I hope those let go quickly find new jobs/positions elsewhere. Sometimes, in order to move up, you have to hit rock bottom first. Hopefully this is the case for Daybreak Games.
We can only speculate as to what all this means for the future of the franchises we love - but there really isn't any point and letting our emotions get the best of us here. I'm sure Daybreak doesn't even know what the future holds for all their current projects.
If they want any animosity towards Columbus Nova to end then Columbus Nova needs to be more transparent and maybe give a quick explanation as to their plans. You don't pull the jobs out from people with no word as to why other than typical corporate double talk like "restructuring" and expect people to just accept it. It's not happening. However, if they don't want to lose customers they might want to notice how this is affecting the MMO community and make a statement of some sort, not that it will probably be the right one or do any good at this point, but this is the main problem with "corporations" worldwide these days. No one TRUSTS you!
Anyway, best of luck to all who lost their line of work. Been there a few years ago with Warhammer Online so I know it sucks.
They deserved to be fired. They stood on top ignoring all the outcry from community to fix issues in game and they laughed. I remember andersen's live DCUO twitch stream where at 1st they went for random legends arena match and without any surprise got 1 shot killed by hackers. after a while they stopped stream for "technical difficulties" and resumed with normal arena matches where hacking happens even less. Then they claimed "due to technical problem it felt like there was hacking going on but there was not". incompetent fools. Good riddance and go to hell you worthless pieces of junk morons.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
If they want any animosity towards Columbus Nova to end then Columbus Nova needs to be more transparent and maybe give a quick explanation as to their plans. You don't pull the jobs out from people with no word as to why other than typical corporate double talk like "restructuring" and expect people to just accept it. It's not happening. However, if they don't want to lose customers they might want to notice how this is affecting the MMO community and make a statement of some sort, not that it will probably be the right one or do any good at this point, but this is the main problem with "corporations" worldwide these days. No one TRUSTS you!
Anyway, best of luck to all who lost their line of work. Been there a few years ago with Warhammer Online so I know it sucks.
There's no trust for good reason.
In almost every case, when companies withhold information it is because they know (or suspect) that it will have a negative impact on revenue. So announcements are made at the last possible moment, even if the facts have been known for months or years. This often results in customers feeling scammed or "lied to", even though the action may be perfectly legal.
If CN intend to cancel come legacy SOE games, for instance, they'll wait until the last moment to announce it. Otherwise it could affect the sale of "All Access" passes in the intervening period.
When other game companies went through this (like Trion did back in 2013) - the entire exec staff + CEO were replaced
I am pretty surprised that the same thing wasn't done here honestly
So my conclusion is that some of the higher ups here have golden parachute clauses preventing them from being replaced for some time (like 6-12 months) - but IMO the change up top is inevitable, maybe they haven't found the replacement yet.
Rumors are that Smeadley + many higherups were involved with creating&negotiating take over deal with Colombus Nova and that is why most of them are safe.
Situation in Trion and few other companies were diffrent. In example in Trion case - owners did not change(much), they just restructurized company and hired new managment.
Similar reasons, but diffrent stories.
What is common is that normal 'worker' and lower&mid managment stuff is heavily cut, monetization of games will rise and companies are going to be retrofitted into lower cost operations meaning lower budget games being made, lower content spenditure on existing games and lower quality QA, Customer support and Community relations services.
When other game companies went through this (like Trion did back in 2013) - the entire exec staff + CEO were replaced
I am pretty surprised that the same thing wasn't done here honestly
So my conclusion is that some of the higher ups here have golden parachute clauses preventing them from being replaced for some time (like 6-12 months) - but IMO the change up top is inevitable, maybe they haven't found the replacement yet.
Rumors are that Smeadley + many higherups were involved with creating&negotiating take over deal with Colombus Nova and that is why most of them are safe.
Situation in Trion and few other companies were diffrent. In example in Trion case - owners did not change(much), they just restructurized company and hired new managment.
