Esquire Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) New closed sticky for this catagory even. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=462269 To be honest, I figured this would be happening. We see no names that are being replaced and I also expected that. This is either for 1 of 2 reasons. They are downsizing (restructering) for a lesser amount of subs and income for this game, OR, they are chosing to go in another direction with the game and EA/BW felt that some of these guys would be a little too "set in their ways" and/or ridged in their thinking to follow the new direction. If it is a downsizing, I see no good for this in TOR, it's dev dept, or the game as a whole. If it is a new direction, and to be honest I would think this is the case with the amount of investment put into this game, it could be the best thing that ever happened to TOR. Ray and Greg, if your looking for replacements for some of your "SOE NGE" leads, may I suggest Raph Koster and Chris Klug. Both teach MMO development, both are very sucessful with direct followings of players/subscriptions, and both would be an extreme asset to your team and your game(s). To be honest, all you'd have to do is announce you are even in talks with these guys and I would resub on nothing but shear hope. May I also suggest Tony "Teesquared" Tyson. He's already in Austin and as the last Producer of SWG, subs were actualy going up with the amount of development features he was including simply by listening to his playerbase and developing accordingly. When "T" got the producer job (doubled up on his existing workload) SOE had already cut the dev team basicly down to 2 as cost cutting measures so he was very limited in what he could do and when. But, I seen this guy on the forums at 11:00 pm countless times putting in the time to get done what he could. Hjal would be another one you could go after. Edited May 22, 2012 by Esquire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrondorStone Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Uh oh guys. Is this starting to look familiar? Time to get off this sinking boat now! Peace out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickM Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Puh---lease... stop creating ads for medieval cartoon crap here.. I´m not twelve, I don´t want to be an elve. I was mostly using that as satire to comment on how Kotaku tends to report things. I can't stand either of those generic fantasy MMO games either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawelc Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Good news IMHO maybe they will hire a PVP Developer to run the PVP radical concept I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curzen Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) SWTOR is ******* now, since the new content was already coming at a way slower pace than it should. what new content? my class story has not advanced since launch and won't be for some time. Edited May 22, 2012 by Sireene quote of edited post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabredance Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Puh---lease... stop creating ads for medieval cartoon crap here.. I´m not twelve, I don´t want to be an elve. I am also pretty fed up with fantasy settings. Cyberpunk aka Shadowrun -that would be something tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curzen Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Good news IMHO maybe they will hire a PVP Developer to run the PVP radical concept I know. they announce layoffs and you dream about them adding new staff? let me be blunt: lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoLogan Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 This is bad news... I guess... I hope the game continues to grow in features and content. I really like the game and wouldn't like to see it go so soon. Maybe they don't need such a big workforce anymore as bugs are being addressed and the required staff for new content doesn't need to be so big. However, I'm sorry for the ones that will have to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panteleone Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Or....maybe it's just a definite sign that things are going just as badly as this forum thinks they are. Not possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Ravenhurst Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I was mostly using that as satire to comment on how Kotaku tends to report things. I can't stand either of those generic fantasy MMO games either. Oh ok.. then sorry Somehow I did not get the sarcasm this time.. usually I do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celwinn Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 they announce layoffs and you dream about them adding new staff? let me be blunt: lol. To be fair, they never said they wouldn't replace them either. So for all we know, they could layoff some people, but they could also replace others. We don't know what's going on behind the curtain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichyYoung Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Not great news to hear, we are all of course hoping its not down sizing and infact restructuring, if the current programmers havent got the skills needed to bring the technology to swtor then they need people who have. fingers crossed eh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawelc Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 they announce layoffs and you dream about them adding new staff? let me be blunt: lol. They said restructuring, just hopeing they build in the direction the players want the game to go. You honestly think they are just giving up on 300 million dollars after less than 6 months? People messed up after launch, they are going to be replaced. LOL @ the doom and gloom. Cant wait to find out who the new devs are going to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerion Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Ray and Greg, if your looking for replacements for some of your "SOE NGE" leads, may I suggest Raph Koster and Chris Klug. Both teach MMO development, both are very sucessful with direct followings of players/subscriptions, and both would be an extreme asset to your team and your game(s). I'm sure they know who Raph Koster is, lol. I think Dallas Dixon (from SWG and now at BioWare Austin) essentially replaced him. As for hiring him...yeah, perhaps he'd give up his gig making Facebook games, lol. Oh, how the mighty have fallen..