Former Planetside and H1Z1 boss John Smedley joins Amazon Game Studios

Former boss at Daybreak (formerly Sony Online Entertainment, the studio behind Everquest, Planetside and H1Z1), John Smedley, has joined Amazon Game Studios' San Diego team.

The studio is working on "an ambitious new project that taps into the power of the AWS Cloud and Twitch to connect players around the globe in a thrilling new game world."

Prior to this move, Smedley was working with Pixelmage Games on procedurally-generated RPG Hero's Song, which was cancelled last month after receiving poor sales on Early Access.

Smedley made the news when he stepped down from Daybreak in July 2015 after being targeted in an online harassment campaign that included someone calling in a bomb threat to delay the plane he was supposed to be on.

Elsewhere at Amazon Game Studios, the company is working with Killer Instinct developer Double Helix on the four-vs-four competitive action game Breakaway.