John Smedley

Who is John Smedley?

John Smedley formerly was a computer game programmer, Product Development Director and is now President of Sony Online Entertainment since 2002.

Smedley was born August 27, 1968. He became heavily involved in table-top RPGS such as Dungeons & Dragons, which would later give him the ideas for Everquest. He attended Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, California, before graduating and attending San Diego State University.

In the early 1990s Smedley started a development company called Knight Technologies that produced contract games.

Smedley was involved with the creation and development of the original EverQuest, and was co-founder of Verant Interactive, Inc., which became Sony Online Entertainment, Inc. after it was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000.

In 2007, he announced a change in direction for Sony Online Entertainment, including a broadening of business models beyond the subscription model and pursuing female consumers to balance their audience, which was 85% male at the time.