After his vocal campaign against Lizard Squad hacker Julius Kivimaki, Everquest creator John Smedley is stepping down as Daybreak president and CEO.

Daybreak Game Company representatives have confirmed with Polygon that president and CEO John Smedley will no longer be running the company. This announcement is shortly after Smedley's public campaign against 17-year-old Julius Kivimaki, a member of the Lizard Squad hacker group who was recently convicted of over 50,000 counts of cyber crime, ranging from stealing credit card info to swatting and much more), which also includes the DDoS attacks on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this past Christmas.

"At this time, I can confirm 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 representative said. "Upon finalization of his plans, further communication will be provided."

Kivimaki only got a two year suspended prison sentence after being convicted by Finnish courts, and Smedley has been vocal that it was a slap on the wrist compared to the multitude of problems he has caused people around the world. Smedley revealed that he is seeking legal actions against Kivimaki and his parents. Mind you, Kivimaki called in a bomb threat on a plane last year (which was taken very seriously) just because Smedley was on it.

"I've also been swatted (multiple times) and had over 50 false credit applications submitted in my name and had to deal with the ramifications of what happens to your credit when this kind of thing happens. It's not good. And to top it all off they decided to submit false tax returns," Smedley said on Reddit. "He's been involved for years in every kind of terrible thing you can imagine including Carding, hacking, swatting people all over the world. He's also participated in a major way in DDOS attacks that caused a lot of grief for gamers and a lot of economic damage to the companies that make and run games."

Shortly after Smedley made these comments, H1Z1 and Planetside 2 were hit with ongoing DDoS cyber attacks. Smedley is a figurehead in the history of the MMORPG genre, having created the original concept for Everquest and being a pivotal member in its creation. He founded Verant Interactive, which eventually was purchased by Sony and became Sony Online Entertainment. SOE was sold this past February and renamed the Daybreak Game Company. It sucks to see Lizard Squad and Kivimaki win, but Smedley is most likely stepping down for the sake of his company. In all likelihood, the cyber attacks against both Smedley and Daybreak intensified due to his comments, but someone really needs to stand up to these scumbags.

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