I just got a press release announcing that Mike Hutchins has joined Sigil Games as a Senior Designer. Hutchins was a level/zone builder on the original version of Everquest.

Sigil Games, you’ll recall, is Brad “The Vision” McQuaid’s start-up and is getting packed full of ex-Verant people.

Press release ends with this snippet:

About Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Sigil Games Online, Inc. is a game studio dedicated to the development of massively multiplayer games. … Sigil Games plans to play a key role in taking MMOGs into their third generation and beyond.

Color me skeptical. EverQuest was the first 3D MMRPG and so it was mighty popular, but the game demands you devote your life to it. After McQuaid left, things lightened up a bit but still EQ is an incredible time sink. I just think if he builds a new game that puts such intense time demands on potential customers in today’s MMRPG climate, he’s going to be very surprised indeed.