Has anybody seen anything about this other than what came from here? The other articles out there all point back to MMORPG.com as the source...
theOcho, one of the community team from the official boards:
To the statement released:
"The PR statement from the article is correct.
In an effort to put a greater focus on the City of Heroes franchise, Paragon Studios is shifting resources within the studio. In order to optimize the refocus, there has been a reduction in force that has impacted a small amount of people. Paragon Studios is an integral part of the NCsoft West family and will continue to prosper, delivering the world’s most popular superpowered hero MMO game, City of Heroes, to fans around the world."
In reguards to BaB leaving:
"It’s our policy not to comment on personnel issues but rest assured that we remain as dedicated as ever to the future of the City of Heroes franchise."
"Paragon Studios is still profoundly committed to City of Heroes and is proud of both the game we have created and the community who plays it. We're here for the long run, no need to be scurred."
Sad to hear that the game is losing employees. I guess NCSoft thought it was time to put the game on life-support after the failure of Going Rogue. I used to play the game before the Mission Architect disaster. I made a lot of friends. It had a great community. Sad, really.
Doom troll thead ! Most of the people who've posted cant have played recently or ever. This game has more people than ever, most of the servers are busier than i've seen in years. Freedom and virtue are still laggy there's so many people on. The next issue after going rogue is introducing more end content . This is still the only mmo i've played where you can find teams easily from start to level cap and its only gotten better.
Nothing good comes from cutting staff. It means COH is hurting big time.
You obviously haven't been playing the game for the past few months if you think its hurting in the least bit. Nearly every server is yellow and 2 - 3 are always red or full. It hasn't been close to that for me since I first started playing 36 months ago. The population has shot up with going rogues release and it's holding onto its customers since.
Doom troll thead ! Most of the people who've posted cant have played recently or ever. This game has more people than ever, most of the servers are busier than i've seen in years. Freedom and virtue are still laggy there's so many people on. The next issue after going rogue is introducing more end content . This is still the only mmo i've played where you can find teams easily from start to level cap and its only gotten better.
I just recently tried the seven day trial that MMORPG offered for people to try out Going Rogue. I saw a few people, but not a lot. It seems about the same as when I left the game a few years ago. Going Rogue didn't seem to bring very many, if any people back. If the servers are as crowded as people claim, I don't think it would have been necessary to lay people off.
The expansion is done..less labor is needed. Makes perfect sense to me. This isn't something that doesn't happen with virtually every software release, game or not. People are hired on for the development cycle, some of them are let go when that part of the overall product cycle is finished.
Developers are retained if there's additional development planned for the future. For MMOs, when one expansion is released, the next one starts to go into development, so developers typically aren't let go. It only makes sense to fire developers after a release if there are no more major expansions planned, which means the game is near the end of it's life cycle.
I would like to point out that CoH/CoV has not tried to stack one expansion onto another like many companies, EQ being a prime example, where one of the reasons I quite playing was their schedule of 2 to 4 expansions every year. I got tired of plopping down a couple hundred dollars a year to keep up. CoH/COV geared up to produce Going Rogue. I would not expect another expansion for several years. Why keep people on for a project that is not even much on the drawing board yet, much less in need of developement. I think they are probably doing brainstorming about a possible next expansion, but I doubt it will be out of the "what might we do" stage for some time. That sort of thing can be done inhouse with the downsized staff, and when the time comes to actually start programming and writing, then they can hire some more manpower to work on things. In the current economic situation in the REAL WORLD, that makes a lot of sense. Keeping people on staff because you might need them sometime down the road doesn't...
To people who didn't see very many people when they tried it out recently....
When did you play? Middle of the night? While at work? This is not my experience. In the going rogue zones multiple teams are constantly in play, people are calling to fill teams or be on teams constantly in all channels. In the busiest servers you can't swing a cat without hitting new people. In the sparcer servers, it's still busy, and getting a team is hardly difficult... I get blind invites all the time, and usually accept them.
I sometimes think you people would complain population was falling off if there were a 200 person waiting list to get on all the servers... I'm not seeing the problem you are, and I've been playing over 5 years. Maybe you've all been on WoW or something, where I assume, based on the subscription numbers Ive seen, that you can't hardly move without running over somebody... I like it a bit more reasonable, myself.
(Not as dead as EQ is these days, now there is a failing game if there ever was one...)
The servers are yellow and red because they could never handle even the slightest influx of new or returning people. Every time there's a free weekend or a new update gets released, the servers go to shit. It's been like this for years and continues to be like this even after their server "upgrade".
This is just another reason why i am reluctant to come back. And, yes. I came back temporarly over the summer.
