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General: SOE Lays Off 41 Employees
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
In a statement made to Massively by SOE, five percent of Sony Online Entertainment's workforce, or 41 employees, have been laid off today. The lay offs were made to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency.
The full statement to Massively is available below:
"In a move to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs, Sony Online Entertainment has eliminated 5% of its full-time workforce, equaling 41 people. SOE looks forward to continuing its leadership role in the online games industry as it celebrates the highly successful launch of Free Realms, the 10-year commemoration of its ground-breaking EverQuest franchise, and the continued performance of the company's other games."
Via Massively.
Comments
Maybe if SOE actually published GOOD MMORPGs, they wouldn't have this problem.
They actually do publish good games, but that's only at launch. I think it's the arena of actual development where their direction seems to be flawed.
What I don't understand is why is it that the 3 or 4 SOE games I've experianced they ALL played VERY WELL and were VERY entertaining when they launched, but there's ALWAYS something done which alsmot completely destroys the games afterwards. Is there some sort of tinfoilhat conspiracy that someone in charge is actually sabatoging their products???
/removes_tin_foil_hat_and_passes_it_to_the_next_person
I would never play another SOE mmo.
They actually do publish good games, but that's only at launch. I think it's the arena of actual development where their direction seems to be flawed.
Spot on.
They used to make good MMORPGs, but then they mess everything up by watering down the games and adding shit like RMT.
It serves them well.
DC online might save their ass for a couple of months but The Agency will be a real disaster.............watch this space.
So more redundancies next year, well done Smedley
True, but their lack of understanding of communities and player base and fans is what is their fall.
Bad news when any Employees loose there jobs from any company - dam shame
Playing: FFXIV
Future: wishing for SWG 2, World of Warcraft Classic
Played: Most current and extinct MMO's - 18 Years in....
Interesting Fact - I own 27 Tarantula's
agreed its easy to mock and make jokes but those poor people have lost their job.
probably from the parking lot
Playing polished, lag free, feature complete games is carebear. Whining about a game you hate but still play is hardcore man!
SOE's main problem in my opinion is the lack of stability and player voice when it comes to game development. Sure games may take off good but then comes the first round of updates which they pass off as "game enhancements" which are really nothing but flawed attemtps to appease the "I wanna be uber at level 1" minority. They have no real insite into what their fanbase really wants. And heavens forbid if you go on their official forums and post a complaint or grievence...it gets downed faster than a beer at a hobo convention. They bounce around on issues so much, playing up to whatever group is screaming the loudest that hey fail to make GOOD BALANCED decisions when it comes to game developemtn. Then when its screwed beyond repair..the "improve" the games be rewriring the whole thing. I used to enjoy EQ2 till it became all bout the TCG loot.. ..used to like SWG till they put out Trials of Obiwan and 2 weeks later rewrote 95% of the game makng the exansion a usesless piece of crap. Matrix ONline is dead...again because of game breaking "enhancements" and piss poor community support.
SOE makes their money in the first few months of a release then toss it down the crapper...offer us tidbits of worthless crap that leaves more things broken than fixed. Bu they dotn care..they made thier money in the first 90 days....these layoffs were inevitable..cause SOE has no concept of when to leave somethign alone thats not broken
I truly hope that Raph Koster...the guy that ruined SWG...was one of them.
I emphasize with the rest. Been there.
You can trust me with your secrets. Think of me as a wrinkled safe.
You desperately need a history lesson. Raph Koster MADE SWG. It was the geniuses after him that ruined it. He left a long time ago, on his own terms.
Sad these people lost their jobs, but that's the direction SOE has been heading for years. As previously mentioned by others, if SOE would only listen, they'd be in the lead. They've got the IPs, they've had the talent, only problem is they also have the arrogance to think they know what their players want better than their players do. But that's all of Sony, not just SOE.
There's a sucker born every minute. - P.T. Barnum
Game was ruined from the getgo with the adoption of a database that acted like a spaghetti bowl. Fix one thing...break another. That was Raph's doing.
The fact that he left before the complete demolition of the game is immaterial. And yes I knew he had left SOE..it was just wishful thinking.
You can trust me with your secrets. Think of me as a wrinkled safe.
How can they continue a role they don't currently hold? That's some epic-level delusions of grandeur, right there... never mind wishful thinking.
As much as they might've originally been able to claim this with EQ, they well and truly blew that away with their screw-up of not only SWG but every other game since then, too. I very much doubt they'll ever be in that position, again (given the way they deal with their customers).
That line, alone, made me laugh both heartily and derisively.
I sympathise with the people that just lost their jobs... but on a positive note: at least they no longer work for Sony?
A bright side to everything.
sony games are on my black list
sony for me has a bad reputation for screwing over their player base and not evolving games in a direction that their players wish to go.
I activly warn people to stay away from any sony games.
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
I don't really know who to blame, but the PvP among the different skill trees weren't balanced at all at release. If Raph designed those, then that is his fail.
