Layoffs – Page 4 – MMO Fallout

World of Darkness Cancelled

CCP has officially announced that World of Darkness has been cancelled. Some of you may remember that, last month, CCP’s annual financial report stated that the company had written off a piece of software as no longer having any value. It looks like that property was World of Darkness. In his note accompanying the announcement, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson states that the team was unable to deliver the experience that they wanted, and as a result development has ceased and some 56 employees have been laid off.

The decision to end the World of Darkness MMO project is one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make. I have always loved and valued the idea of a sandbox experience set in that universe, and over the years I’ve watched the team passionately strive to make that possible. To our current and former employees and fans of World of Darkness, I am truly sorry that we could not deliver the experience that we aspired to make. We dreamed of a game that would transport you completely into the sweeping fantasy of World of Darkness, but had to admit that our efforts were falling regretfully short. One day I hope we will make it up to you.

To those of you keeping a magnifying glass on World of Darkness, this news should not come as a shock. Between multiple layoffs and comments that World of Darkness was very low priority for CCP, with nothing to show for so long, it was only a matter of time before CCP cut their losses and moved on.

(Source: CCP)

Molten Games Suffers Massive Layoffs

Molten Games, the San Diego-based developer founded by ex-Blizzard and Sony Online Entertainment employees, has lost its funding and laid off its staff. The studio was in development of Blunderbuss, a “core” MMORPG built on the Unreal Engine 4 and featuring action combat.

The layoffs were confirmed by the San Diego chapter of the International Game Developer’s Association on the group’s Facebook page.

We’re getting word from contacts at Molten Games that the studio has lost its funding and laid off its employees. They are currently seeking funding to continue development. Let’s be proactive and help our fellow developers land on their feet.

Molten Games was originally funded by NCSoft, who were not able to comment on the matter as an investor with no role in management.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Turbine Suffers Layoffs

Turbine is in the midst of a round of layoffs. According to a news article on Gamasutra, the game developer let go an unspecified number of employees, with the explanation that the layoffs were necessary “in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine.”

“These are always tough decisions, which we don’t approach lightly, but it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace.”

How these layoffs affect Turbine’s games, including Lord of the Rings Online and Infinite Crisis, will have to be seen.

(Source: Gamasutra)

XL Games Layoffs Coming, Says Report

MMO Culture is reporting via Media IT that XL Games is about to undergo restructuring after the poor performance of ArcheAge in Korea. According to the report, recent updates including siege equipment were not received well by the community, with many complaints focused around ongoing balance issues between classes. The company’s decision to move ArcheAge over to free to play was apparently not successful enough to turn over the declining revenues.

How this will affect ArcheAge in other territories, where the game has apparently met success in Japan and is set for launch in China with no release date in sight for North America and Europe, will have to be seen. The reports are, at this point, unconfirmed as no layoff has taken place yet.

(Source: MMO Culture)

Trion Worlds Closes Guildford Office

As part of the developer’s ongoing realignment, Trion Worlds’ European publishing office in Guildford will be closed down.

“European localised versions of Trion’s live and upcoming games will not be affected as all regional game development and support continues from Redwood City, CA.”

The news comes on the heels of Trion closing down its San Diego branch and the return of Scott Hartsman as Chief Executive Officer.

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Trion: Hartsman Returns, Branch Closed

It is Christmas time, right? Trion has welcomed back Scott Hartsman as CEO. Some of you may remember back in January that Hartsman resigned from his position as Executive Producer on Rift, which some speculated had to do with disagreements over the then-rumored plans to make Rift free-to-play. If the move was to try and secure a higher position at Trion, then it was a success.

With all good news comes bad, however. Trion has also confirmed to Massively that the company has shut down its San Diego branch, moving operations to the Redwood City Studio. Many of the staff from the San Diego studio are expected to make the transition over to Redwood City.

“As part of this transition, we are working hard to ensure that a number of great people will be making the move from San Diego to the Bay Area and continue their work at Trion,”

Now about ArcheAge…

(Source: Massively)

Jagex Remaking Transformers Universe Within Six Months?

