"We have consistently hit over 100,000 simultaneous players over the last few months and see now as the perfect time to bring our user base to the next level with a new server," said Michael Lustenberger, director of product marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "New servers expand the potential user base of the game, offering new EverQuest players an opportunity to enter our unique game world, while giving loyal players a different experience with a new group of people from around the world."

The new server, Maelin Starpyre, is a standard rules server with a non-standard character transfer service available. Normally, when a new server opens in EverQuest, there is a waiting period of six months before character transfers may be requested to the new server, and characters are transferred without any items or gear. For the first time ever, characters can be transferred to the new Maelin Starpyre server with all of their items.

The Maelin Starpyre server is scheduled to go live today before noon Pacific Standard Time. Please visit the Maelin Starpyre Character Transfer Service page for full details, fees and restrictions at: https://store.station.sony.com/eq_item_moves/index.jsp

About EverQuest

With more than 430,000 active subscribers, EverQuest, developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment Inc., launched in 1999 and has since become a gaming and cultural phenomenon. Continuing to grow with award-winning expansions The Ruins of Kunark®, The Scars of Velious®, The Shadows of Luclin(TM) and The Planes of Power(TM), EverQuest proves to be the largest 3D fantasy world ever created online. During peak periods, more than 100,000 simultaneous adventurers have explored the fully detailed fantasy world of Norrath filled with dragons, knights, wizards, and more. The active global EverQuest subscriber base is comprised of players from 40 different countries including the U.S., England, Canada, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy and Australia.