I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
They are more at the mercy of their own poor decisions.
the fore mentioned being the worst and most damaging by Far
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
They are more at the mercy of their own poor decisions.
the fore mentioned being the worst and most damaging by Far
NCSoft bought ArenaNet in 2002, which was 10 years before GW2 was released.
I think their blundering screw up that was heart of Thorns, was directly part of their current failings.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
Exactly. This is spot on.
And lets be honest, Anet has been really showing they don't know what they are doing.
I mean if their overall bad game design decisions were not bad enough, like the blundering mess that was HoT. Where they didn't even put out the whole expansion and then found ways to alienate their casual player base, which was a HUGE part of their gamer base. As if that was not enough.
They then devote half their staff to some "other" behind the scenes project (Which we have heard nothing further about) while their flag ship is sinking, as opposed to pulling everyone off that other project and focus on getting GW2 back on course and making things work again.
I mean think about that.. Imagine someone making the choice to lay off half their staff, because they refused to put them back on their ONE and ONLY incoming generating project.
That is like begging to be let go from your position, that is like waving a gold plated sign with neon lights in-front of your boss that you don't know what you are doing.
Which notice, that was when Anet came in and took over.
Do I think they will save this sinking ship? No.
I think the fuck ups of the past have done too much damage to really recover from this point, and like the NGE, this hopefully serve as a cautionary tale of what not to do when making a MMO.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
There first and biggest mistake is letting NCsoft get full control ,im not blaming NCSoft at all .. Its business, Blame is a bad choice of words ..
But giving NCsoft that power , has left them painted into a corner , that otherwise could be navigated in various ways at this juncture ..
Like i said there first mistake was giving full control over , they never should have done that , it was the Mothers Milk of there errors ,as it lead to all others , some out of there control ..
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
Exactly. This is spot on.
And lets be honest, Anet has been really showing they don't know what they are doing.
I mean if their overall bad game design decisions were not bad enough, like the blundering mess that was HoT. Where they didn't even put out the whole expansion and then found ways to alienate their casual player base, which was a HUGE part of their gamer base. As if that was not enough.
They then devote half their staff to some "other" behind the scenes project (Which we have heard nothing further about) while their flag ship is sinking, as opposed to pulling everyone off that other project and focus on getting GW2 back on course and making things work again.
I mean think about that.. Imagine someone making the choice to lay off half their staff, because they refused to put them back on their ONE and ONLY incoming generating project.
That is like begging to be let go from your position, that is like waving a gold plated sign with neon lights in-front of your boss that you don't know what you are doing.
Which notice, that was when Anet came in and took over.
Do I think they will save this sinking ship? No.
I think the fuck ups of the past have done too much damage to really recover from this point, and like the NGE, this hopefully serve as a cautionary tale of what not to do when making a MMO.
They did not willingly devote hlaf there staff to anything, they also did not willingly let 86 employees go 18 months ago ..
This is power they do not have , these things were dictated by NCsoft ..
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
Exactly. This is spot on.
And lets be honest, Anet has been really showing they don't know what they are doing.
I mean if their overall bad game design decisions were not bad enough, like the blundering mess that was HoT. Where they didn't even put out the whole expansion and then found ways to alienate their casual player base, which was a HUGE part of their gamer base. As if that was not enough.
They then devote half their staff to some "other" behind the scenes project (Which we have heard nothing further about) while their flag ship is sinking, as opposed to pulling everyone off that other project and focus on getting GW2 back on course and making things work again.
I mean think about that.. Imagine someone making the choice to lay off half their staff, because they refused to put them back on their ONE and ONLY incoming generating project.
That is like begging to be let go from your position, that is like waving a gold plated sign with neon lights in-front of your boss that you don't know what you are doing.
Which notice, that was when Anet came in and took over.
Do I think they will save this sinking ship? No.
I think the fuck ups of the past have done too much damage to really recover from this point, and like the NGE, this hopefully serve as a cautionary tale of what not to do when making a MMO.
They did not willingly devote hlaf there staff to anything, they also did not willingly let 86 employees go 18 months ago ..
This is power they do not have , these things were dictated by NCsoft ..
That is a claim you would have to back up.
Because it makes no sense to me for NCSoft to tell Anet to devote the resources of 86 staff members to other projects, and then tell them to cut that staff, without putting out some kind of product from that endeavor.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I warned last year when the 4th qtr report came out , that ANet was in trouble , they hang by a thread .. you do not want to finish at the bottom of NCSoft stable, And no Aion does not count and never has , as it is an in house project and not under the same scrutiny , the list of games at the bottom of NCsoft stable to be axed is long .. Anet very well could be next ..
