Shame really not nice for people to lose their jobs. Happening with the economic world state atm though. Although I wouldnt put that 100% down to why Funcom employees are being removed.
They did it a month before Christmas, that's super classy. Guess they didn't want to spend any of that big surplus of cash they are supposedly sitting on to float those folks to the new year. The math makes sense, 80% of the player base left so 70% of the CS/QA isn't needed anymore.
It's business, nothing mean about it. If you got support staffed up for 500k customers and you only got 100k paying subscribers (these are guesstimates of course), you need to cut down on support manpower.
You think they will fire Oslo staff next? I mean it's not only US sub numbers that have been going down. Europe has also taken a huge hit. Maybe they have already fired people from FC headquarters, we just don't know about it?
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
They did it a month before Christmas, that's super classy. Guess they didn't want to spend any of that big surplus of cash they are supposedly sitting on to float those folks to the new year. The math makes sense, 80% of the player base left so 70% of the CS/QA isn't needed anymore.
It's business, nothing mean about it. If you got support staffed up for 500k customers and you only got 100k paying subscribers (these are guesstimates of course), you need to cut down on support manpower.
And don't worry, the rest of the team isn't far behind. They probably axed the employees in the USA to avoid having to pay them for the 4 day weekend coming up for thanksgiving. The people who are left are probably needed to close down the office.
We will know a lot more after this meeting in December.
Personally, I think that anyone who can't see this for logically what it is and puts out that FC is closing soon or being sold is justing doing it for questionable motives all related to post history. Last week I fired 18 people and this week hired 11 new people in different area's. Happens all the time in business, we didn't need those people in that particular area anymore as we were already staffed up too much.
Sure people get fired and hired in business all the time. However this is no random personel change, FC fired 70% of staff! Get it? 70%. That is a big deal no matter how much you like to spin it. Companies don't fire 70% of staff when everything is going well. Moves like this makes me think FC has given up in the US and are either going to close up shop, or run the the US office with a skeleton crew of 2-3 people.
I believe something really bad is happening behind the scenes and FC is desperately trying to survive the storm. More layoffs will happen, trust me.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Ouch 70% that's bad. I feel bad for them but it was to be expected. With AOC they had to do well. Funcom had no second chance with the horrible launch of their first MMO (Anarchy Online) they had no margin for errors. But guess what happened ? same thing. Half finished product, missing features, blatent lies, tons and tons of bugs. If Funcom goes down it will be their own fault.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Aguitha
Ouch 70% that's bad. I feel bad for them but it was to be expected. With AOC they had to do well. Funcom had no second chance with the horrible launch of their first MMO (Anarchy Online) they had no margin for errors. But guess what happened ? same thing. Half finished product, missing features, blatent lies, tons and tons of bugs. If Funcom goes down it will be their own fault.
We are talking about 70% of a small number of employee's based out of the NA offices and not the whole company. Oslo still has over a few hundred ppl that work there.
Same thing happened pretty much with AO: pc.ign.com/articles/100/100385p1.html That game is stick ticking along too. So I think some people should look at it with a little perspective.
The article said they were not laid off. They were put on "temporary leave". How many came back after that 3 months, we don't know.
Also Anarchy online is FTP so it's totally different ballgame and you cannot really compare the two until AoC goes FTP.
Item mall will work pretty well in AoC. You could buy mammoths and stuff.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Scaredgirl
Originally posted by AmazingAvery
Same thing happened pretty much with AO: pc.ign.com/articles/100/100385p1.html That game is stick ticking along too. So I think some people should look at it with a little perspective.
The article said they were not laid off. They were put on "temporary leave". How many came back after that 3 months, we don't know.
Also Anarchy online is FTP so it's totally different ballgame and you cannot really compare the two until AoC goes FTP.
Item mall will work pretty well in AoC. You could buy mammoths and stuff.
Love it! Love your minor attempts at putting things out wrong on purpose!!!
AO was not FTP nor had item malls at that time. Situation is exactly the same except, this time lay offs from US office.
Love it! Love your minor attempts at putting things out wrong on purpose!!! AO was not FTP nor had item malls at that time. Situation is exactly the same except, this time lay offs from US office.
My mistake. I didn't know the article was 7 years old. And frankly I forgot that AO ever even was PTP. I haven't played it and basically don't know anything about it, other than that many people think it was the worst MMO launch in history. Now of course everyone say it's AoC that had the worst lauch and I agree. Lol, MMO launch is not something FC is very good at. They have the 2 biggest launch disasters in history.
