Ouch.. "Restructuring" is financespeak for a creditor composition or chapter 11 at best, bankruptcy at worst. Glad the game gave me a few month of fun at least.
All of this reminds me of the scene in "The Naked Gun" where Drebin is standing in front of the burning fireworks factory, with rockets and explosions going off, proclaiming "THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE. PLEASE MOVE ALONG!"
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Ever heard of the game Darkfall? or Love?
You can get by with as few devs as you wish so long as the game is tailored to this. FE isn't exactly a AAA blockbuster game so i think it suits a dev team that small.
As for the restructure...quite a few companies ditch a portion of their devs after release as they are no longer needed. I would have loved to see them stay and work on new content but often the companies opt to stick a tiny team on this and a skeleton crew to keep the servers running.
Hopefully they aren't doing this but it seems to be that way.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Ever heard of the game Darkfall? or Love?
You can get by with as few devs as you wish so long as the game is tailored to this. FE isn't exactly a AAA blockbuster game so i think it suits a dev team that small.
As for the restructure...quite a few companies ditch a portion of their devs after release as they are no longer needed. I would have loved to see them stay and work on new content but often the companies opt to stick a tiny team on this and a skeleton crew to keep the servers running.
Hopefully they aren't doing this but it seems to be that way.
Alot of my friends got laid off today (a few are still on the team) and I am pretty pissed off about the way the company handled this. They are definitely able to push out the latest patch but only because they had mandatory 10 hour work days for the last month and required emoployees to work saturday and sundays every other week. My guess is the majority of the work is already done by the staff that they just screwed over.
Someone up top had to know that this was coming and the fact is they required overtime without overtime pay knowing they would be laying everyone off without even a full last paycheck or reimbursement of vacation time.
I hope the best for the few people still on the development team but honestly I can't say I'd be sorry to see Icarus go.
FYI i hear Xsyon has only 18 employees so they arent released yet and doing it and Icarus is bascially focusing 100% on FE now if did ur research ud know this company had alot of projects goign so sumthin had to crack. and S3 is full i know the bank in traders flat usually looks like a ceptor junk yard..lol population is growing and
FYI i hear Xsyon has only 18 employees so they arent released yet and doing it and Icarus is bascially focusing 100% on FE now if did ur research ud know this company had alot of projects goign so sumthin had to crack. and S3 is full i know the bank in traders flat usually looks like a ceptor junk yard..lol population is growing and
DId Icarus sent you to promote their product and put a spin on the negative news? for last two months S3 is dead not to mention no activity at all in PVP areas. Only population you see is in S1but we all know how many of those players even make it to S3. Don't spread lies please; i was in S3 just 2 hours back and its as dead as ever.
no but hrmm their is a test server and alot have been their trying out the new stuff n are helping fix it and i donno wat time frame u are only but traders flat is usually full. and im not spreading lies ethier so try another 1 :-P
I dunno if they are going to be shutted down, i only know one thing, they lost a former player the day they announce the first expansion was about PVP arenas.
The truth is somewhere in between "We're fine" and "The Sky is Falling!"... It is true that all MMOGs trim down and lose people from their development teams once the game goes live. That is pretty much SOP. However, it remains to be seen whether the supposed 28-man crew can effectively continue to maintain and develop an MMOG like FE. I have my doubts, but I am not ready to jump ship, on the contrary. I will continue to support Icarus as long as FE is open and fun for e to play. The game seems to be gaining populaiton slowly but steadily, as I see lots of activity in the areas that I play in like S1 and some S2/3 areas. As long as I still have plenty of people to play the game with I am fine... I think a lot of this negativity is disgruntled haters that have always trolled around bashing games on these forums and FE in particular. Noone should be pleased when these small, creative independent developers struggle...
------------------------- "Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Live teams are traditionally pretty small, actually. I can't say whether or not they are doing well or not, 28 sounds low but it's fairly typical from what I understand. Development teams are much larger, though.
And some of my friends wonder why i quit working as a GM for this game.. There were some good people there..but the rest..A great concept of a game..just the ones running it will run it into the ground..good thing I left early.
I think Darkholme is right, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
There is obviously some sort of financial pressure on Icarus, and this is how they've chosen to react to it. It seems incredibly harsh, 80% of staff, and I'd assume that stuff like the mac client will now fall by the wayside.
It's hard to know what a core team of 28 can do to keep the game evolving, and to straighten out the increased bugginess that's been around for the past few weeks, never mind deal with the inevitable glitchiness after the big patch May 7th.