I'm shocked to see this leaked as news so quickly and I'm doubly shocked to see my name associated with it. I don't know who leaked this, why, or how they knew but I'm very uncomfortable with the thought of it leading anyone to the conclussion that I was involved in making this public knowledge.
....must ...resist ...schadenfreuden...
No no, it really is sad to even see rumors like this midst an economy that's pretty much collapsing equally around everyone (except for the top 2%, aka: Banking Investor Class). BaB really brought a lot more to the game than just a stereotypical Tank character & brutish animations for Huge models. He brought common sense to design too that was all too often cut off by "The Vision" folks who have moved on to milk other genres like the fly by night grifters I always knew they were. BaB was the only guy there who ever pwn'd my shit in indirect (or for that matter, Direct) arguments...
The expansion is done..less labor is needed. Makes perfect sense to me. This isn't something that doesn't happen with virtually every software release, game or not. People are hired on for the development cycle, some of them are let go when that part of the overall product cycle is finished.
Developers are retained if there's additional development planned for the future. For MMOs, when one expansion is released, the next one starts to go into development, so developers typically aren't let go. It only makes sense to fire developers after a release if there are no more major expansions planned, which means the game is near the end of it's life cycle.
Given NCsofts past record of axing four western games, its possible they plan to add a 5th closed game to their collection. Only time will tell how this works out.
lol...NCS-West is running dry on money. It's just like the body after a traumatic injury...the brain is desperately trying to keep core functions running by reducing blood flow to the extrimities.
In NCSW's case, money is blood and they're running out of it and so they're cutting off the flow of said cash to limited profitable franchises.
On a side note:
For those of you saying "well why keep devs if the game is end-of-life" or "expansions are as frequent {directed at Beggly}" You are absolutely right, the company doesn't...they move them to other projects (see Blizzard). The fact that NCSW laid them off means either:
a) NCSW doesn't have anymore projects planned for the near future
b) NCSW is strapped for cash
Furthermore, to those saying "you're all naysayers" yes...because a company wishing to NOT commit Corporate Suicide would willing come forward and say "yeah, we're broke and cancelling less profitable franchises". They'll run CoH/V into the ground just like Tabula Rasa and Exteel** before finally saying they're closing the servers.
**I know so many who were pissed to learn they'd just spent a lot of money (a few spent more than $100 USD -THAT MONTH-) buying the "exteel" coins for the item shop only to learn the following month the servers would be closing.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.
Nothing good comes from cutting staff. It means COH is hurting big time.
Most times it means there is more important work todo.
Just like there were more important games to play back around the time Jack Emmert thumbed his nose at the game and fans and moved on to ruin other games.
CoX had so much potential ... and I admire many of the features they pioneered, however the inattentiveness to the end game and the players who waited patiently for ... nothing ... , Enhancement Diversification, and the changes to the Hamidon encounter were all catalysts for a massive exodus away from the game, IMO.
It was never the same, try as I might - even with free activation weekends. There just wasn't enough incentive in content and innovation given to me as a veteran player to warrant a sustained investment of the game.
Oh, and I was one of a select few fans who begged for the means to switch sides after CoV was released. My suggestions for what I called "Crossover" were mocked, panned in typical derision by the fanbois and developers alike. There was just no way to do it without keeping archetypes balanced, I was told. Looks lke they found a way ... but ... oh by the way ... nobody plays anymore, you tools!
However, not putting any more cash into expansions, and possibly consolidating servers, in the next year, that i could see.
I do not think their latest expansion did very well, nor drew back many old players.
Have to see how DC does when they come out. That could affect what happens next year.
COH V has the same problems many older games do. It is hard to attract many new player to be long term, and even harder to get people that used to play to come back for more than a few weeks.
Expansion are mostly aimed at your current players, and your old players that had bought and played before, and hard to get them to keep subbing if they had not liked something about game before.
All that said, think it is still a money maker, if they drop some devs and just go to trying to keep what they have.
OmaliMMO Business CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 1,177
This is just one giant back and forth between posters and trolls who clicked here from the main page and replied to the title without reading the thread.
"Lol nobody plays this game."
"Yes they do, the servers are in yellow capacity"
"They're laying off? I guess the game is dying."
"It's not dying, I just said the servers are in yellow."
"Lol, guess the next step is shutting down because no one plays"
Wow, put out an awesome new expansion and then get fired. That's gratatude for ya.
NCsofts attitude seems to be "what have you done for me lately?"(as in this quarter). Its all about making the quarterly report look sweet. While thats pretty much a standard suit perspective, NCsoft seems to take it to extremes in terms of their western games. Time will tell the tale.
