EverQuest Hits the Road

In what some might perceive as an audacious ploy to grab attention for the online role playing game EverQuest, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is hittin' the road.

by Gretchen Hyman of siliconvalley.internet.com [June 24, 2002]

In a tour that kicked off Friday from SOE's San Diego headquarters in a trailer harkening back to the psychedelic road shows of the 1960s, the EverQuest promotional trailer plans to travel a cross-country zigzag over a four-month period, stopping in more than ten cities and making a final stopover in Massachusetts.

The purpose of the tour is to peak nationwide interest in EverQuest, the first in a series of multiplayer, Internet-based games that by 2003 will include EverQuest Online Adventures, a version designed specifically for the Sony PlayStation 2.

According to a spokesperson for SOE, the original EverQuest has a solid following of 430,000 subscribers, and and there is hope that the cross country tour will spawn even more followers, boost sales, and encourage the formation of EverQuest online gaming communities.

Calling it the EQ Invasion Tour, the 26-foot customized trailer will be hosted by two EverQuest experts and is equipped with 12 Sony VAIO desktop PCs with the Intel Pentium 4 and GeForce4 processor technologies provided by tour sponsor NVIDIA Corp. Other EQ tour sponsors include Intel, AT&T, Best Buy, Sony Electronics Inc., Altec Lansing, Prima Games, and Computer Gaming World Magazine.

The EverQuest tour plans to visit county fairs, sporting events, retail locations where video gamers tend to congregate, and a list of college campuses yet to be announced.

EverQuest gamers and prospective gamers who visit the EQ trailer will receive software demos, prizes, and a chance to chat with game designers and other players in their area.

"EverQuest is more than a computer game. It is an online community that stretches beyond traditional boundaries and barriers," said Scott McDaniel, vice president of marketing, SOE. "What better way to convey this point then to take the game on the road to millions of potential players all over the country."

According to the SOE spokesperson, a decision has not yet been made as to what the bus will do once it reaches its final destination in the East Coast. The trailer will either stay put, or drive back on a non-tour capacity.

— End