Keep in mind, Anet is a company that left half their staff working on "Other" projects while their flag ship game GW2 was sinking hard and fast, which resulted in half their staff being let go, and all those "other" projects becoming vaporware.
So we are not dealing with the smartest marshmallows on the stick here.
There bigger problem is letting NCsoft ( which i hold a fair amount of shares) Get a hold of every single share of Anet ..They are completly at there mercy ..
Blaming NcSoft for bad management at ANet is delusional, since ANet is owned by NcSoft before GW1 launch.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
There first and biggest mistake is letting NCsoft get full control ,im not blaming NCSoft at all .. Its business, Blame is a bad choice of words ..
But giving NCsoft that power , has left them painted into a corner , that otherwise could be navigated in various ways at this juncture ..
Like i said there first mistake was giving full control over , they never should have done that , it was the Mothers Milk of there errors ,as it lead to all others , some out of there control ..
NcSoft have full control of ANet since like .. forever. What are you talking about? Is not like NcSoft just got full control of ANet .. few years ago and since then, they ruined ANet and GW2.
Nope, that's ANet fault 100%.
You really don't have a clue about ANet and NcSoft, aren't you? If it weren't for NcSoft to purchase ANet, we might not even see GW1 released. I really don't understand this "..but NcSoft has full control and are the ones to blame".
Richard Garriott ( a scammer ) , had full control over Tabula Rasa. How that turned out?
You must understand that first thing first, for a game to success, the business behind the game MUST be successful, because no money, no staff, no content = Fail Game , which seems to be where ANet is heading because how badly they ( not NcSoft ) managed GW2.
Look at NcSoft own titles. They have ups and downs, but for the most part are (very) profitable. Of course they expect the same from all their studios which they own.
In 2015, ANet decided to self publish GW2 in a move where I believe, NcSoft said they want GW2 fully F2P, while ANet said no. So, they said "Ok, go ahead, do your thing".
“I look at free-to-play as a business model. We aren’t going to go back and redesign the business model. It’s not about monetizing free-to-player players. This is Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 was designed as a buy-to-play game.”
NcSoft will never release such statement as they are in favor of fully F2P.
Anyway, fast forward, Mike O'Brien left the company, the financial status of ANet is in danger, and the future is pretty .. bleak.
NcSoft must take actions now, or else they risk to have another "Richard Garriott" fiasco .. thing, happening at ANet this time around.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
Ahh good ol NCSoft. If only they hadn't aborted two wonderful MMOs (Tabula Rasa and AutoAssault). Granted, neither one was perfect or nearly finished, but by now they could have released a dozen expansions and still be churning a profit, especially considering TR's unique mechanics for PvE with NPC's attacking/capturing different outposts/forts and the players banding together to re-claim said outposts/forts or defend them for unique rewards.
Ahh good ol NCSoft. If only they hadn't aborted two wonderful MMOs (Tabula Rasa and AutoAssault). Granted, neither one was perfect or nearly finished, but by now they could have released a dozen expansions and still be churning a profit, especially considering TR's unique mechanics for PvE with NPC's attacking/capturing different outposts/forts and the players banding together to re-claim said outposts/forts or defend them for unique rewards.
They shut down Tabula Rasa because no one was playing it.
Ahh good ol NCSoft. If only they hadn't aborted two wonderful MMOs (Tabula Rasa and AutoAssault). Granted, neither one was perfect or nearly finished, but by now they could have released a dozen expansions and still be churning a profit, especially considering TR's unique mechanics for PvE with NPC's attacking/capturing different outposts/forts and the players banding together to re-claim said outposts/forts or defend them for unique rewards.
They shut down Tabula Rasa because no one was playing it.
I have no clue why people have such rose tinted glasses for Tabula Rasa - sure the game was ok for the first time 20 hours, once you got to late game and end game - it was dogshit
100% because they for some reason think anything garriott makes is good. Ultima wasn't even great and people act like its the holy grail of gaming.
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
Not being rude, but, I am going to need a bit more to back that up then some random forum post, so, at this point, we shall simply agree to disagree.
I firmly believe GW2 and Anets current situation is all Anet's fault for just poor overall game design decisions.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
Not being rude, but, I am going to need a bit more to back that up then some random forum post, so, at this point, we shall simply agree to disagree.
I firmly believe GW2 and Anets current situation is all Anet's fault for just poor overall game design decisions.
Blame the publisher is the go-to for failed games. Vanguard, TR, SWG fans all cried wolf about publisher blah blah blah. Lately it's been the excuse for Anthem. Truth is all of these games need drastic overhauls and 5x more content to be viable. You can't blame publishers when they throw money at large studios for 5+ years and don't have a product.