There are many die hard fans of this game, and even more people that play for a few months, leave and come back. I am of the later but I know of many hard core fans that have Veteran rewards up to the current month of playing.
In this game, your subscribed time earns you Vet rewards ( not how old your account is ). That is alot of incomming consistant money that NCsoft would be fools to get rid of. I did see a spike in server activity for a few months, but it is settling back down a bit with 3 servers remaining in the red ( red meaning heavy load on server ) for prime times.
At any rate, it is always sad to see people loose thier jobs, but I feel the game is going to be just fine if not less a few of the lower populated servers.
Comments
theOcho, one of the community team from the official boards:
To the statement released:
"The PR statement from the article is correct.
In an effort to put a greater focus on the City of Heroes franchise, Paragon Studios is shifting resources within the studio. In order to optimize the refocus, there has been a reduction in force that has impacted a small amount of people. Paragon Studios is an integral part of the NCsoft West family and will continue to prosper, delivering the world’s most popular superpowered hero MMO game, City of Heroes, to fans around the world."
In reguards to BaB leaving:
"It’s our policy not to comment on personnel issues but rest assured that we remain as dedicated as ever to the future of the City of Heroes franchise."
"Paragon Studios is still profoundly committed to City of Heroes and is proud of both the game we have created and the community who plays it. We're here for the long run, no need to be scurred."
Sad to hear that the game is losing employees. I guess NCSoft thought it was time to put the game on life-support after the failure of Going Rogue. I used to play the game before the Mission Architect disaster. I made a lot of friends. It had a great community. Sad, really.
Doom troll thead ! Most of the people who've posted cant have played recently or ever. This game has more people than ever, most of the servers are busier than i've seen in years. Freedom and virtue are still laggy there's so many people on. The next issue after going rogue is introducing more end content . This is still the only mmo i've played where you can find teams easily from start to level cap and its only gotten better.
You obviously haven't been playing the game for the past few months if you think its hurting in the least bit. Nearly every server is yellow and 2 - 3 are always red or full. It hasn't been close to that for me since I first started playing 36 months ago. The population has shot up with going rogues release and it's holding onto its customers since.
I just recently tried the seven day trial that MMORPG offered for people to try out Going Rogue. I saw a few people, but not a lot. It seems about the same as when I left the game a few years ago. Going Rogue didn't seem to bring very many, if any people back. If the servers are as crowded as people claim, I don't think it would have been necessary to lay people off.
I would like to point out that CoH/CoV has not tried to stack one expansion onto another like many companies, EQ being a prime example, where one of the reasons I quite playing was their schedule of 2 to 4 expansions every year. I got tired of plopping down a couple hundred dollars a year to keep up. CoH/COV geared up to produce Going Rogue. I would not expect another expansion for several years. Why keep people on for a project that is not even much on the drawing board yet, much less in need of developement. I think they are probably doing brainstorming about a possible next expansion, but I doubt it will be out of the "what might we do" stage for some time. That sort of thing can be done inhouse with the downsized staff, and when the time comes to actually start programming and writing, then they can hire some more manpower to work on things. In the current economic situation in the REAL WORLD, that makes a lot of sense. Keeping people on staff because you might need them sometime down the road doesn't...
To people who didn't see very many people when they tried it out recently....
When did you play? Middle of the night? While at work? This is not my experience. In the going rogue zones multiple teams are constantly in play, people are calling to fill teams or be on teams constantly in all channels. In the busiest servers you can't swing a cat without hitting new people. In the sparcer servers, it's still busy, and getting a team is hardly difficult... I get blind invites all the time, and usually accept them.
I sometimes think you people would complain population was falling off if there were a 200 person waiting list to get on all the servers... I'm not seeing the problem you are, and I've been playing over 5 years. Maybe you've all been on WoW or something, where I assume, based on the subscription numbers Ive seen, that you can't hardly move without running over somebody... I like it a bit more reasonable, myself.
(Not as dead as EQ is these days, now there is a failing game if there ever was one...)
The servers are yellow and red because they could never handle even the slightest influx of new or returning people. Every time there's a free weekend or a new update gets released, the servers go to shit. It's been like this for years and continues to be like this even after their server "upgrade".
This is just another reason why i am reluctant to come back. And, yes. I came back temporarly over the summer.