Back when Jagex announced that Transformers Universe was taking a full 180 degree spin and transforming itself from a traditional MMO into a League of Legends style MOBA, I removed it from our listings. After all, we don’t cover MOBA titles here and a recent poll showed that the majority of you have no interest in us changing that policy. I’ve talked a lot in the past about how Jagex has massive problems with their non-RuneScape titles, with literally every in-house project either dead in the water (Funorb) or never seeing release (8Realms, MechScape, Stellar Dawn), with the exception of a Facebook racing game called Carnage Racer released last year.

Enter Transformers Online, an MMO announced in 2011 for a 2012 release date, delayed for over a year, and the subject of a 100% makeover from MMO to MOBA because Transformers do not fish or bake bread. Eurogamer is reporting today that Jagex has confirmed that the Transformers Universe team has been scaled back, noting that most of those affected were moved over to RuneScape with thirteen being let go from the company entirely. The game will not be “adversely affected” from these changes, and the move comes from a recent decision to stray away from in-house technology in favor of an established engine. The article notes concerns from employees within the company as to the sudden change over to unfamiliar technology, and pressure from Hasbro to get the game out by the end of the year.

So where do we stand now? With the change in direction, and now a sudden tech swap barely six months before the intended release, what could possibly go wrong? My earlier predictions still stand: Either Transformers Universe will launch in a rushed and unfinished state, or Jagex will attempt to delay it further and risk incurring the wrath of Hasbro.

(Source: Eurogamer)

Reports Of Trion Layoffs Grossly Exaggerated

Rumors of Trion’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. IGN found this out the hard way when their reports that Trion had laid off 80% of its work force, escorting staff from the premises as well as denying severance to several senior leaders due to undelivered services, turned out to be a complete farce.

The actual number of laid off employees has not been revealed, although Trion has confirmed during a stream that the Rift team was not affected. The Defiance team, on the other hand, has undergone a round of layoffs of the type expected by a recently launched game. Trion’s in-development games were reportedly not affected either.

(Source: IGN)

RealU Lays Off Most Staff, Gamigo Seeks New Developer

Otherland is an upcoming MMO based on the book series of the same name, written by Tad Williams. The game is being developed by RealU, and published by Gamigo. At least it was, recent rumors that RealU has laid off most of its staff were confirmed by a Community Manager over at the Otherland official forums:

Unfortunately we have to confirm that the rumors are true and RealU, the developer of Otherland, has laid off most of its staff. RealU is a subsidiary of German publisher dtp, which by itself is currently in insolvency, and gamigo had and has very limited influence on this decision. We are disappointed by this development and very sorry for the development team.

As for Otherland itself, Gamigo hasn’t given up the ghost yet.

As for the Otherland game: we are still holding the exclusive publishing rights for Europe and North America and we are currently looking into opportunities to finish the title at another location. Please understand that for legal reasons we are unable to comment further on this matter.

Gamigo will keep us updated if they do manage to find a new location.

(Source: Otherland)

Funcom Bigwigs Weigh In On Relocation

With the recent layoffs Funcom’s Montreal/Raleigh offices and closure of Funcom’s Beijing office, everyone is asking: What does this mean for Age of Conan? Or The Secret World? Or Anarchy Online? Or that Lego Minifigure MMO? Or that kid’s game you probably never heard of? Each of the game’s directors have written their own letters to the community this morning, giving some insight into how things will be changing down the road ahead.

Craig Morrison stepped up on the Age of Conan website to discuss future content. There’s no point in sugar coating it, as Morrison says, and development will be affected by the layoffs and consolidation of the development teams. Development on Dragonspine content, as well as the trade-skill revamp and more are still in progress with most of the content still on track for release this year. Over at The Secret World, Joel Bylos discussed similarly that development will hit some turbulence due to the consolidation of the development teams into one studio, and the loss of employees unwilling to relocate as part of the restructuring. He goes on to say that The Secret World still has a strong development team, and that Issue #6 is on track to launch at the end of February, containing new content set in Egypt as well as improvements to the game’s PvP, among other additions.

Overall, the message is pretty similar: Expect some bumps in the road for the near future, after which Funcom hopes to get everything ironed out and resume normal operations. It appears that, while they may take more time, pretty much all of the content that was in development for Funcom’s MMOs prior to the shift are still on their way, even if they take a bit longer than hoped for.

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