From my pov, it's shoddy that they're dropping staff who have put in so much work on the new content before the content even hits live. Never mind the work they put in over the years. I feel really bad for those people who are now out of work in economic times like these.
However, I'm not subbed to FE to support Icarus and their policies, I'm subbed because I enjoy the game.
As long as there is a game, and I continue to enjoy it, I'll continue to sub.
Thats pretty much whats happening. Die hard fans can put all the spins the way and try to give excuses that 'its a niche game'. But sad facts is that studio is not making profit and layed off half of its staff. Unless they fix the game and listen to majority of players nothing will change. New players will come and never venture beyond first sector and leave. If they try to raise concern they will be told GO BACK TO WOW and that is exactly what they are doing.
This^^^. Its like Deja Vu all over again. Think Tabula Rasa. A small portion of the game community, very vocal, intent on silencing others that may have other suggestions or concerns about the game, literally telling them TO LEAVE THE GAME 'If they don't like it". And yes...we did leave TR. And yes, we did leave FE. And now, due to most likely money concerns (because sandbox be damned, its all about money... ain't a damn thing funny...) talk of layoffs and political BS ("Oh yes, we are still doing great, la de da!"). What's next? Closure? F2P? RMT....? We all know where this is likely to lead. I personally dont want to see this, and I actually hope for the best, but I cant help but hold the vocal minority partly responsible for the game's demise (if that is indeed the case). And Speaking of them...
To the vocal diehards of FE, please for the sake of all that is holy...Shut UP! Stop telling people to leave the game. Stop being an elitist tool and stop hurting the game you claim to love. Games need subs...subs = $$$, $$$ = jobs for devs, Devs = more game content and expansions. And learn to be flexible. There are some elements in MMOs that make them more player friendly and accessible. These things make the game more popular, which of course = more $$$. Even CCP listened to the community and made certain aspects (mainly the new player experience) more accessible to players.
Best of luck to this game(devs, the studio, the idea, etc.) unfortunately however, it's in a quandry...it has a rabid, dedicated fanbase that on too many occasions, appears to be it's worst enemy.
If this game goes away that would be a damn shame. It's a unique game and has a lot to offer. Also I found the community and gm's to be very helpful.
I'm kind of waiting for housing to be implemented before I come back. That, and I want to get a new computer so I can play with all the bells and whistles.
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Live teams are traditionally pretty small, actually. I can't say whether or not they are doing well or not, 28 sounds low but it's fairly typical from what I understand. Development teams are much larger, though.
I agree. They could easily keep the game running with team of 28. Considering FE has only one server.
They can also make some minor fix patches.
But thats it. With 28 people. The game is feature complete , and will remain the same. No more changes , areas , quests ... thats it
Thats pretty much whats happening. Die hard fans can put all the spins the way and try to give excuses that 'its a niche game'. But sad facts is that studio is not making profit and layed off half of its staff. Unless they fix the game and listen to majority of players nothing will change. New players will come and never venture beyond first sector and leave. If they try to raise concern they will be told GO BACK TO WOW and that is exactly what they are doing.
This^^^. Its like Deja Vu all over again. Think Tabula Rasa. A small portion of the game community, very vocal, intent on silencing others that may have other suggestions or concerns about the game, literally telling them TO LEAVE THE GAME 'If they don't like it". And yes...we did leave TR. And yes, we did leave FE. And now, due to most likely money concerns (because sandbox be damned, its all about money... ain't a damn thing funny...) talk of layoffs and political BS ("Oh yes, we are still doing great, la de da!"). What's next? Closure? F2P? RMT....? We all know where this is likely to lead. I personally dont want to see this, and I actually hope for the best, but I cant help but hold the vocal minority partly responsible for the game's demise (if that is indeed the case). And Speaking of them...
To the vocal diehards of FE, please for the sake of all that is holy...Shut UP! Stop telling people to leave the game. Stop being an elitist tool and stop hurting the game you claim to love. Games need subs...subs = $$$, $$$ = jobs for devs, Devs = more game content and expansions. And learn to be flexible. There are some elements in MMOs that make them more player friendly and accessible. These things make the game more popular, which of course = more $$$. Even CCP listened to the community and made certain aspects (mainly the new player experience) more accessible to players.
Best of luck to this game(devs, the studio, the idea, etc.) unfortunately however, it's in a quandry...it has a rabid, dedicated fanbase that on too many occasions, appears to be it's worst enemy.
You know, both of you are right. It's hellish reading the FE forums this morning.
I saw people cackling about people losing their jobs because they (insert uber forum poster here) didn't like the changes coming in 1.4 There's a bunch of "I told you so's" going around too, all of which is infuriating to read when you think about all those people, and their families, having to deal with out of the blue job losses.
