Layoffs at Bioware What does this mean for content

[Stugotz]

What a bunch of bull.

[Urael]

It's not like the days of E&B at all. With E&B there was no warning, no sign. In fact, by all accounts E&B was profitable. Just not profitable enough for EA. The ax to E&B was sudden and unexpected. I swore off EA after that...said I'd never by another EA game....and then they had to go and by my favorite RPG company....

 

EA seems to be to MMOs as Microsoft is to MMOs: Not sure what to do with them/ Don't understand the model or the customer.

 

I am sure it was about "EAs" Idea of a bottom line. Without understanding the ebb and flow of the MMO customer base EAs expectations were too high. Bottom line EAs fault all around but EA won't take the hit, ever.

 

Sorry this happened to BW. I too wish those that lost their jobs well.

[Sanxxx]

If it's the same or up folks will just claim they are lying if it's down there will be a celebration...wonderful community what?

 

I'm sure no one will make any claims about EA lying.

[TUXs]

This is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum. Bioware AUSTIN was so far removed from the actual Bioware that it was like calling NEW Coke, Coke. The lack of design BASICS at launch, like more than 2 windows open at once or moving the windows, to me, demonstrated a team of developers who felt they were bigger and better, because of their name, than they actually were.

 

While I feel bad for the families involved, please keep in mind that this is business, it's not personal. If it were, I'm sure we'd see a lot of other names on the 'let go' list.

[kmufc]

Wouldn't be the first time, wont be the last, I can't say I care.

 

yeah, i feel the same now.

[Frostvein]

Layoffs are not funny period. I think this game is borderline terrible, and I still don't wish for anyone to lose their job.

 

That said, this is the nature of the beast. And no, I'm not surprised.

 

You can't release an MMO that lacks as many fundamental features as TOR and expect success. I don't see how this bodes well, at all. Maybe you can make the argument that IF they hire new people, it might take TOR in a new better direction.

 

Since they didn't mention any new hires though, I somehow think that is a stretch.

[Cerion]

I think in general ppl are very upset in the way BW have handled and managed the game, thats why we see so many negative posts, and with EA being the publisher this adds tension also.

 

EA is more than the publisher. I'm sure that the BioWare Austin CEOs wanted to keep their team intact...their statements are widely quoted. But the BW CEOs themselves have a boss, and that is EA. Make no mistake, EA made this call...I smell their well-cooked hamfists all over it. EA has zero idea how to run an MMO.

[JerokTalram]

The staff most likely cut were those brought on for launch and after launch to simply get things going quickly. This happens with every game....kinda odd they bothered posting about it I guess they just wanted us to hear it from them first.

 

They have over a million customers still so I'm doubting the layoffs are of key staff. Even Blizz lays support staff off.

 

The information about the layoffs was leaked. That's why the Docs released a statement.

 

This layoff has to do with the completion of the Legacy stuff with 1.3. No MMO runs the same size development team once established. They all lay people off. They will ramp up again for the first expansion.

 

Of course that doesn't mean they couldn't also be shaking things up as well.

[Tuscad]

Please explain who was laid off and why. Thank you.

 

We don't really know who other then they were some of the original developers that worked on the game. http://kotaku.com/5912361/layoffs-hit-star-wars-the-old-republic-developers-at-bioware-austin

I am not suprised though, people have been saying heads need to roll for a while on the forums.

 

Edit: It is sad though.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Tuscad

[Jett-Rinn]

Layoffs are not funny period. I think this game is borderline terrible, and I still don't wish for anyone to lose their job.

 

That said, this is the nature of the beast. And no, I'm not surprised.

 

You can't release an MMO that lacks as many fundamental features as TOR and expect success. I don't see how this bodes well, at all. Maybe you can make the argument that IF they hire new people, it might take TOR in a new better direction.

 

Since they didn't mention any new hires though, I somehow think that is a stretch.

 

Well unless it's a key position developers don't usually announce new hires, I never understood the concept of announcing general layoffs but not announcing general hires.

[TUXs]

Of course that doesn't mean they couldn't also be shaking things up as well.

