastic addition to our online portfolio. We eagerly anticipate collaborating with the S6 team to make Palia the best online experience possible across all major gaming platforms and to help continue expand their community of players for years to come.”

It is worth noting that Daybreak itself laid off a small number of employees back in February. A representative for the studio toldGamesIndustryat the time that the total number of affected employees was 15, impacting development teams working on Everquest, Dungeons & Dragons Online, DC Universe Online, and Lord of the Rings Online.

Singularity, meanwhile, said in a statement that it’s happy with the reception to Palia so far but hopes being under Daybreak’s umbrella will get more people to play it.

“Our team is ecstatic to join the Daybreak Games family,” said Singularity 6 co-founder and CEO Anthony Leung. “From Day 1, we have always wanted to forge alternate worlds that help deepen players' lives – we believe we are on the path to that with Palia and are ever grateful for the initial player reception and support. But we ultimately want to get Palia into the hands of every gamer that wants to play it and we believe that we can best do so by partnering up with Daybreak, who have a proven track record of building gaming communities that last for decades. We look forward to benefiting from their experience, expertise, and investment into Singularity 6 and Palia.”

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Only time will tell if Palia joins the ranks of thebest MMOsout there.

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.

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