Original Everquest Turns 15, SOE Offers Some Fun Facts to Celebrate

On March 16, 1999, Sony Online Entertainment released an online RPG that was to take the gaming world by storm: Everquest. At the time, I didn’t have any pull to try out an MMO, but I do recall many stories at the time of just how engrossing, and addicting, it was. At the time, even those who knew almost nothing about the game knew what “Evercrack” was referring to.

It wasn’t until nearly three years after Everquest‘s release that I finally decided to dive into an MMORPG of my own, Asheron’s Call. Not long after, I gave Everquest a go to see if it’d “click” – at the time, there were many Asheron’s Call vs. Everquest debates online – some of which I’m sure I should have stayed out of (but of course didn’t). I didn’t play for too long in comparison to AC, though I do have fond memories of my Necromancer.

While 15 years is a long time for a game, it’s also a very long time for the world of tech. It’s for this reason that the SOE-produced infographic made to celebrate this occasion could be of interest to those who don’t care about EQ at all. Did you know, for example, that at EQ‘s release, hard drives cost about $25.65-per-GB? At the same time, Altavista was the leading search engine, and a mere 42% of people owned a PC.

For those who do like the game, some of the facts here are sure to bring on a great feeling of nostalgia. At launch, the game featured 70 zones; in 2014, there’s over 1,557. Likewise, NPCs have dramatically increased, from 13,000 to 400,000 (that’s just a little mind-boggling…).

In 2005, Everquest II introduced an ingame command that looked like a joke, but wasn’t: /pizza. That’s right – for a time, you could order from Pizza Hut from inside the game.

Many more interesting facts can be seen in the infographic below, and for more information, you can hit-up the official Everquest anniversary hub.