The Elder Scrolls Online – More staff laid off after “successful” launch

Mikeha

Things are apparently going from bad to worse at ZeniMax Online Studios, as it has just fired more staff from its customer service team, and referred the matter as “. The developer of The Elder Scrolls Online fired 300 customer service staff in June 2014, followed by more in September 2014, and it seems the annual culling has started. What really irked me is the “official” PR reply.

While I understand the gaming industry is volatile, the PR reply makes no sense at all when comparing the first and second parts. The console versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched just this June, and this should be the busy period for customer service. With tens of millions of dollars spent on this supposed “AAA” game, it still ranks as one of my worst experience, alongside Firefall.

http://mmoculture.com/2015/08/the-elder-scrolls-online-more-staff-laid-off-after-successful-launch/

Greatsword

June 2014 - breaking news...

[e] Also the press statement sounds more like: "We have more players with the console release now, so we hired more support staff". That linked article seems pretty clue- and pointless.

fivoroth

Greatsword said:

June 2014 - breaking news...

[e] Also the press statement sounds more like: "We have more players with the console release now, so we hired more support staff". That linked article seems pretty clue- and pointless.

Yeah, haters can't even get their dates right. So passionate they are about hating a game.

Kumapon

Actually the lay-offs happened on Aug. 20th 2015., which was confirmed by massively op.

http://massivelyop.com/2015/08/19/rumor-more-layoffs-for-zenimax/

Malabooga

fivoroth said:

Greatsword said:

June 2014 - breaking news...

[e] Also the press statement sounds more like: "We have more players with the console release now, so we hired more support staff". That linked article seems pretty clue- and pointless.

Yeah, haters can't even get their dates right. So passionate they are about hating a game.

Its 3rd round of layoffs for ESO now.

"Update 08/20/2015 8:04:32 AM EDT: A spokesperson from Bethsoft confirmed customer support layoffs to Massively OP in the following statement: “Following the successful PC and console launches of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, we have a thriving online community and have adjusted customer support to meet the ongoing needs of our players.”"

Now youll have usual suspects coming here and proclaim they laid off people becuase it sold SO well, because you know, its custom for super successful companies to lay off people while those unsuccessful on verge of breakdown hire more and more.

But this is just confirmation ESO didnt sell nearly as well as they counted on (again).

RavingRabbid

They weren't fired,  they were laid off, big difference. It happens in the business world. Game developing is like being construction. Once the building (or Game in this case) is completed the construction crew is no longer needed. In difference to being in construction vital people are kept on to continue maintanence and add on to the game. The ones that were laid off go off to make a new game or develop new software in another company. Also as comparing to construction they are adding on to the building (adding to game), but most not being kept for the maintanence.

Malabooga

RavingRabbid said:

They weren't fired,  they were laid off, big difference. It happens in the business world. Game developing is like being construction. Once the building (or Game in this case) is completed the construction crew is no longer needed. In difference to being in construction vital people are kept on to continue maintanence and add on to the game. The ones that were laid off go off to make a new game or develop new software in another company.

Customer support doesnt make games. You "adjust" customer support when theres no demand for it.

And yes, you get fired when you do something bad or just dont meet minimum level of competence, you get laid off when theres no demand for your services.

Aethaeryn

Once a game is out for a long time, they don't just fix bugs they fix things on the back end.  Laying off Customer Support staff makes sense, it is letting go of developers that suggest a decline or less support.  

Likely they are better at dealing with issues and have ironed out many of the issues people would call about etc.  I have never had to page a GM or call / email customer support in a game aside from the launch of SWTOR for an account issue.  I am guessing that is pretty standard.  10 years ago sure there would be more issues.

Also the game will decline. . they all do.  I don't see the sky falling here.

RavingRabbid

Malabooga said:

RavingRabbid said:

They weren't fired,  they were laid off, big difference. It happens in the business world. Game developing is like being construction. Once the building (or Game in this case) is completed the construction crew is no longer needed. In difference to being in construction vital people are kept on to continue maintanence and add on to the game. The ones that were laid off go off to make a new game or develop new software in another company.