 

I certainly HOPE this is the case. We need a little sense of urgency from the remaining employees, maybe even some *gasp* forum time from them. A month LIVE Q&A where they answer REAL questions, not the cherry picked **edit** they've been answering.

[Maulfly]

ok guys, we're only allowed to discuss what it means for content, not the 'business practices of the company'. That's from the note I got when they removed my post.

 

Well, at least they let you know they removed your post. Mine was far more general and nothing that hadn't been already mentioned in this thread, but oh well...

 

What layoffs mean for content?

 

Depends.

 

Are they going to replace the employees they downsized today? If they do, will it be in all the departments or just certain ones? Depends on what their future focus for content and fixing issues will be.

 

If the staff they reduced were the people creating and fixing the content (and EA just wanted them to cut a quota of people, not necessarily went with quality of work...just speculation here, no one can say but Bioware and EA what really happened), then that puts a strain on all those remaining. Especially if EA sees TOR as not being as successful as they would like and likely won't be in a rush to throw money at getting replacement employees. In most situations, this sort of thing adds to workloads, which usually doesn't bode so well for the content produced. Now you have fewer people potentially working on PvP content, fixes, GTN upgrades, server transfers, and so forth.

 

IF they plan to replace the workers...then it may not be such a big impact...but that's assuming you can get as good or better quality workers and there isn't much training downtime to get them up to speed. IF this is the case or IF they got rid of the "fat" and only left the "good" workers, then, yes, you might see an improvement in content quality...depending on what the employee moral is at this point.

 

But will they have time to prove to EA that this are getting better, what with all the competition hitting this summer? If new (and impressive) content doesn't come out soon, people will hold off re-sub to try something else, which will only cause the sub numbers to look even worse. It would be sad if this became a nasty cycle and in the process cause deterioration of any planned future content.

 

So that's a basic view of what I think the layoffs could mean for content.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Maulfly

[Dragonexadon]

Well unless it's a key position developers don't usually announce new hires, I never understood the concept of announcing general layoffs but not announcing general hires.

 

The reason is to off set the shock when people start reading twitter , facebook, and other leaks about the lay offs from the employees I would guess

 

No one makes a big deal when people are hired for a job, it is when they lose a job that the ruckus starts. Which is understandable

[CKNairb]

I dont think this game has no where near 1.3 million subs that's the issues, the 1.3 figure includes the free month for legacy level 50s and the 6 month subs.

 

Once the free month and 6 month subs end, the figure will be much lower imo

 

we will find out next quarter

 

If what I read in the li k above is true, it counted Active Subs. Which includes also the Weekend Pass. As it is still counted as Active, just a weekly freebe, that goes inactive after the weekend

[Frostvein]

Well unless it's a key position developers don't usually announce new hires, I never understood the concept of announcing general layoffs but not announcing general hires.

 

I think that's the point people are making.

 

If it were a restructuring, or if they were going to hire new people they would say that if only to soften the PR blow. "Well, they fired two people but brought in two more, so no big deal"

 

It looks like a downsizing which makes people think they aren't getting new resources and are going to be getting less development time.

[JerokTalram]

This is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum. Bioware AUSTIN was so far removed from the actual Bioware that it was like calling NEW Coke, Coke. The lack of design BASICS at launch, like more than 2 windows open at once or moving the windows, to me, demonstrated a team of developers who felt they were bigger and better, because of their name, than they actually were.

 

While I feel bad for the families involved, please keep in mind that this is business, it's not personal. If it were, I'm sure we'd see a lot of other names on the 'let go' list.

 

I'm pretty sure James Ohlen (Lead Designer for both KOTOR and SWTOR) moved down to Austin from Edmonton. He also appears to be pretty involved.

[Sentenzas]

SWTOR is now the example of what-not-to-do-when-launching-a-MMO. The lessons learned are numerous.

 

Don't: Nerf like a kid with a lighter. If you take things away in the first 6 months of launch, people will get frustrated. Frustrated people leave to go back to characters they've played for years because they have no attachment to the 3 month old ones just nerfed. Or they go try a new game that has yet to nerf them. The mantra for 6 months after launch may and must be nerf if you must, but buff. If it makes bosses too easy, buff the bosses. Player interest is your only commodity and if you lose it, you lose your game.