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
Not being rude, but, I am going to need a bit more to back that up then some random forum post, so, at this point, we shall simply agree to disagree.
I firmly believe GW2 and Anets current situation is all Anet's fault for just poor overall game design decisions.
Blame the publisher is the go-to for failed games. Vanguard, TR, SWG fans all cried wolf about publisher blah blah blah. Lately it's been the excuse for Anthem. Truth is all of these games need drastic overhauls and 5x more content to be viable. You can't blame publishers when they throw money at large studios for 5+ years and don't have a product.
Yeah, because blaming the faceless corporate entity is easier than admitting that something you like just plain sucks.
Also, many people on this board would rather an MMO be shut down forever than be "dumbed down" to appeal to "casuals".
There was a time that a drastic overhaul to GW2 would have saved the game but that time has passed.
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
Not being rude, but, I am going to need a bit more to back that up then some random forum post, so, at this point, we shall simply agree to disagree.
I firmly believe GW2 and Anets current situation is all Anet's fault for just poor overall game design decisions.
Blame the publisher is the go-to for failed games. Vanguard, TR, SWG fans all cried wolf about publisher blah blah blah. Lately it's been the excuse for Anthem. Truth is all of these games need drastic overhauls and 5x more content to be viable. You can't blame publishers when they throw money at large studios for 5+ years and don't have a product.
Or fans throw money at a game that has been in development for 10 yrs with nothing to show for it other than an alpha test.
Fans seem to have unrealistic expectations on what is doable and not doable. Publishers and most developers do the minimum required. There needs to be a middle ground somewhere.
You are wrong on most , including RG control over TR he fought them every step game was changed dramatically from his vision, he voiced tr was not ready for realease also .. And the reason he took his trip , as ncsoft lied to cheat him out of stock options.
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
That's some conspiracy theories you got there.
Garriott has delayed Tabula Rasa like what...3 times?
In the works since May 2001, the game underwent a major revamp two years into the project. Conflicts between developers and the vague direction of the game were said to be the causes of this dramatic change. Twenty percent of the original team was replaced, and 75% of the code had to be redone.[17] Some staff working on other NCsoft projects were transferred to the Tabula Rasa development team, including City of Heroes' Community Coordinator April "CuppaJo" Burba.[18] First re-shown at E3 2005, the game then transformed into the current science fiction setting and look.
Not only NcSoft transferred staff from other studios/games, but there was a vague direction of "wtf to do" at Destination Games. And no, Garriott had full control here, since Destination Games was his studio, unless you come up with an article saying otherwise.
As someone from here said, publishers ( in this case NcSoft ) , spending lots and lots of money on Studios to release a game, and .. 6 years later, they still have a alpha state of a game?! And no, don't say "..but they needed more time". What's this ? Charity House?! 6 years for a game is MORE then enough, especially back in the days, where most MMOs were in development between 3 and top 5 years. Studios which had an idea of "wtf to do" of course.
Now, about GW2 being in control by NcSoft. Any .. links? Sources? IF Ncsoft was in control of GW2, you would NEVER see this type of game-play in GW2, since they pretty much LOVE grind games.
Anyway, I blame Mike O'Brien. But that's just me ..
Edit: And let's not talk about Garriott space ...voyage. His game was shit, and he's spending the money from his Studio to fly in space to ....................promote Tabula Rasa?! For 30 mil he could buy ads on the internet for an entire year and would have a HUGE impact on sales.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Lol RG beat NCsoft in court not once but twice and was awarded his 30 million that NCsoft tried to steal from in stock options .. They lied to him and even were caught faking phone calls .. NCsoft was to blame for TR failures , as they changed the direction from RG oroginal concept dramatically them RG wanted delay release because he knew what they had would fail ..You have so much wrong , it would take all nite to fix it .. He spent His own money BTW .. Not a studios .. LOL so misguided
As a share holder of NCSoft and a fan of RG this was a very difficult time for me ..
RG was treated very unfairly during and after the development of TR .. I was there every step and spoke with him ..
Im glad he won his suit against NCsoft not once but twice ..
And as far as Anet goes .. the layoffs the past 2 years , were not there choice..
"Songyee Yoon, the CEO of Korean publisher NCSoft West, which owns
ArenaNet, e-mailed employees this afternoon with the news. “Our live
game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in
development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our
revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,”
she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us
up for future success.”
Yoon added that the company plans to
“cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board,
merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process...
Around
400 people work at ArenaNet, and for the past few years they’ve been
working on a number of unannounced projects, according to one person
familiar with goings-on at the company. However, that person said, slow
development progress combined with a lack of new games in 2018 and 2019
has led to a financial squeeze. ArenaNet’s last release, the Path of
Fire expansion for Guild Wars 2, launched in September 2017.