Customer support doesnt make games. You "adjust" customer support when theres no demand for it.

And yes, you get fired when you do something bad or just dont meet minimum level of competence, you get laid off when theres no demand for your services.

I worked as a auto claims adjuster for a large insurance company at one time. Yes companies "adjust" but not always because of no demand. Its about overhead and cost of overhead. Your 1/2 correct though. Many of these companies do staff by demand or customer service per "x" amount of customers.

Iselin

DMKano said:

If anything this is an indication of having less support calls than they anticipated - so they adjusted the CS staff.

Call valume always determines how many CS agents get to keep their jobs, if it drops too low, they get laid off. 

Standard business practice. 

Exactly. They overstaff CS for the initial rush and then go back to regular levels. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the initial bunch laid-off in June 2014, after the PC release settled down, were rehired for the console launch and are now laid-off again... sucks to be them but that's standard.

Wake me up when they lay-off core staff lol.

Charlie.Cheswick

The game is running so smoothly that no one is calling support.

See, the game is doing great! Haters gon hate!

Loke666

Charlie.Cheswick said:

The game is running so smoothly that no one is calling support.

See, the game is doing great! Haters gon hate!

Maybe, and maybe the console version demands less support than the PC version.

But still, it is weird, they are on the console top chart so I don't get why they fire so many people already? Are they saving up cash so they can start on something new? Fallout online? Or do they have some other reason?

If it just was an economical thing the layoffs would come late this autumn. Really strange.

Malabooga

Iselin said:

DMKano said:

If anything this is an indication of having less support calls than they anticipated - so they adjusted the CS staff.

Call valume always determines how many CS agents get to keep their jobs, if it drops too low, they get laid off. 

Standard business practice. 

Exactly. They overstaff CS for the initial rush and then go back to regular levels. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the initial bunch laid-off in June 2014, after the PC release settled down, were rehired for the console launch and are now laid-off again... sucks to be them but that's standard.

Wake me up when they lay-off core staff lol.

What, another one?

They already "adjusted" that one.

WS had 1 round of layoffs, SWTOR had 2 and ESO had 3.

Well, there you have it, its no.1 in something ;P

Margrave

I love ESO still. The game is what you make of it.

sketocafe

C'mon guys. These positions weren't all customer support, don't be silly. I had a friend that did character models and animation for beatles rock band. Harmonix did a cleansing after it shipped and made a point of saying it was all QA testers in a press release. It wasn't all QA testers. Customer Support seems like a relatively harmless thing to say, compared to telling people who have subs that there are less people making content for them now.

Iselin

Malabooga said:

Iselin said:

DMKano said:

If anything this is an indication of having less support calls than they anticipated - so they adjusted the CS staff.

Call valume always determines how many CS agents get to keep their jobs, if it drops too low, they get laid off. 

Standard business practice. 

Exactly. They overstaff CS for the initial rush and then go back to regular levels. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the initial bunch laid-off in June 2014, after the PC release settled down, were rehired for the console launch and are now laid-off again... sucks to be them but that's standard.

Wake me up when they lay-off core staff lol.

What, another one?

They already "adjusted" that one.

WS had 1 round of layoffs, SWTOR had 2 and ESO had 3.

Well, there you have it, its no.1 in something ;P

You know... I don't really know what you go on about in most of your bizarre posts. Luckily, I don't care. It was nice when you took your holiday from trolling ESO but here you are... you must be bored I guess.

Alpha_Chino

In other news,    Global Financial Crisis looming,  companies doing stuff to keep head Above Water.   Cheap entertainment Futures will remain Positive and possible growth in coming months.  

(Reshapes tinfoil hat into cup and drinks lemonade out of it)

Malabooga

Iselin said:

Malabooga said:

Iselin said:

DMKano said:

If anything this is an indication of having less support calls than they anticipated - so they adjusted the CS staff.

Call valume always determines how many CS agents get to keep their jobs, if it drops too low, they get laid off. 

Standard business practice. 