Age of Conan -> bad launch -> loses subs -> fires staff -> ???
Lol, when you think about it, it's like history repeating itself.
I really hope when AoC goes FTP they don't do something lame as Coca-Cola adds in Tortage. It would really ruin immersion if you walked on the beaches of White Sands Isle and there would be billboards everywhere.
Item mall is much more suitable for AoC because it has a lot of casual players who don't have time to do raids to get gear. They could just buy the stuff they need and eveyone would be happy. You could buy stuff like those pre-order siege mounts. Or maybe if you are willing to spend a lot of cash, you could buy "The Sword of Conan" or something.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
You know how it goes. Have a low earnings report: show that you're doing something about it by cutting costs, even if it means cutting jobs. Thanks for the damage-control notes
Spoils of War - The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
Still not a big deal . They were probably bloated on employees for the number of subscribers anyway.
I don't know.. firing 70% of staff is never a good thing. Look what happened to Anarchy Online. First layoffs which at the time were "no big deal". Then suddenly AO goes Free-To-Play.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Almost all of their operating cost is predicated around man hours.
Be it development, marketing, accounts payable, shipping and receiving, maintenance, janitorial staff, management, and administrative staff (including HR) everyone is subject to get the axe in a development company.
You can also find a more direct correlation between profit loss and who's job was cut. If you are axing the QA pubbies there's not a whole lot to worry about, but when the development staff gets trimmed and the corresponding administrative staff that goes with management, you are bleeding cash.
Yuu DON'T lay people off when the business takes a dive. You do the exact opposite. Word of mouth from former employees can kill a company (see Circuit City).
Lets say Funcom is laying off 150 people. That 150 people automatically translates to 2250 by the rules of W-O-M marketing, which in turn translates to another 15,000+ with incremental increases as the grapevine effect.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Scaredgirl
I don't know.. firing 70% of staff is never a good thing. Look what happened to Anarchy Online. First layoffs which at the time were "no big deal". Then suddenly AO goes Free-To-Play.
There we go again - blanket statement - designed to mis-inform the readers. 70% of "US" staff from an original handfull that worked there. You know more staff go laid off that work for Mortal Online and Darkfall combined.
Oh look it also was not suddenly free to play for AO right after - lest you forgot and this is an important point - the game is still alive 7 yrs on...
What does that tell you apart from something factual again..
Define 'Handful' Avery? I would venture to guess that none of those "handful" care much about that, they just know they are out of work before Thanks Giving and Christmas. 70% isnt good even if it was 10 guys, 7 are now without work.
Well sorry but anyone who did their homework prior to starting to take coin from Funcom should of done their known the outcome, like a poster above said to bad starts means tilt game over and the sooner the better for me!!
They never ever listen to their beta testers on both games imo., to the life boats all.
^^^^^^^^^/^^^^^^^^Funcom^^^^^^^ICEBERG^^^^^^^
Asbo
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by arkady09
Define 'Handful' Avery? I would venture to guess that none of those "handful" care much about that, they just know they are out of work before Thanks Giving and Christmas. 70% isnt good even if it was 10 guys, 7 are now without work.
Yes it is such a shame that these things can happen in any business out there.
"Needs of the business" Ever owned your own company or been in a management position?
Btw it was a Rumor to the 70% figure - care to point out where FC said - "yep 70% have gone"?
A lot of people involved in this industry are employed on a contractual basis per game, once it's made there is no need for everyone to remain and therfore hence contract. Staffing up over the summer was something that was asked for and we got as subscribers. Population is not what it was, something that everyone can agree on, therefore it is just as logical to reason you don't need 3 people doing 1 persons job.
Yes it is such a shame that these things can happen in any business out there. "Needs of the business" Ever owned your own company or been in a management position? Btw it was a Rumor to the 70% figure - care to point out where FC said - "yep 70% have gone"?
You know how I know it's the truth? Because if it WASN'T true we would have a FC representitive saying: "These rumors about layoffs are not true." But they are NOT saying that. Why? Because it's the truth. It's really simple.
These rumors were probably started by one or two of those employees that were fired and I trust them much more than I trust the propaganda department of FC. Hell, I even trust some random internet guy more than FC.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Sorry don't see any troll threads made only troll comments on it if you can read. I understand now, you think I trolled the war boards therefore you thought it was necessary to come here to troll as well on my thread? hmm Is it possible for people to play more than one game? OMFGOSH
I agree with Avery. Many poeple here play more than one game. How dare you imply he's not playing WAR? Just look at his signature. It clearly says he's playing.. oh, wait..