There is a very real reason that Songyee announces and makes these decisions , and its not that ArenaNet has any choice in these matters At ALL ..
Lol RG beat NCsoft in court not once but twice and was awarded his 30 million that NCsoft tried to steal from in stock options .. They lied to him and even were caught faking phone calls .. NCsoft was to blame for TR failures , as they changed the direction from RG oroginal concept dramatically them RG wanted delay release because he knew what they had would fail ..You have so much wrong , it would take all nite to fix it .. He spent His own money BTW .. Not a studios .. LOL so misguided
As a share holder of NCSoft and a fan of RG this was a very difficult time for me ..
RG was treated very unfairly during and after the development of TR .. I was there every step and spoke with him ..
Im glad he won his suit against NCsoft not once but twice ..
And as far as Anet goes .. the layoffs the past 2 years , were not there choice..
"Songyee Yoon, the CEO of Korean publisher NCSoft West, which owns
ArenaNet, e-mailed employees this afternoon with the news. “Our live
game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in
development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our
revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,”
she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us
up for future success.”
Yoon added that the company plans to
“cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board,
merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process...
Around
400 people work at ArenaNet, and for the past few years they’ve been
working on a number of unannounced projects, according to one person
familiar with goings-on at the company. However, that person said, slow
development progress combined with a lack of new games in 2018 and 2019
has led to a financial squeeze. ArenaNet’s last release, the Path of
Fire expansion for Guild Wars 2, launched in September 2017.
There is a very real reason that Songyee announces and makes these decisions , and its not that ArenaNet has any choice in these matters At ALL ..
They are a Wholly Owned Subsidary ..
That's the story you came up with ? Yes, I agree NcSoft kicked his ass out of the company not really .. legally, and no, not because they wanted to "steal" his stocks, lol. I mean, you have to be some pretty big ignorant and with no Law knowledge to believe something like this, which ..NcSoft is neither since .. even then it was a pretty big company with lawyers and such.
Anyway, I would have done the same , really. I believe NcSoft expected to lose in court, but not this big.
So Garriott not only spend $88 mil ( or something ) from NcSoft money with the failed Tabula Rasa, but he also got away with another $30 mil from the court, hence..scammer, as I said previously. So all this Tabula Rasa costed NcSoft around $120 mil and you STILL believe it was NcSoft fault ? Well .. carry on then.
PS: About the email from Songyee to ArenaNet employees. As I said it was about time for NcSoft to jump on, exactly for the reasons stated in the email.
Read this loud and clear please : Our live game ( aka GW2 ) business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development ( ANet fault ) on PC.
As I said, NcSoft was handsfree on ANet up until some point. So your "facts" that NcSoft was fully in-charge with GW2 are non existent, since that email is from..what? 2017 or 2018? ...while GW2 released in 2012, with a 5 (?) years of production. So claiming that NcSoft was in-charge with GW2 since .. 2007 is .. sorry to say, a bit (more) naive.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Lol RG beat NCsoft in court not once but twice and was awarded his 30 million that NCsoft tried to steal from in stock options .. They lied to him and even were caught faking phone calls .. NCsoft was to blame for TR failures , as they changed the direction from RG oroginal concept dramatically them RG wanted delay release because he knew what they had would fail ..You have so much wrong , it would take all nite to fix it .. He spent His own money BTW .. Not a studios .. LOL so misguided
As a share holder of NCSoft and a fan of RG this was a very difficult time for me ..
RG was treated very unfairly during and after the development of TR .. I was there every step and spoke with him ..
Im glad he won his suit against NCsoft not once but twice ..
And as far as Anet goes .. the layoffs the past 2 years , were not there choice..
"Songyee Yoon, the CEO of Korean publisher NCSoft West, which owns
ArenaNet, e-mailed employees this afternoon with the news. “Our live
game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in
development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our
revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,”
she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us
up for future success.”
Yoon added that the company plans to
“cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board,
merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process...
Around
400 people work at ArenaNet, and for the past few years they’ve been
working on a number of unannounced projects, according to one person
familiar with goings-on at the company. However, that person said, slow
development progress combined with a lack of new games in 2018 and 2019
has led to a financial squeeze. ArenaNet’s last release, the Path of
Fire expansion for Guild Wars 2, launched in September 2017.
There is a very real reason that Songyee announces and makes these decisions , and its not that ArenaNet has any choice in these matters At ALL ..
They are a Wholly Owned Subsidary ..
That's the story you came up with ? Yes, I agree NcSoft kicked his ass out of the company not really .. legally, and no, not because they wanted to "steal" his stocks, lol. I mean, you have to be some pretty big ignorant and with no Law knowledge to believe something like this, which ..NcSoft is neither since .. even then it was a pretty big company with lawyers and such.