Similar reasons, but diffrent stories.
What is common is that normal 'worker' and lower&mid managment stuff is heavily cut, monetization of games will rise and companies are going to be retrofitted into lower cost operations meaning lower budget games being made, lower content spenditure on existing games and lower quality QA, Customer support and Community relations services.
Its almost certain that Smed engineered the deal, he would've known that Sony were planning to sell SOE before it happened, so made sure he was in charge after any deal went through.
You can't fire the people that are beloved by the community and expect smiles and flowers.
SmokeJumper is an EQ legend. Many people love the guy and looked at him as the face of the franchise. Now, he's gone. What are we suppose to assume? EQN will no longer be under his vision so it won't be nearly as good a game.
I find it funny that people call Dave a EQ Legend, he was hired in 2010 to turn EQ2 to F2P. We are only in 2015, he haven't been 5 years with the company.
Did you forget that he worked on Planetside ? From 2002 he was working to 2005 then came back in 2010. Many of you never was a big SOE fan from before and have never even recognized the faces or the names so hardly surprising that you know nothing.
Originally posted by cheyane IN 1999 Everquest was the very first MMORPG I ever played . I feel like crying. It is going to go all of it. I am certain.
I agree. I think they are just going to divide the existing EQNext assets for other projects. Not sure how long the current games will last but I don't see them going away soon. Why buy an IP if you're not going to use it? They can leave them on life-support while developing for the mobile/tablet platforms. I don't see EQNext, what it is and was suppose to be, surviving this at all though.
There once was a poor old man who owned a beautiful white horse.
Whenever noblemen passed through the village, they always noticed the horse and offered handsome sums of money for the stallion. But the old man always declined their offers, saying, "This horse is my friend. How can I sell my friend?"
One morning the old man awoke to find the horse was gone. The village people gathered and said, "Old man you were a fool not to sell the horse. You could have been wealthy! Now it has been stolen, and you have nothing. It is a great misfortune!" But the old man replied, "Don't go so far as to say that. Whether the horse was stolen or not, or whether it is a misfortune or a blessing, is unknown. All we know is that the horse is not in the stable."
Some days later the horse returned, bringing with it several beautiful wild mares. Again the village people gathered, and they said, "Old man you were right! The horse was not stolen, and it was not a misfortune. It was a blessing, and now you have many fine horses!" But the old man replied, "Again you go too far. Don't say it's a good thing, don't say it's a bad thing. Just say the horse is back. Whether it is a blessing or a misfortune is unknown."
Some days later the old man's only son began to train the wild mares, but he was thrown and trampled, and one of his legs was badly broken. Again the village people gathered. "Oh old man, you were right! It was not a blessing but a great misfortune, and now your only son is lame! With a sigh the old man replied, "Don't say it's a good thing, don't say it's a bad thing, just say my son has broken his leg. Whether it is a blessing or a misfortune is unknown."
It happened that a few weeks later the country went to war, and all the able bodied young men were forcibly taken for the military. Only the old man's son was passed over, because he was crippled. The whole village was crying and weeping, for they believed their sons would probably be killed and never come home to them. In their grief they came to the old man and said, "You were right old man, your son's injury has proven to be a blessing. Your son may be crippled, but he is with you, while our sons are gone forever! The old man simply shook his head and said, "Will you never learn? Only say that your sons have been forced into the military and my son has not. More than that is not known."
-- attributed to Catherine Marie Heath
By: Scott Teitsworth
Battlerock , you shocked me!
They fired who?? Doesn't matter to me I am not running the company.
Could be a blessing , could be a curse..... and some will never learn.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Kinda worried that butler leaves.. He seemed really optimistic and faithful in EQN. And not in the salesman-overly hyped way georgesonis, but more realistic i suppose. EQN being the last hope for mmorpgs (except fir crowfall mabye) i truly hope they dont intend to cancel it.
You can't fire the people that are beloved by the community and expect smiles and flowers.
