UPDATED, 9:50 PM EDT 9/10/08
No, no, not that, that’s yesterday’s tempest in a teapot. No, I’ve got something new pissing me off.
So. Let me see if I have this straight:
- Massive layoffs. (9:50 PM UPDATE: When I say “massive,” I do not mean “the September 10 layoffs.” I mean “the cumulative layoffs since the bloodletting started several weeks back.” The total, I believe, is between a quarter and a third of the studio. I consider that massive. Your mileage may vary.)
- Some of the finest people in the industry out of work.
- The entire Austin studio in shock. Well, not SHOCK, people KNEW, but you know.
- NCSoft executives facing a move from Austin (cheap as hell living costs) to Seattle (holy crap living costs, unless you want to drive across a bridge in horrific traffic) assuming they want to keep their jobs. Oh, wait, this isn’t a forced relocation, this is the birth of a new studio. A better studio. A stronger studio, rising from the ashes of the various slash and burn strategies. We’ll call it NC West and make like it’s a PLAN instead of a drastic retrenching.
- Lineage teams shut down. Lineage! With more than 150K paying subs. I can think of SEVERAL MMOs who aren’t doing nearly that well, and yet they’re still lurching along. The reason the smaller fry are still alive is that unless you are a complete moron without the management ability granted to the average flatworm with all its recessives reinforced, it is possible to keep collecting subs from a devoted core simply through events, bug fixes, and TLC. The only thing to knock a living MMO into death is contempt for the customers… or the shuttering of the company. (UPDATE: Let me clarify. The games are still running, and according to the sweet public relations person who contacted me tonight, the NC West group is creating a studio with the sole mission to “produce these games for a Western market.” So, while most of the Lineage team located in Austin may not have a job anymore, and the rest will have to decide if they’re going to Seattle or not, the GAMES are fine – “as strong as ever.”)
- Tabula Rasa is completely untouched as of this moment, but rather than anyone singing a few rounds of Non Nobis and Te Deum, the mood is more akin to watching a big eyed fluffy kitten making its way across a minefield. You know any minute now it’s going to get ugly, but you’re hoping the little fuzzball makes it against all odds, hey, wow, she’s almost ACK ACK I HAVE CAT INTESTINES ON MY FACE.
So, in the face of all that… it’s good to know the burlesque dancers and handrolled cigars are still a go. (UPDATE: Well, actually, the PR person – who was very nice, doing his best here – didn’t have anything to say about the actual point of my rant, which was that the juxtaposition of “fancy party” and “layoffs” is insensitive at best, Gilded Age excess at its worst. The timing of pink slips and party invites was horrendous… but since the in house PR guy was one of the casualties, I guess a little public bobble was inevitable!)
Whose idea was this? Did that person used to have a job choosing cruise ship band music in 1912? Maybe a hydrogen provider in 1937? After this, perhaps he can get a job playing the fiddle amidst towering infernos.
Wow … just wow.
guess the good ol’ boys are still at it and going strong huh?
And here I was about to try out this copy of TR I snagged at Dragon*Con…maybe not so much now.
The only thing I can *imagine* is that this was already in the works before the layoffs somehow…
You’ve got to be kidding me? Hardly any of that makes sense.
Like you said, why shut down a mmo with 150k subs?? How can you not keep that profitable.
I don’t get why they’d pick Seattle over Austin. It’s hard enough for most in the industry to make ends meet w/t the mid level positions and Austin was one of the few locations you could do so without a crazy commute.
I just picked up a copy of TR as well to try since I beta tested it ages ago, found I appreciated the combat/gameplay much more this time around. The game design still has some issues that would affect its longevity, but I’d say as standard mmo faire it’s got the ‘fun’ action part nailed. I really want to see this kitty survive, I think it has more going for it than other titles on the market.
[...] for NCSoft, great time for a party! September 10, 2008, 11:39 pm Filed under: Uncategorized More layoffs for NCSoft, great time for a party! No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI [...]
Unbelieveable. If they’re willing to shut down Lineage what reason is stopping them from killing off City of Heroes next? Subscriber counts have to be about the same or less.
I’m positive the party was planned long before the announcement – these parties take tons of time to put together. At the same time, layoffs take tons of time, too. Seems like a little respect for the laid off would have led the two planning teams to… talk? Exchange an email?
That’s what’s burning my britches, the disrespect to the labor force that no longer has a job. When a studio crashes, the people who ran it may cry a lot, but they land on their feet, or at least on top of a giant pile of money. I hear fifties are squishy.
I wonder if the open bar will be available to those who get smacked with the layoff bat?
They could probably use a few drinks after all the hubbub at NcSoft these days.
Jason (resident drunken idiot of Channel Massive)
the cigars is actually a pretty good idea
Cost of living in Austin ain’t “cheap as hell”. Yeah, it’s not New York City or California, but it’s not cheap either.
There’s been a lot of wonkyness going on with NCSoft for quite some time. Even one of their best MMO developers in North America jumped ship a little bit ago. To create competition for them no less. I’m don’t work in the gaming industry, but I think it says a hell of a lot about a publisher. That if an entire Development Team leave an already established and popular game to create competition for it.
LOL.
I believe they are just focusing their efforts on the products with the greatest future potential, and cutting the fat.
Sad, but possibly a good move.
that’s wow…just.
“Guilded Age excess” nails it.
“we’ve just had huge layoffs, now come join us for strippers, booze and cigars”
It’s like when my company announces fifth stright quarter record profits and the ceo get’s a 10% raise which costs 1.3 milion or so, and yet they lay off 10% of our department for a half-million dollar a year savings to help ‘streamline’ the company.