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
I don't really know who to blame, but the PvP among the different skill trees weren't balanced at all at release. If Raph designed those, then that is his fail.
one person doesnt do all the balancing. MMORPG development teams are NOT made of 10 people, with 1 person doing ALL the balancing.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
I don't really know who to blame, but the PvP among the different skill trees weren't balanced at all at release. If Raph designed those, then that is his fail.
one person doesnt do all the balancing. MMORPG development teams are NOT made of 10 people, with 1 person doing ALL the balancing.
Some of the abilities weren't even balanceable, like they just did one thing. Pistol Whip spam FTW. Even so, he had to of had a hand in it. Especially if he was in a lead position, where it makes it more his fail than the others.
EDIT, oh, I guess I forgot pistol whip did damage too. Doesn't change anything though.
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
I don't really know who to blame, but the PvP among the different skill trees weren't balanced at all at release. If Raph designed those, then that is his fail.
one person doesnt do all the balancing. MMORPG development teams are NOT made of 10 people, with 1 person doing ALL the balancing.
Some of the abilities weren't even balanceable, like they just did one thing. Pistol Whip spam FTW. Even so, he had to of had a hand in it. Especially if he was in a lead position, where it makes it more his fail than the others.
EDIT, oh, I guess I forgot pistol whip did damage too. Doesn't change anything though.
ok .... you can blame him for unbalancing proffessions that no longer exist. Balancing isnt something you can make perfect before release. Balancing consists of years of being on the shelves, look at EVE, or even WoW. Balancing is still going and even still you can find a class here and there that is unbalanced. You're drawing at straws here.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
why do i get the feeling you're trolling .... or you just dont have any idea what your talking about.
I don't really know who to blame, but the PvP among the different skill trees weren't balanced at all at release. If Raph designed those, then that is his fail.
one person doesnt do all the balancing. MMORPG development teams are NOT made of 10 people, with 1 person doing ALL the balancing.
Some of the abilities weren't even balanceable, like they just did one thing. Pistol Whip spam FTW. Even so, he had to of had a hand in it. Especially if he was in a lead position, where it makes it more his fail than the others.
EDIT, oh, I guess I forgot pistol whip did damage too. Doesn't change anything though.
ok .... you can blame him for unbalancing proffessions that no longer exist. Balancing isnt something you can make perfect before release. Balancing consists of years of being on the shelves, look at EVE, or even WoW. Balancing is still going and even still you can find a class here and there that is unbalanced. You're drawing at straws here.
TBH, I'm just giving you a hard time, but really, the guy is not a god, and perfect balance cannot be obtained as long as every char is different, maybe close, but never perfect. Which I'm sure the almighty Ralph knows. Btw, how are his recent shenannigans coming along?
Now if the dump upper management will only focus more on VG.....
All the best to those staff...
RIP Orc Choppa
Yeah they prolly laid off 41 people just because its going real good for them right now...
ok .... you can blame him for unbalancing proffessions that no longer exist. Balancing isnt something you can make perfect before release. Balancing consists of years of being on the shelves, look at EVE, or even WoW. Balancing is still going and even still you can find a class here and there that is unbalanced. You're drawing at straws here.
TBH, I'm just giving you a hard time, but really, the guy is not a god, and perfect balance cannot be obtained as long as every char is different, maybe close, but never perfect. Which I'm sure the almighty Ralph knows. Btw, how are his recent shenannigans coming along?
lol what, because i corrected someone who thought raph had to do with the SWG's demise, i think hes a god all of a sudden? And his latest "creation" was metaplace: http://www.metaplace.com/
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
Well I am not surpized at this point. i would have thought that this would have happened by now.
I played SWG sine beta. It had its problems then the NGE hit the entire game was a total throw away at that point. The client base at tht point took about a 90% hit, to the point of being so bad they had a forced merger. Folks still play I had a free month of play, and still hated it.
Then you had the epic fail of vangaurd. Folks still do play it, but there is a limited number ofservers.Same with this I had a free month of play and still hated it as well. You have the also epic fail of pirates.
I still play EQ2, it was a ok game a start, but they have actually done some nice things for it. However once again the player base used to be in hundreds of thousands, now im not sure where it sits.
I would suspect, that after they finish cleaning out the desks over at the matrix department, they will be keeping an eye on SWG and Vangaurd, thi is just the first round of cuts, there is going to be more, I can almost gaurantee that.
I wish sony and other MMO's would learn to not nerf stuff but find other ways of balance, and balance is not needed in some games, like EQ2 there really is no pvp.
OH well and laid of is a nice term for being fired, been there done that.
lol soe did a nge to the staff..
Lets hope its some of the toilet boys that had to go, and not some of the few skilled devs they have.
Tho, I'd have hoped Smeddlers name was on the list of people to let go, but I have a feeling he snaked himself out of the choppingblock again, like he always do... In smeddlers world, shit always end up on the lower ranked, and not the man himself.
It's hard to find a company NOT having layoffs during the current economic conditions. The company that I work for, one of the top engineering companies in my country recently dumped around 20% of its staff. Thankfully, the IT department wasn't really affected and I still have a job.
Anyway, according to a SWG dev, none of the SWG team was affected (http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=959814�). Infact, it seems SWG is gaining a Dev that's transferring over from EQ2 http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=454839