SmokeJumper is an EQ legend. Many people love the guy and looked at him as the face of the franchise. Now, he's gone. What are we suppose to assume? EQN will no longer be under his vision so it won't be nearly as good a game.
I find it funny that people call Dave a EQ Legend, he was hired in 2010 to turn EQ2 to F2P. We are only in 2015, he haven't been 5 years with the company.
He is a amazing "used car salesman" though.
I agree. Honestly, EQN is a great example of why community-driven development doesn't work. If you contrast EQN with something like, say, H1Z1, it's really interesting to see the "hype curve". H1Z1 was like a year from announcement to release, and it seems like they've done a pretty good job riding the hype train to this point. EQN, on the other hand, was announced in like 2012 and we still don't have any real idea about when it's going to be released. Unfortunately I view it as a failure of the project management team. Seems that they were more interested in talking about how awesome it was going to be than delivering. Not saying that was their intention but the optics of it are not good. Hype train is officially slowed to an idle, in my opinion.
You can't fire the people that are beloved by the community and expect smiles and flowers.
SmokeJumper is an EQ legend. Many people love the guy and looked at him as the face of the franchise. Now, he's gone. What are we suppose to assume? EQN will no longer be under his vision so it won't be nearly as good a game.
I find it funny that people call Dave a EQ Legend, he was hired in 2010 to turn EQ2 to F2P. We are only in 2015, he haven't been 5 years with the company.
He is a amazing "used car salesman" though.
I agree. Honestly, EQN is a great example of why community-driven development doesn't work. If you contrast EQN with something like, say, H1Z1, it's really interesting to see the "hype curve". H1Z1 was like a year from announcement to release, and it seems like they've done a pretty good job riding the hype train to this point. EQN, on the other hand, was announced in like 2012 and we still don't have any real idea about when it's going to be released. Unfortunately I view it as a failure of the project management team. Seems that they were more interested in talking about how awesome it was going to be than delivering. Not saying that was their intention but the optics of it are not good. Hype train is officially slowed to an idle, in my opinion.
Seems like you are saying that because H1Z1 released quickly, that community driven development simply slows games down.
And I absolutely agree with that.
But does that mean developers should not listen to the community, when designing their games? Should we all take our lunchboxes and go home now, because no listens? ( I know, they are really only pretending to listen anyway )
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Looks like I will be placing Daybreak on my list of companies to never give money to. That's 2 future products basically killed, one of them, Landmark has been invested in by people already including myself.
That's one way to quickly give yourselves a shit reputation.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
That's actually not a full list. More than just one person got let go from the DCUO team in Austin. I don't know their names, but I do know there were at least a few designers let go. One of my fav games for a long while, so I like to keep tabs on what's going on.
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
WE only had 25 on staff for eq2, from what I understand EQ2 is down by 10, that is a 40% cut. EQ2 was already on bare bones support. So I would suspect that my favorite game is going into maintenance mode like vanguard and will either be sold off to another gaming company or be sunsetter.
EQNext/EQ3 only lost a few, but we not gotten a full list as of yet. I would suspect this will also be sold off.
Everquest the original game only lost a community manager, so they might be sold off, I don't suspect that game will be sunsetter.
Planetside 2, they are done, gone. I suspect they will be sold off quickly.
From what I see this new management company is getting ready for big changes, they made the statements multiplatform. EQ, and EQ2, do not fit into the multiplatform environment.
Smokejumper being fire is 5 years too late. The rest I really do feel sorry for. However I blame Smokejumper for the state that the everquest franchise is in.
I guess I am a wait and see attitude, as right now I don't trust Daybreak. All of us in the EQ franchise might have to find another game, and that is not going to be fun as I not found anything in my many years of trying.
SOE indeed needed a good shake up! Firing regular staff is not a shake up!
If they really wanted to shake up Things and move the Company in a New direction, then you start With the guy at the top who has been nothing but EPIC FAIL the last years: John Smedley!