I can’t believe this either and according to these articles (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ncsoft-reports-42-fall-in-net-income) their revenue isn’t half bad either – I wonder what prompted all this. I can only guess that its the profit drop not the fact that they could operate just fine as is.
I’m really baffled.
What does AGDC stand for? (Austin Gaming Developer Community?)
I find the whole thing completely inappropriate and sexist, yet you all seem to accept this “old boy” type of event as normal. I agree it’s a slap in the face to the recently laid off, but it’s offensive without the lays off considered.
Even as a white, hetero male I wouldn’t attend something like this.
“Cost of living in Austin ain’t “cheap as hell”. Yeah, it’s not New York City or California, but it’s not cheap either.”
Yeah, actually I just moved here from the Pacific Northwest (Northern Washington) and the costs of living are pretty similar. Food is more expensive here in Austin, utilities are REDICULOUSLY high here, and rent is slightly lower (in *some* parts of Austin).
things Austin has going for it over non-Seattle, WA? Significantly lower gas prices… and enough humidity to turn any guy into a walking pot of ball-soup?
“I find the whole thing completely inappropriate and sexist, yet you all seem to accept this “old boy” type of event as normal..”
I hear Sanya is looking into purchasing some reality proof bubbles, perhaps you could sell her yours? I think it would do you both some good.
Every time NC has layoffs they throw a party either right before or right after. It’s a tradition, or something.
Doh. Yeah, the whole timing of this is odd at best, and salt in the wound at worst.
It’s really odd to me about the sacking of the Lineage teams. Despite Lineage turning into much more of a niche game by the day, it still has a dedicated following as far as I know, at least more than enough to justify having the team around to deal with issues. Granted, the Lineage 2 audience is more, well, international than most, the need for a team here might be a touch redundant, but surely there’s a need.
I’m real curious to see what happens when Champions Online starts coming around and how that will affect CoH, considering the development team.
NCsoft is the company that has routinely gotten nude or semi-nude spreads for their characters in Playboy. Burlesque and fire dancing is very tame for them.
Seattle bridge traffic isn’t really that bad. I drove it every day for three years, and it was rarely a problem.
But there are lots and lots of cheap places to live here that don’t require you to cross either bridge.
Using a cost of living calculator you can easily compare Austin vs Seattle with real numbers – http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html . The only thing that is cheaper in Seattle is utilities and likely following that gas for the same reasons. Still have to deal with things like parking, although Seattle has much better public transport.
My guess is they chose Seattle for faster, cheaper direct flights to Asia and back.
My IT friends in Austin told me years ago that NCSoft has a nasty reputation there for treating employees as expendable. This just reinforces that impression.
Astounding. This is like something out of a John Romero playbook.
When I was at PAX I noticed that the price of gas in Seattle was 50 cents higher a gallon than in Phx. Does Washington have some crazy state tax?
“Does Washington have some crazy state tax?” — yep, we do. 8.8% and in metro areas it can be a wee bit higher due to local taxes.
On the other hand, we don’t have state income tax, so, you know. It is a wash.
We do have nice scenery, 3-4ish actual seasons and friendly Canadians just a couple of hours away, so it ain’t all bad
that ‘splains it
Can someone please book me in for the post-TR retrenchment party? I’d like my name on the top of the list so I’m guaranteed some of that aged cognac and whale sushi served by supermodels.
[quote] “Does Washington have some crazy state tax?” — yep, we do. 8.8% and in metro areas it can be a wee bit higher due to local taxes.
On the other hand, we don’t have state income tax, so, you know. It is a wash.
We do have nice scenery, 3-4ish actual seasons and friendly Canadians just a couple of hours away, so it ain’t all bad
[/quote]
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Yeah the funny thing is most of WA was convinced that the reasons our gas prices have skyrocketed over the last 4 years was because of oil concerns in the middle east, but +95% of all WA state gasoline is straight from Alaska.
I smell another year of record profits for the oil companies!
and on a very related note, I DO absolutely love the scenery and landscape in Western Washington.. much more of a pleasant atmosphere then here in TX.
~Ash
i think that the company would probably do this to show the people still working there that they are valuable. Yes it may seem rude to do this…but morale is probably at an all time low at NCSoft, so in order to get their employees feeling motivated and it is not like the end of the world, they throw a party…yes it may seem semi hedonistic, but some times desperate times call for desperate measures.
I have a meeting AGDC might not be all that hopping due to the inc hurricane
Yeah that’s also the same night as another party that’s been planned and announced for more than a week, so I think I’ll be going to that one.
Yeah fingers crossed Seattle will keep going down on home prices, shame Google’s likely to muck that all up. On the party, seems like it would be excusable if those who were laid off were invited and it was billed as recruiting event, I mean it seems like they’ve killed their chance to head hunt as well with the layoffs.
Good theory, except that none of the employees were invited.
“i think that the company would probably do this to show the people still working there that they are valuable. Yes it may seem rude to do this…but morale is probably at an all time low at NCSoft, so in order to get their employees feeling motivated and it is not like the end of the world, they throw a party…yes it may seem semi hedonistic, but some times desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Two words: Garriott brothers.
[...] to Move Away from “Lighter” Games. Tabula Rasa may be on the chopping block. Time for a party! Blizzard to Allow PvE to PvP Server Transfers — for a [...]
[...] think I can top that. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? Eating Bees I believe the way it went down is this: the invite for that party went out only to certain people [...]
I have a feeling that NCsoft is going to push for the dems to bail them out….