Anyway, I would have done the same , really. I believe NcSoft expected to lose in court, but not this big.
So Garriott not only spend $88 mil ( or something ) from NcSoft money with the failed Tabula Rasa, but he also got away with another $30 mil from the court, hence..scammer, as I said previously. So all this Tabula Rasa costed NcSoft around $120 mil and you STILL believe it was NcSoft fault ? Well .. carry on then.
PS: About the email from Songyee to ArenaNet employees. As I said it was about time for NcSoft to jump on, exactly for the reasons stated in the email.
Read this loud and clear please : Our live game ( aka GW2 ) business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development ( ANet fault ) on PC.
As I said, NcSoft was handsfree on ANet up until some point. So your "facts" that NcSoft was fully in-charge with GW2 are non existent, since that email is from..what? 2017 or 2018? ...while GW2 released in 2012, with a 5 (?) years of production. So claiming that NcSoft was in-charge with GW2 since .. 2007 is .. sorry to say, a bit (more) naive.
Lol you are injecting some serious smegma there.. RG did not spend 88 Million .. That was NCsoft investment that they made , They Approahed RG on this endeavor they funded it .. They had full control of that money .. RG spent ..cmon Ice ..really ..
Go read the court trnscripts .. I have .. NCsoft was faking phone calls and docs to try and pull off this Ruse ..
LOl if you think for one second that NCsoft was hands off you are mistaken ..
They are not Hands Off of anything they have ever invested in .. I know this for fact.. Thats all i will say on the matter ..
We have gone off the rails of my statement enough , to involve RG and TR ...
My statement .. " That there biggest mistake was letting NCsoft get full control of there co. was there biggest mistake"
I stand by that .. IF ArenaNet had held onto % of there company they would not be in the position they find themselves in now .. Fact
They would have the ability to negotiate there way out of NCSoft ..fact
They would likely find another Pub or be able to keep going on there own , with private investors..
As it stands now NCsoft can pull the plug and send them all home with nothing to show for there work ..
A terrible event for the IPs community ..and the game devs that have worked on it ..
So , we can argue all this other stuff Ice till we are Blue in the face .. It really has no bearing on the orginal statement i made ..
I have had some discussions with a few other investors , about .. NCsoft having a similar to SOny Station Pass
Offer GW, GW2, COH ,TR ,Dungeon Runners,Wildstar, Auto Assault, etc .. for a 14.99 sub I think it would do well for them .. Or some combo of
Lol you are injecting some serious smegma there.. RG did not spend 88 Million .. That was NCsoft investment that they made , They Approahed RG on this endeavor they funded it .. They had full control of that money .. RG spent ..cmon Ice ..really ..
So .. NcSoft was the investor, yes. Invested in RG, yes? Yes. RG spent the money on Tabula Rasa, yes? Yes.
So .. I fail to realize, what are you trying to say! Are you saying that yes, NCsoft invested $88 mil in Tabula Rasa but .. it wasn't Garriott who spent it on the game? If not , who ? My point still stands, that NcSoft lost $88 mil with , and let me quote it : Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Who's name is on this poster? Richard Garriott, yes? The one who spent the $88 mil investment from NcSoft, yes? So again, whats your point? If it's an investment, it doesn't count ? Now, tell me again, with a straight face, that it was NcSoft fault for the failure of Tabula Rasa, even after investing/losing $88 mil.
Go read the court trnscripts .. I have .. NCsoft was faking phone calls and docs to try and pull off this Ruse ..
Pull of what? Tabula Rasa? Well , I would pull it off myself too. I mean, read the internet "transcripts" from back in the days, to see how bad it was day 1. So not only NcSoft lost money until that point, but they lose more after the launch.
My statement .. " That there biggest mistake was letting NCsoft get full control of there co. was there biggest mistake"
I stand by that .. IF ArenaNet had held onto % of there company they would not be in the position they find themselves in now .. Fact
They would have the ability to negotiate there way out of NCSoft ..fact
They would likely find another Pub or be able to keep going on there own , with private investors..
As it stands now NCsoft can pull the plug and send them all home with nothing to show for there work ..
So let me get this straight.
1) NcSoft buys ANet in 2002. In 2005 they release GW1. A very successful game. All good yes? So by your logic, it was not ANet success, but NcSoft, because they weren't handsoff , correct? So which is it then? Is ANet success when we talk about GW1 , or NcSoft? Make up your mind please ..
2) In 2007, ANet starts working on GW2 . In 2012, GW2 launches, very successfully I might say. So again, is it because of ANet or because of NcSoft the successful launch of GW2?