You can fire Your entire workstarff and re-hire an entire New one! As long as John Smedley is there, NOTHING will change!
How the hell can this guy still be there at the top! Any other company would have fired him long ago!
Add his crony yes-men to that list of shaking-up and you'll have true new direction. Smed and his posse of butt-kissers have done nothing to make MMOs better or move the genre forward. In fact, they keep going backwards. They need to go, not the hard working staff across the company.
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
If they want any animosity towards Columbus Nova to end then Columbus Nova needs to be more transparent and maybe give a quick explanation as to their plans. You don't pull the jobs out from people with no word as to why other than typical corporate double talk like "restructuring" and expect people to just accept it. It's not happening. However, if they don't want to lose customers they might want to notice how this is affecting the MMO community and make a statement of some sort, not that it will probably be the right one or do any good at this point, but this is the main problem with "corporations" worldwide these days. No one TRUSTS you!
Anyway, best of luck to all who lost their line of work. Been there a few years ago with Warhammer Online so I know it sucks.
They need to come out with a plan and post it up. Right now the forums are on fire, eq2wire full of doom. Nobody looking at these folks being let go as a positive. EQ2 lost the most people, and that has me worried.
I knew there were going to be folks fired, I just did not expect that large of a percentage.
I been through 3 buyouts over my lifetime. 2 times promises were made that were not kept and of course found myself looking for a new job. The third time same promises were made, and I went and got a job that week elsewhere instead of waiting for the axe to hit.
One thing for sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, I would expect a lot of changes, and quite possibly the eq franchise sold off as it is not multi platform.
Just for a frame of reference, Columbus Nova is playing with about three times the assets that EA has. I'm really not gonna believe an investment firm just had a random inkling to jump into the MMO genre. EA is a game publisher and still doesn't have a stellar reputation, but who knows maybe these professional money counters are secret MMO fans and really want a great game to be made even if it is a niche product with just 500k players. lol
Comments
I hope those let go quickly find new jobs/positions elsewhere. Sometimes, in order to move up, you have to hit rock bottom first. Hopefully this is the case for Daybreak Games.
We can only speculate as to what all this means for the future of the franchises we love - but there really isn't any point and letting our emotions get the best of us here. I'm sure Daybreak doesn't even know what the future holds for all their current projects.
If they want any animosity towards Columbus Nova to end then Columbus Nova needs to be more transparent and maybe give a quick explanation as to their plans. You don't pull the jobs out from people with no word as to why other than typical corporate double talk like "restructuring" and expect people to just accept it. It's not happening. However, if they don't want to lose customers they might want to notice how this is affecting the MMO community and make a statement of some sort, not that it will probably be the right one or do any good at this point, but this is the main problem with "corporations" worldwide these days. No one TRUSTS you!
Anyway, best of luck to all who lost their line of work. Been there a few years ago with Warhammer Online so I know it sucks.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
There's no trust for good reason.
In almost every case, when companies withhold information it is because they know (or suspect) that it will have a negative impact on revenue. So announcements are made at the last possible moment, even if the facts have been known for months or years. This often results in customers feeling scammed or "lied to", even though the action may be perfectly legal.
If CN intend to cancel come legacy SOE games, for instance, they'll wait until the last moment to announce it. Otherwise it could affect the sale of "All Access" passes in the intervening period.
Rumors are that Smeadley + many higherups were involved with creating&negotiating take over deal with Colombus Nova and that is why most of them are safe.
Situation in Trion and few other companies were diffrent. In example in Trion case - owners did not change(much), they just restructurized company and hired new managment.
Similar reasons, but diffrent stories.
What is common is that normal 'worker' and lower&mid managment stuff is heavily cut, monetization of games will rise and companies are going to be retrofitted into lower cost operations meaning lower budget games being made, lower content spenditure on existing games and lower quality QA, Customer support and Community relations services.
Its almost certain that Smed engineered the deal, he would've known that Sony were planning to sell SOE before it happened, so made sure he was in charge after any deal went through.