Exactly. They overstaff CS for the initial rush and then go back to regular levels. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the initial bunch laid-off in June 2014, after the PC release settled down, were rehired for the console launch and are now laid-off again... sucks to be them but that's standard.

Wake me up when they lay-off core staff lol.

What, another one?

They already "adjusted" that one.

WS had 1 round of layoffs, SWTOR had 2 and ESO had 3.

Well, there you have it, its no.1 in something ;P

You know... I don't really know what you go on about in most of your bizarre posts. Luckily, I don't care. It was nice when you took your holiday from trolling ESO but here you are... you must be bored I guess.

Trolling? Truth is not trolling.

SomethingUnusual

Maybe they don't need the extra customer support? Think about it this way: if you ran a call center, you initially expected a flow of x customers in need of assistance, and it turned out that a significant amount less customers need assistance, then why would you need to retain all of your staff? No use having support setup for five thousand when you have an average flow of maybe a couple hundred. Waste of resources. 

Loke666

SomethingUnusual said:

Maybe they don't need the extra customer support? Think about it this way: if you ran a call center, you initially expected a flow of x customers in need of assistance, and it turned out that a significant amount less customers need assistance, then why would you need to retain all of your staff? No use having support setup for five thousand when you have an average flow of maybe a couple hundred. Waste of resources. 

That is surely part of it but 300 persons it a huge number. If they just hired them for the launch they would just have hired them for 3 months from the start.

There is something more here, but I can't say I know what.

Iselin

Loke666 said:

SomethingUnusual said:

Maybe they don't need the extra customer support? Think about it this way: if you ran a call center, you initially expected a flow of x customers in need of assistance, and it turned out that a significant amount less customers need assistance, then why would you need to retain all of your staff? No use having support setup for five thousand when you have an average flow of maybe a couple hundred. Waste of resources. 

That is surely part of it but 300 persons it a huge number. If they just hired them for the launch they would just have hired them for 3 months from the start.

There is something more here, but I can't say I know what.

You know that 300 number is from June 2014 right? I haven't seen a number for this post-console release CS layoff.

Ikeda

To be fair... even if they did hire them with a short term (say 90 to 180 day contract), people would be swinging from the rafters that these were layoffs.  Planned or otherwise.  Seems like every game people come in screaming about the end of times.... and it rarely is.

Loke666

Iselin said:

Loke666 said:

That is surely part of it but 300 persons it a huge number. If they just hired them for the launch they would just have hired them for 3 months from the start.

There is something more here, but I can't say I know what.

You know that 300 number is from June 2014 right? I haven't seen a number for this post-console release CS layoff.

Ah, sorry. Then ignore my post. 50 persons for example would be logical.

Distopia

Loke666 said:

That is surely part of it but 300 persons it a huge number. If they just hired them for the launch they would just have hired them for 3 months from the start.

There is something more here, but I can't say I know what.

No matter what it is, it all boils down to one thing, profit margin... Just because a product sells well (if it did) doesn't mean the company is going to be seeing a huge profit from it. Companies make cuts where they can afford them, in terms of still offering a certain standard of service. IF they have a bunch of content planned (which they do), they aren't going to cut the design staff responsible for it, they'll trim the fat elsewhere.. basically 101 there...

OF course agendas here will dictate what folks feel it's about...

CrazKanuk

Again, it's all about context. See, like here it says it was 300 TEMP employees. People hired onto a temporary contract. They were let go prior to the end of their SHORT TERM contract, but that's the life of a contractor. When you're no longer needed, you may be let go. 

Malabooga

Loke666 said:

Iselin said:

Loke666 said:

That is surely part of it but 300 persons it a huge number. If they just hired them for the launch they would just have hired them for 3 months from the start.

There is something more here, but I can't say I know what.

You know that 300 number is from June 2014 right? I haven't seen a number for this post-console release CS layoff.

Ah, sorry. Then ignore my post. 50 persons for example would be logical.

It was large enough for PR to react lightning quick.

Chick that was laid off worked on ESO for 2,5 years. And at higher position, not CS grunt.