3) After like 4 years and with a pretty big fail of an expansion that year, GW2 revenues start falling big. We then hear that ANet was working at that time, on other INTERNAL projects, unrelated to GW2. So GW2 starting to fall, and big heads in ANEt is working on other projects, only to a point where NcSoft started to came in and canceled the said project, in a move to at least try and make more content for GW2 ( I guess ). So now, based on above, which is all true, if it was NcSoft in charge with ANet since the....beginning , how is it that ANEt staff has worked on other projects, only to get canceled 1/2 year(s) later by NcSoft!? Makes no sense really. If NcSoft had green lighted the said projects, why did they canceled the projects in such a short amount of time? Exactly ..
I have had some discussions with a few other investors , about .. NCsoft having a similar to SOny Station Pass
Offer GW, GW2, COH ,TR ,Dungeon Runners,Wildstar, Auto Assault, etc .. for a 14.99 sub I think it would do well for them .. Or some combo of
Any thoughts on that ...
The moment you do this as a company, is the moment when you fail .. as a (business) company.
Not only is very wrong to add all your game's library under the same "sub", but you are going to make a very big mess in all departments. Say you have 5 games, which only 2 are profitable ( aka players playing the game, spending , etc ) and the other 3 are "ghost towns". So what you do? You hold and pay the staff from the other 3 games which are in-a-lose ( as revenue ), just to .. what? To look good in the eyes of SOME gamers because "it's bad for a game to close"?!
Well .. good thing you're just a stock holder and not someone in-charge with the company ( NcSoft in this case ), because with your mentality, you would of had the Sony fate. No offense.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
And as far as Anet goes .. the layoffs the past 2 years , were not there choice..
"Songyee Yoon, the CEO of Korean publisher NCSoft West, which owns
ArenaNet, e-mailed employees this afternoon with the news. “Our live
game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in
development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our
revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,”
she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us
up for future success.”
Yoon added that the company plans to
“cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board,
merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process...
Around
400 people work at ArenaNet, and for the past few years they’ve been
working on a number of unannounced projects, according to one person
familiar with goings-on at the company. However, that person said, slow
development progress combined with a lack of new games in 2018 and 2019
has led to a financial squeeze. ArenaNet’s last release, the Path of
Fire expansion for Guild Wars 2, launched in September 2017.
There is a very real reason that Songyee announces and makes these decisions , and its not that ArenaNet has any choice in these matters At ALL ..
They are a Wholly Owned Subsidary ..
No one is questioning that NCsoft told Anet to cut staff due to their poor fiscal performance.
The the point everyone is making, is that it was ANET that opted make a lot of screw up before that event happened, After HoT Launched, Mike O endlessly wallowed about how he did not have the resources to do any of the things he said he was going to do, like Legendary Weapons, Armor, WvW Balance, and pretty much all the things that he said were going to be part of the expansion, as well as leaving the game with a huge dry patch of follow up content, for all the players that wer dismayed by HoT. Then we find out that he had half his employees just screwing around on other projects. So he had resources, he chose to squander them on some hidden other projects while flipping the bird at his existing payer base, and thus letting his ONLY source of income scoot down the shitter.
You're damn right that NCsoft stepped in when they say he was screwing things up, in fact, I am starting to agree with some of the others posters, that they waited too long to set things straight with Anet.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
Offer GW, GW2, COH ,TR ,Dungeon Runners,Wildstar, Auto Assault, etc .. for a 14.99 sub I think it would do well for them .. Or some combo of
Any thoughts on that ...
The problem with all these games is that not a single one of them had the clout to survive as a sub based game, some of them didn't even have the clout to survive as B2P or F2P.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
So, the NCSoft 4Q19 report was released today, and things are indeed looking grim for Guild Wars 2. The 4th quarter which is the holiday quarter should be one of the strongest, but it turns out it was the worst quarter by quite a margin.
The game doesn't appear to have lost players that much, they just aren't spending money on the game as there wasn't anything new in the store in Q4 except for build templates and people are pissed at how much they cost. Also, lots of players got pissed at the "no new expansion news" mentioned right before Q4 started and decided to protest with their wallet.
Q1 will be the interest numbers to look at, as GW2 got a new type of cosmetic item (cape) and that's the only thing that finance the game (new cosmetic items).
This is a problem. Even for those who love to change out their appearance. There are only so many cosmetic items one wants to buy. A new expansion with a level increase would probably bring in a lot of old players and revive the game a bit.
Comments
the fore mentioned being the worst and most damaging by Far
I think their blundering screw up that was heart of Thorns, was directly part of their current failings.
NcSoft was handsfree of ANet for the most part.