Um.. you went to post negative threads about WAR even though you haven't even played it? Isn't there a word for it?
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
If they laid of their CS reps that just means they don't expect their playerbase to recover. It's not something really suprising.
Also be ready for more layoffs. There is no way FC will be able to pay the salaries of 300+ employees AND take care of their debt with current AoC subscription numbers. I mean AoC is their main source on income.
There's a panic mode in FC headquarters as they pray for a Christmas miracle. Once they finally put DX10 in live, they might me able to get that 100k+ subs again, though I doubt King Conan will ever see another Christmas again.
----------------------------- Originally posted by Frobner "Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Comments
Shame really not nice for people to lose their jobs. Happening with the economic world state atm though. Although I wouldnt put that 100% down to why Funcom employees are being removed.
They did it a month before Christmas, that's super classy.
Guess they didn't want to spend any of that big surplus of cash they are supposedly sitting on to float those folks to the new year.
The math makes sense, 80% of the player base left so 70% of the CS/QA isn't needed anymore.
It's business, nothing mean about it. If you got support staffed up for 500k customers and you only got 100k paying subscribers (these are guesstimates of course), you need to cut down on support manpower.
You think they will fire Oslo staff next? I mean it's not only US sub numbers that have been going down. Europe has also taken a huge hit. Maybe they have already fired people from FC headquarters, we just don't know about it?
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
It's business, nothing mean about it. If you got support staffed up for 500k customers and you only got 100k paying subscribers (these are guesstimates of course), you need to cut down on support manpower.
And don't worry, the rest of the team isn't far behind. They probably axed the employees in the USA to avoid having to pay them for the 4 day weekend coming up for thanksgiving. The people who are left are probably needed to close down the office.
We will know a lot more after this meeting in December.
Sure people get fired and hired in business all the time. However this is no random personel change, FC fired 70% of staff! Get it? 70%. That is a big deal no matter how much you like to spin it. Companies don't fire 70% of staff when everything is going well. Moves like this makes me think FC has given up in the US and are either going to close up shop, or run the the US office with a skeleton crew of 2-3 people.
I believe something really bad is happening behind the scenes and FC is desperately trying to survive the storm. More layoffs will happen, trust me.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Ouch 70% that's bad. I feel bad for them but it was to be expected. With AOC they had to do well. Funcom had no second chance with the horrible launch of their first MMO (Anarchy Online) they had no margin for errors. But guess what happened ? same thing. Half finished product, missing features, blatent lies, tons and tons of bugs. If Funcom goes down it will be their own fault.
We are talking about 70% of a small number of employee's based out of the NA offices and not the whole company. Oslo still has over a few hundred ppl that work there.
Same thing happened pretty much with AO: pc.ign.com/articles/100/100385p1.html
That game is stick ticking along too.
So I think some people should look at it with a little perspective.
The article said they were not laid off. They were put on "temporary leave". How many came back after that 3 months, we don't know.
Also Anarchy online is FTP so it's totally different ballgame and you cannot really compare the two until AoC goes FTP.
Item mall will work pretty well in AoC. You could buy mammoths and stuff.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
The article said they were not laid off. They were put on "temporary leave". How many came back after that 3 months, we don't know.
Also Anarchy online is FTP so it's totally different ballgame and you cannot really compare the two until AoC goes FTP.
Item mall will work pretty well in AoC. You could buy mammoths and stuff.
Love it! Love your minor attempts at putting things out wrong on purpose!!!
AO was not FTP nor had item malls at that time. Situation is exactly the same except, this time lay offs from US office.
My mistake. I didn't know the article was 7 years old. And frankly I forgot that AO ever even was PTP. I haven't played it and basically don't know anything about it, other than that many people think it was the worst MMO launch in history. Now of course everyone say it's AoC that had the worst lauch and I agree. Lol, MMO launch is not something FC is very good at. They have the 2 biggest launch disasters in history.
Do you see a pattern here?
Anarchy Online -> bad launch -> loses subs -> fires staff -> goes Free-To-Play
Age of Conan -> bad launch -> loses subs -> fires staff -> ???
Lol, when you think about it, it's like history repeating itself.
I really hope when AoC goes FTP they don't do something lame as Coca-Cola adds in Tortage. It would really ruin immersion if you walked on the beaches of White Sands Isle and there would be billboards everywhere.