I find it funny that people call Dave a EQ Legend, he was hired in 2010 to turn EQ2 to F2P. We are only in 2015, he haven't been 5 years with the company.
He is a amazing "used car salesman" though.
I hope you are right and that we are talking about mmorpg's and not just more pseudo-MMOs.
I agree. I think they are just going to divide the existing EQNext assets for other projects. Not sure how long the current games will last but I don't see them going away soon. Why buy an IP if you're not going to use it? They can leave them on life-support while developing for the mobile/tablet platforms. I don't see EQNext, what it is and was suppose to be, surviving this at all though.
R.I.P Everquest franchise.
There is not much else to say, it was good while it lasted.
New players can get a welcome package and old/returning players can also get a welcome back package and 7 days free subscription time! Just click here to use my referral invitation
Battlerock , you shocked me!
They fired who?? Doesn't matter to me I am not running the company.
Could be a blessing , could be a curse..... and some will never learn.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
sad times for the mmo industry-lets hope its not an ongoing trend.
Star Citizen could probably use some help too!
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
I agree. Honestly, EQN is a great example of why community-driven development doesn't work. If you contrast EQN with something like, say, H1Z1, it's really interesting to see the "hype curve". H1Z1 was like a year from announcement to release, and it seems like they've done a pretty good job riding the hype train to this point. EQN, on the other hand, was announced in like 2012 and we still don't have any real idea about when it's going to be released. Unfortunately I view it as a failure of the project management team. Seems that they were more interested in talking about how awesome it was going to be than delivering. Not saying that was their intention but the optics of it are not good. Hype train is officially slowed to an idle, in my opinion.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Seems like you are saying that because H1Z1 released quickly, that community driven development simply slows games down.
And I absolutely agree with that.
But does that mean developers should not listen to the community, when designing their games? Should we all take our lunchboxes and go home now, because no listens? ( I know, they are really only pretending to listen anyway
)
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Looks like I will be placing Daybreak on my list of companies to never give money to. That's 2 future products basically killed, one of them, Landmark has been invested in by people already including myself.
That's one way to quickly give yourselves a shit reputation.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
WE only had 25 on staff for eq2, from what I understand EQ2 is down by 10, that is a 40% cut. EQ2 was already on bare bones support. So I would suspect that my favorite game is going into maintenance mode like vanguard and will either be sold off to another gaming company or be sunsetter.
EQNext/EQ3 only lost a few, but we not gotten a full list as of yet. I would suspect this will also be sold off.
Everquest the original game only lost a community manager, so they might be sold off, I don't suspect that game will be sunsetter.
Planetside 2, they are done, gone. I suspect they will be sold off quickly.
From what I see this new management company is getting ready for big changes, they made the statements multiplatform. EQ, and EQ2, do not fit into the multiplatform environment.
Smokejumper being fire is 5 years too late. The rest I really do feel sorry for. However I blame Smokejumper for the state that the everquest franchise is in.
I guess I am a wait and see attitude, as right now I don't trust Daybreak. All of us in the EQ franchise might have to find another game, and that is not going to be fun as I not found anything in my many years of trying.
Add his crony yes-men to that list of shaking-up and you'll have true new direction. Smed and his posse of butt-kissers have done nothing to make MMOs better or move the genre forward. In fact, they keep going backwards. They need to go, not the hard working staff across the company.
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
They need to come out with a plan and post it up. Right now the forums are on fire, eq2wire full of doom. Nobody looking at these folks being let go as a positive. EQ2 lost the most people, and that has me worried.
I knew there were going to be folks fired, I just did not expect that large of a percentage.
I been through 3 buyouts over my lifetime. 2 times promises were made that were not kept and of course found myself looking for a new job. The third time same promises were made, and I went and got a job that week elsewhere instead of waiting for the axe to hit.
One thing for sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, I would expect a lot of changes, and quite possibly the eq franchise sold off as it is not multi platform.