Right now, they have all the rights to come forward and take actions, since ANet is in trouble because of their own mistakes.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
And lets be honest, Anet has been really showing they don't know what they are doing.
I mean if their overall bad game design decisions were not bad enough, like the blundering mess that was HoT. Where they didn't even put out the whole expansion and then found ways to alienate their casual player base, which was a HUGE part of their gamer base. As if that was not enough.
They then devote half their staff to some "other" behind the scenes project (Which we have heard nothing further about) while their flag ship is sinking, as opposed to pulling everyone off that other project and focus on getting GW2 back on course and making things work again.
I mean think about that.. Imagine someone making the choice to lay off half their staff, because they refused to put them back on their ONE and ONLY incoming generating project.
That is like begging to be let go from your position, that is like waving a gold plated sign with neon lights in-front of your boss that you don't know what you are doing.
Which notice, that was when Anet came in and took over.
Do I think they will save this sinking ship? No.
I think the fuck ups of the past have done too much damage to really recover from this point, and like the NGE, this hopefully serve as a cautionary tale of what not to do when making a MMO.
Because it makes no sense to me for NCSoft to tell Anet to devote the resources of 86 staff members to other projects, and then tell them to cut that staff, without putting out some kind of product from that endeavor.
Nope, that's ANet fault 100%.
You really don't have a clue about ANet and NcSoft, aren't you? If it weren't for NcSoft to purchase ANet, we might not even see GW1 released. I really don't understand this "..but NcSoft has full control and are the ones to blame".
Richard Garriott ( a scammer ) , had full control over Tabula Rasa. How that turned out?
You must understand that first thing first, for a game to success, the business behind the game MUST be successful, because no money, no staff, no content = Fail Game , which seems to be where ANet is heading because how badly they ( not NcSoft ) managed GW2.
Look at NcSoft own titles. They have ups and downs, but for the most part are (very) profitable. Of course they expect the same from all their studios which they own.
In 2015, ANet decided to self publish GW2 in a move where I believe, NcSoft said they want GW2 fully F2P, while ANet said no. So, they said "Ok, go ahead, do your thing".
“I look at free-to-play as a business model. We aren’t going to go back and redesign the business model. It’s not about monetizing free-to-player players. This is Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 was designed as a buy-to-play game.”
https://massivelyop.com/2015/09/01/pax-prime-2015-president-mike-obrien-addresses-rumors-about-business-model-and-the-arenanet-base-on-the-moon/
NcSoft will never release such statement as they are in favor of fully F2P.
Anyway, fast forward, Mike O'Brien left the company, the financial status of ANet is in danger, and the future is pretty .. bleak.
NcSoft must take actions now, or else they risk to have another "Richard Garriott" fiasco .. thing, happening at ANet this time around.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Anet had control thru gw1 .. GW2 was and is controlled by NCsoft.. There hand was/is heavy in development and direction ..
I firmly believe GW2 and Anets current situation is all Anet's fault for just poor overall game design decisions.
Fans seem to have unrealistic expectations on what is doable and not doable. Publishers and most developers do the minimum required. There needs to be a middle ground somewhere.
Garriott has delayed Tabula Rasa like what...3 times?
Development[edit]
In the works since May 2001, the game underwent a major revamp two years into the project. Conflicts between developers and the vague direction of the game were said to be the causes of this dramatic change. Twenty percent of the original team was replaced, and 75% of the code had to be redone.[17] Some staff working on other NCsoft projects were transferred to the Tabula Rasa development team, including City of Heroes' Community Coordinator April "CuppaJo" Burba.[18] First re-shown at E3 2005, the game then transformed into the current science fiction setting and look.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rasa_(video_game)
Not only NcSoft transferred staff from other studios/games, but there was a vague direction of "wtf to do" at Destination Games. And no, Garriott had full control here, since Destination Games was his studio, unless you come up with an article saying otherwise.
As someone from here said, publishers ( in this case NcSoft ) , spending lots and lots of money on Studios to release a game, and .. 6 years later, they still have a alpha state of a game?! And no, don't say "..but they needed more time". What's this ? Charity House?! 6 years for a game is MORE then enough, especially back in the days, where most MMOs were in development between 3 and top 5 years. Studios which had an idea of "wtf to do" of course.
Now, about GW2 being in control by NcSoft. Any .. links? Sources? IF Ncsoft was in control of GW2, you would NEVER see this type of game-play in GW2, since they pretty much LOVE grind games.
Anyway, I blame Mike O'Brien. But that's just me ..
Edit: And let's not talk about Garriott space ...voyage. His game was shit, and he's spending the money from his Studio to fly in space to ....................promote Tabula Rasa?! For 30 mil he could buy ads on the internet for an entire year and would have a HUGE impact on sales.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Yoon added that the company plans to “cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board, merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process...