 

Don't: ever ignore the forums. A visible developer presence on the forums gets attention on news sites. It shows the developers care, or at least fakes it. Never have your community managers EVER say that they have no power or will relay the information as it makes for hostile forums. For the first few months, have one of the developers spend a bit of time on the forums. Yes, the forums are not representative of the player base as a whole, but the forums are the squeaky wheel that gets heard on other sites.

 

Don't: EVER LAUNCH WITHOUT A GROUP FINDER. The genre has changed, this is a feature that is now standard. WoW put theirs in Dec. 2009, SWTOR needed it at launch in Dec. 2011. The whole reason PvP got so popular is that it was far easier to click one button and drop into a pvp queue than it was to find a group to run flashpoints and raids. It's better to launch with less content than to launch without every group enabling mechanic possible.

 

Don't: wait to balance things quickly after launch. It's better to make a quick change at first because it shows you're committed and interested. A responsive development team is essential to maintain player interest. And player interest is the only commodity an MMO has. A month long patch test is for beta, not for live. And certainly not 2 months after launch. The timetable to fix things is so much shorter at launch because you have to give the players no reason to go play anything else.

[AHChrist]

SWTOR is following the exact same path as Warhammer Online. After 1.2, more problems were created than solved. It is both sad and funny at the same time. They are making the exact same mistakes with servers as Warhammer. It is killing them but they are to stupid or proud to fix it.

 

Hate to bring up GW2...but guess what? They will never have that problem because you can switch to any server at anytime to meet up with friends. The only time server matters is in WvW, but I am sure if they see a few servers with low pop's, they will merge them because they seem to get it.

[Dragonexadon]

SWTOR is now the example of what-not-to-do-when-launching-a-MMO. The lessons learned are numerous.

 

Don't: Nerf like a kid with a lighter

They did not

 

Don't: ever ignore the forums.

Check the dev tracker

 

Don't: EVER LAUNCH WITHOUT A GROUP FINDER.

People in the forums in the community all did not want a group finder at launch. things changed when server populations were dying

 

 

Don't: wait to balance things quickly after launch. It's better to make a quick change at first because it shows you're committed and interested.

You need correct amount of data to make correct changes. their changes were timely regardless

[Tuscad]

Can we pronounce this game dead now? Is there a doctor around that can call it?

 

Two Doctors happen to run Bioware....

[JerokTalram]

If what I read in the li k above is true, it counted Active Subs. Which includes also the Weekend Pass. As it is still counted as Active, just a weekly freebe, that goes inactive after the weekend

 

Since the 1.3 was stated in an EA press release to investors, including weekend pass users would have been criminal.

[Cerion]

Layoffs are not funny period. I think this game is borderline terrible, and I still don't wish for anyone to lose their job.

 

And yet look at your signature. Of course you wish people to loose their job. Your well-documented crusade on this forum proves it.

[Tuscad]

I certainly HOPE this is the case. We need a little sense of urgency from the remaining employees, maybe even some *gasp* forum time from them. A month LIVE Q&A where they answer REAL questions, not the cherry picked **edit** they've been answering.

 

^TUXs, that is a brilliant way to think. I hope a sense of urgency is caused and widespread amongst the staff. The game could really benefit.

[CKNairb]

Since the 1.3 was stated in an EA press release to investors, including weekend pass users would have been criminal.

 

No as it is still an active sub, not a monthly, temp, or Reaccuring sub. They just said Active Sub

 

Notice in the first press they specifically said Reaccuring sub that past their first 30 days. This time they only said Active

 

It's all about the wording

Edited May 22, 2012 by CKNairb

[Maladon]

So they fixed the pvp grouping bug, the 3 person party companion bug, the "you're not in the raid frames" bug, the horrible search engines on vendors, the stealth cap bug, we now have world pvp, rated warzones, class balance and server transfers...I guess there's nothing left to do but fire the dev team, the game is finally finished.