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redundant Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 This is bad news... I guess... I hope the game continues to grow in features and content. I really like the game and wouldn't like to see it go so soon. Maybe they don't need such a big workforce anymore as bugs are being addressed and the required staff for new content doesn't need to be so big. However, I'm sorry for the ones that will have to go This is probably the real reason. During launch they need a massive Customer Support team and bug killing team too tackle urgent bugs. Its very, very sad. Mainly for those people who lost their jobs. But this is the reality of MMO's and companies. I know people love to think of gaming companies separate from others but at the end of the day if they don't need certain people they will get rid of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curzen Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 To be fair, they never said they wouldn't replace them either. So for all we know, they could layoff some people, but they could also replace others. We don't know what's going on behind the curtain. laying people off is bad and means things look bad. If you have anything positive going on, like replacing people or hiring better staff, then that's what you report. Yet the best sugar coating they can do is talk about how they will continue to grow the game. I guess that dude didn't get the memo that they are bleeding subscriptions at an alarming rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temad Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Puh---lease... stop creating ads for medieval cartoon crap here.. I´m not twelve, I don´t want to be an elve. Not sure if serious. Quoted poster looks down nose at people who play medieval themed sorcerers and knights in an MMO that has elves as childish. Thinks playing space sorcerers and space knights MMO that has jawas height of maturity and sophistication. You can't make this crap up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgelling Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) It's not encouraging to hear the lack of numbers mentioned - if it was only a couple of devs you'd think they might have mentioned that fact or thanked them individually for their work. Also, despite the term "restructuring" being used, they describe the remaining dev team in ways that clearly suggest it's smaller, not just shuffled: the team is "still substantial", ie they fired a significant percentage and apparently won't replace most of them. I know the forums are filled with QQ but on the heels of the 400,000 unsubs, the layoffs specifically on the SWTOR development team shows the QQ'ers are right. If BW or EA has continued confidence in the game they need to show their hand on 1.4 quickly, IMO. Edited May 22, 2012 by jgelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Ravenhurst Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) Yeah, completely! Getting rid of your employees is ALWAYS a good sign. It's a sign of a healthy business, and a great financial situation. As we all know - smaller teams are able to produce more content, and fix bugs FASTER. I mean... REALLY ? Firing people = GOOD THING ? o.O SWTOR is ******* now, since the new content was already coming at a way slower pace than it should. Trust me, sometimes it is necessary to bring "fresh blood" into a team, sort some out and do a little switcheroo in the team. People who worked too long on a concept which heads into a slightly wrong direction can get a little "stubborn" about their views, even if the signs show clearly that they have been on the wrong track. Some layoffs show that the company is not blind and acts, and tries to act fast - so I find these news very positive. Edited May 22, 2012 by Sireene quote of edited post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raansu Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Not exactly the kind of news this game needs right now...This is going to lead to more people leaving the game because they will believe 1.3 wont be here in early summer. They need to start talking release dates for 1.3 and ranked warzones to over shadow the layoff news else its just going to look even worse as time goes by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inZen Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 That's EA suits for you. Gawd I dislike EA as a company. Not going to say it's the worst in America, but they force crap like this all the time. Many people feel they are... http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20325358/electronic-arts-ea-worst-company-consumerist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holden_Dissent Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 they announce layoffs and you dream about them adding new staff? let me be blunt: lol. they already added new staff. DA3 people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorik Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Another thing to realize about this anouncement. They anounced it on this site first, you didnt hear it second hand from other sites a week later. Maybe thats a sign that leadership has changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jett-Rinn Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) Well folks shouldn't be "celebrating" too early...... I asked a friend at gamasutra and she believes it's just contractors whose contracts are up; the main team is still intact. Edited May 22, 2012 by Jett-Rinn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namesis Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Please tell me James Ohlen and Georg are among the changes as they have no clue what is going on in game. Yes more fluff legacy crap with no one to play with. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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