Item mall is much more suitable for AoC because it has a lot of casual players who don't have time to do raids to get gear. They could just buy the stuff they need and eveyone would be happy. You could buy stuff like those pre-order siege mounts. Or maybe if you are willing to spend a lot of cash, you could buy "The Sword of Conan" or something.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
You know how it goes. Have a low earnings report: show that you're doing something about it by cutting costs, even if it means cutting jobs. Thanks for the damage-control notes
Spoils of War - The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
Still not a big deal . They were probably bloated on employees for the number of subscribers anyway.
I don't know.. firing 70% of staff is never a good thing. Look what happened to Anarchy Online. First layoffs which at the time were "no big deal". Then suddenly AO goes Free-To-Play.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Almost all of their operating cost is predicated around man hours.
Be it development, marketing, accounts payable, shipping and receiving, maintenance, janitorial staff, management, and administrative staff (including HR) everyone is subject to get the axe in a development company.
You can also find a more direct correlation between profit loss and who's job was cut. If you are axing the QA pubbies there's not a whole lot to worry about, but when the development staff gets trimmed and the corresponding administrative staff that goes with management, you are bleeding cash.
Yuu DON'T lay people off when the business takes a dive. You do the exact opposite. Word of mouth from former employees can kill a company (see Circuit City).
Lets say Funcom is laying off 150 people. That 150 people automatically translates to 2250 by the rules of W-O-M marketing, which in turn translates to another 15,000+ with incremental increases as the grapevine effect.
There we go again - blanket statement - designed to mis-inform the readers. 70% of "US" staff from an original handfull that worked there. You know more staff go laid off that work for Mortal Online and Darkfall combined.
Oh look it also was not suddenly free to play for AO right after - lest you forgot and this is an important point - the game is still alive 7 yrs on...
What does that tell you apart from something factual again..
Define 'Handful' Avery? I would venture to guess that none of those "handful" care much about that, they just know they are out of work before Thanks Giving and Christmas. 70% isnt good even if it was 10 guys, 7 are now without work.
Well sorry but anyone who did their homework prior to starting to take coin from Funcom should of done their known the outcome, like a poster above said to bad starts means tilt game over and the sooner the better for me!!
They never ever listen to their beta testers on both games imo., to the life boats all.
^^^^^^^^^/^^^^^^^^Funcom^^^^^^^ICEBERG^^^^^^^
Asbo
Yes it is such a shame that these things can happen in any business out there.
"Needs of the business" Ever owned your own company or been in a management position?
Btw it was a Rumor to the 70% figure - care to point out where FC said - "yep 70% have gone"?
A lot of people involved in this industry are employed on a contractual basis per game, once it's made there is no need for everyone to remain and therfore hence contract. Staffing up over the summer was something that was asked for and we got as subscribers. Population is not what it was, something that everyone can agree on, therefore it is just as logical to reason you don't need 3 people doing 1 persons job.
Be it even only 1% I'm sad for the people that've been thrown out of the boat.
Last time I read that so close to Christmas was TIGGS in SWG.
You know how I know it's the truth? Because if it WASN'T true we would have a FC representitive saying: "These rumors about layoffs are not true." But they are NOT saying that. Why? Because it's the truth. It's really simple.
These rumors were probably started by one or two of those employees that were fired and I trust them much more than I trust the propaganda department of FC. Hell, I even trust some random internet guy more than FC.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
Barfman - The superhero people are reluctant to call upon.
I agree with Avery. Many poeple here play more than one game. How dare you imply he's not playing WAR? Just look at his signature. It clearly says he's playing.. oh, wait..
Um.. you went to post negative threads about WAR even though you haven't even played it? Isn't there a word for it?
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.
If they laid of their CS reps that just means they don't expect their playerbase to recover. It's not something really suprising.
Also be ready for more layoffs. There is no way FC will be able to pay the salaries of 300+ employees AND take care of their debt with current AoC subscription numbers. I mean AoC is their main source on income.
There's a panic mode in FC headquarters as they pray for a Christmas miracle. Once they finally put DX10 in live, they might me able to get that 100k+ subs again, though I doubt King Conan will ever see another Christmas again.
-----------------------------
Originally posted by Frobner
"Massive sieges" "mounted combat" and "spellweaving" are just few words that spring to mind when I hear the word AOC.... But the word FAILURE will always top the list.