Around 400 people work at ArenaNet, and for the past few years they’ve been working on a number of unannounced projects, according to one person familiar with goings-on at the company. However, that person said, slow development progress combined with a lack of new games in 2018 and 2019 has led to a financial squeeze. ArenaNet’s last release, the Path of Fire expansion for Guild Wars 2, launched in September 2017.
Anyway, I would have done the same , really. I believe NcSoft expected to lose in court, but not this big.
So Garriott not only spend $88 mil ( or something ) from NcSoft money with the failed Tabula Rasa, but he also got away with another $30 mil from the court, hence..scammer, as I said previously. So all this Tabula Rasa costed NcSoft around $120 mil and you STILL believe it was NcSoft fault ? Well .. carry on then.
PS: About the email from Songyee to ArenaNet employees. As I said it was about time for NcSoft to jump on, exactly for the reasons stated in the email.
Read this loud and clear please : Our live game ( aka GW2 ) business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development ( ANet fault ) on PC.
As I said, NcSoft was handsfree on ANet up until some point. So your "facts" that NcSoft was fully in-charge with GW2 are non existent, since that email is from..what? 2017 or 2018? ...while GW2 released in 2012, with a 5 (?) years of production. So claiming that NcSoft was in-charge with GW2 since .. 2007 is .. sorry to say, a bit (more) naive.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
So .. I fail to realize, what are you trying to say! Are you saying that yes, NCsoft invested $88 mil in Tabula Rasa but .. it wasn't Garriott who spent it on the game? If not , who ? My point still stands, that NcSoft lost $88 mil with , and let me quote it : Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Who's name is on this poster? Richard Garriott, yes? The one who spent the $88 mil investment from NcSoft, yes? So again, whats your point? If it's an investment, it doesn't count ? Now, tell me again, with a straight face, that it was NcSoft fault for the failure of Tabula Rasa, even after investing/losing $88 mil.
Pull of what? Tabula Rasa? Well , I would pull it off myself too. I mean, read the internet "transcripts" from back in the days, to see how bad it was day 1. So not only NcSoft lost money until that point, but they lose more after the launch.
So let me get this straight.
1) NcSoft buys ANet in 2002. In 2005 they release GW1. A very successful game. All good yes? So by your logic, it was not ANet success, but NcSoft, because they weren't handsoff , correct? So which is it then? Is ANet success when we talk about GW1 , or NcSoft? Make up your mind please ..
2) In 2007, ANet starts working on GW2 . In 2012, GW2 launches, very successfully I might say. So again, is it because of ANet or because of NcSoft the successful launch of GW2?
3) After like 4 years and with a pretty big fail of an expansion that year, GW2 revenues start falling big. We then hear that ANet was working at that time, on other INTERNAL projects, unrelated to GW2. So GW2 starting to fall, and big heads in ANEt is working on other projects, only to a point where NcSoft started to came in and canceled the said project, in a move to at least try and make more content for GW2 ( I guess ). So now, based on above, which is all true, if it was NcSoft in charge with ANet since the....beginning , how is it that ANEt staff has worked on other projects, only to get canceled 1/2 year(s) later by NcSoft!? Makes no sense really. If NcSoft had green lighted the said projects, why did they canceled the projects in such a short amount of time? Exactly ..
The moment you do this as a company, is the moment when you fail .. as a (business) company.
Not only is very wrong to add all your game's library under the same "sub", but you are going to make a very big mess in all departments. Say you have 5 games, which only 2 are profitable ( aka players playing the game, spending , etc ) and the other 3 are "ghost towns". So what you do? You hold and pay the staff from the other 3 games which are in-a-lose ( as revenue ), just to .. what? To look good in the eyes of SOME gamers because "it's bad for a game to close"?!
Well .. good thing you're just a stock holder and not someone in-charge with the company ( NcSoft in this case ), because with your mentality, you would of had the Sony fate. No offense.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
The the point everyone is making, is that it was ANET that opted make a lot of screw up before that event happened, After HoT Launched, Mike O endlessly wallowed about how he did not have the resources to do any of the things he said he was going to do, like Legendary Weapons, Armor, WvW Balance, and pretty much all the things that he said were going to be part of the expansion, as well as leaving the game with a huge dry patch of follow up content, for all the players that wer dismayed by HoT. Then we find out that he had half his employees just screwing around on other projects. So he had resources, he chose to squander them on some hidden other projects while flipping the bird at his existing payer base, and thus letting his ONLY source of income scoot down the shitter.
You're damn right that NCsoft stepped in when they say he was screwing things up, in fact, I am starting to agree with some of the others posters, that they waited too long to set things straight with Anet.
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