....must ...resist ...schadenfreuden...No no, it really is sad to even see rumors like this midst an economy that's pretty much collapsing equally around everyone (except for the top 2%, aka: Banking Investor Class). BaB really brought a lot more to the game than just a stereotypical Tank character & brutish animations for Huge models. He brought common sense to design too that was all too often cut off by "The Vision" folks who have moved on to milk other genres like the fly by night grifters I always knew they were. BaB was the only guy there who ever pwn'd my shit in indirect (or for that matter, Direct) arguments...
Given NCsofts past record of axing four western games, its possible they plan to add a 5th closed game to their collection. Only time will tell how this works out.
lol...NCS-West is running dry on money. It's just like the body after a traumatic injury...the brain is desperately trying to keep core functions running by reducing blood flow to the extrimities.
In NCSW's case, money is blood and they're running out of it and so they're cutting off the flow of said cash to limited profitable franchises.
On a side note:
For those of you saying "well why keep devs if the game is end-of-life" or "expansions are as frequent {directed at Beggly}" You are absolutely right, the company doesn't...they move them to other projects (see Blizzard). The fact that NCSW laid them off means either:
a) NCSW doesn't have anymore projects planned for the near future
b) NCSW is strapped for cash
Furthermore, to those saying "you're all naysayers" yes...because a company wishing to NOT commit Corporate Suicide would willing come forward and say "yeah, we're broke and cancelling less profitable franchises". They'll run CoH/V into the ground just like Tabula Rasa and Exteel** before finally saying they're closing the servers.
**I know so many who were pissed to learn they'd just spent a lot of money (a few spent more than $100 USD -THAT MONTH-) buying the "exteel" coins for the item shop only to learn the following month the servers would be closing.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.
Just like there were more important games to play back around the time Jack Emmert thumbed his nose at the game and fans and moved on to ruin other games.
CoX had so much potential ... and I admire many of the features they pioneered, however the inattentiveness to the end game and the players who waited patiently for ... nothing ... , Enhancement Diversification, and the changes to the Hamidon encounter were all catalysts for a massive exodus away from the game, IMO.
It was never the same, try as I might - even with free activation weekends. There just wasn't enough incentive in content and innovation given to me as a veteran player to warrant a sustained investment of the game.
Oh, and I was one of a select few fans who begged for the means to switch sides after CoV was released. My suggestions for what I called "Crossover" were mocked, panned in typical derision by the fanbois and developers alike. There was just no way to do it without keeping archetypes balanced, I was told. Looks lke they found a way ... but ... oh by the way ... nobody plays anymore, you tools!
I doubt they are even close to closing the game.
However, not putting any more cash into expansions, and possibly consolidating servers, in the next year, that i could see.
I do not think their latest expansion did very well, nor drew back many old players.
Have to see how DC does when they come out. That could affect what happens next year.
COH V has the same problems many older games do. It is hard to attract many new player to be long term, and even harder to get people that used to play to come back for more than a few weeks.
Expansion are mostly aimed at your current players, and your old players that had bought and played before, and hard to get them to keep subbing if they had not liked something about game before.
All that said, think it is still a money maker, if they drop some devs and just go to trying to keep what they have.
I don't think so either as long as they are making cash on it.
But they might do as SOE with VG and put a skeleton crew on it to just keep it running.
The panel stated they had around 750k characters logging in after GR... not WoW numbers, but not bad.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
This is just one giant back and forth between posters and trolls who clicked here from the main page and replied to the title without reading the thread.
"Lol nobody plays this game."
"Yes they do, the servers are in yellow capacity"
"They're laying off? I guess the game is dying."
"It's not dying, I just said the servers are in yellow."
"Lol, guess the next step is shutting down because no one plays"
Possible, but thats not been the approach that NCsoft has taken in the past. Aion(west) I can see them doing that, but another western game?...
Wow, put out an awesome new expansion and then get fired. That's gratatude for ya.
NCsofts attitude seems to be "what have you done for me lately?"(as in this quarter). Its all about making the quarterly report look sweet. While thats pretty much a standard suit perspective, NCsoft seems to take it to extremes in terms of their western games. Time will tell the tale.
Next will come the server merges in an attempt to keep the game afloat and then finally the game will be closed.
There are many die hard fans of this game, and even more people that play for a few months, leave and come back. I am of the later but I know of many hard core fans that have Veteran rewards up to the current month of playing.
In this game, your subscribed time earns you Vet rewards ( not how old your account is ). That is alot of incomming consistant money that NCsoft would be fools to get rid of. I did see a spike in server activity for a few months, but it is settling back down a bit with 3 servers remaining in the red ( red meaning heavy load on server ) for prime times.
At any rate, it is always sad to see people loose thier jobs, but I feel the game is going to be just fine if not less a few of the lower populated servers.
Work hard Play Harder