I've never been one to say that FE is without faults, I love the game in spite of them, and many of the things old alpha/beta testers rail about seem insignificant to me. It seems for every change made some people are happy and some people are /ragequitting. For instance, all very nice to give us new content, new melee animations, a combat revamp and kill off buffstackapalooza, but WHY no fix for warping/unresponsive mobs, wonky AI pathing, rag-doll corpse bouncing and bugged out quests? The game is less stable in the all-important starter-areas (even the initial tutorial for Pete's sake!) now than it was just after launch. For someone trying the game for the first time (the potential new customer pool), all of that is BAD.
I know resources were devoted (and people overworked from what I've read) to the patch the past few weeks, but the live game seemed to grow increasingly buggy over that time. And none of that was being pushed on the forums, unless by trialers posting their impressions of the game, and they were, for the most part, ignored. Instead there was constant stuff about Crafting XP being nerfed (yeah, it hurts, but I could suck that up), the lack of a fansite program, pitched battles about content no-one had even seen yet (yes, the test server is busier than I've ever seen it, but people on the forums were admitting they hadn't tested and complaining/arguing anyway).
I've seen newbies on the forums getting worried about stuff these posters argue about (a lot of which is purely hypothetical) and saying they won't buy the game/sub up because they're scared about the direction the game is taking.
It's really not hard to see where the trouble is coming from, a few long-time players who think they have as much right as Fallen Earth LLC (as they are now) to dictate the direction of the game. None of us have that kind of right, nor should we expect to. I take the game as it comes, and as I've said before, I'll keep playing as long as I keep having fun, same as for any game. My fun =/= someone else's fun, and I'm aware of that. Sometimes I find it hard to grok why people consider things I don't mind to be hellaciously boring, but I think we've all been guilty of that at one tme or another.
And yeah, even now, FE Forumites are telling people to go back to WoW. When a bunch of people got laid off, there are worries about the future of the game, people are getting all panicked and threatening to quit....they're telling them to go right ahead.
Problem isn't that they reduced staff, problem is they did so on a game that's been barely out a year. Reading some of the comments by ex-Icarus employees here and in other places, it seems like the full staff worked like hell just to get the current patch out. Going to a skeleton live team so early is worrisome because any MMO simply can't rest on its content so early.
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Live teams are traditionally pretty small, actually. I can't say whether or not they are doing well or not, 28 sounds low but it's fairly typical from what I understand. Development teams are much larger, though.
Yes but the BIG difference here is, that they also have a horrible unfinished and unoptimised Game Engine to maintain.
Who and how many remain to continue working on that?
Those 28 aren't developers. It's the ENTIRE staff left after the big axing yesterday.
It includes Management, Technical personel, GM's, Communications, HR, cleaning lady, janitor.
Then from that 28 not much is left to actually work on the game itself.
I work in internet company that does a mere plugin. And we have over 40 staff. And thats after restructuring and is bare minimum.
There is no way a MMO could be anything except on life support with just 28 staff members.
Basically the truth is - game is on its way to die...
BUT What the hell happened ?
I thought Fallen Earth was a good and popular in the MMO community !
I mean it might not have WOW numbers , but it was doing good for Indy game..surely.
Live teams are traditionally pretty small, actually. I can't say whether or not they are doing well or not, 28 sounds low but it's fairly typical from what I understand. Development teams are much larger, though.
Yes but the BIG difference here is, that they also have a horrible unfinished and unoptimised Game Engine to maintain.
Who and how many remain to continue working on that?
Those 28 aren't developers. It's the ENTIRE staff left after the big axing yesterday.
It includes Management, Technical personel, GM's, Communications, HR, cleaning lady, janitor.
Then from that 28 not much is left to actually work on the game itself.
Jer,
it was the core development team that was cut to 28, Circatrix posted on the FE forums that GMs etc. were not affected by the change.
To quote directly: "Hi all. Thanks for your questions and for your interest in what's going on with the company. Some of you who know staff understand that this was a difficult step for us. As of today, there are 28 core staff members plus customer support staff and GMs. We believe in our product--we know we have a great game, and we have an amazing community. None of this will change. We are on time for Blood Sports Patch 1.4 next Friday, and we are on schedule for subsequent content updates. The decisions made today regarding staff are for the general health of the company and the game as a whole, and we don't anticipate any changes on the player side of things. Servers are up, customer support and GM guidance are still in place, and our production schedule is still on target. We appreciate your support and dedication to us personally, to our team, and to Fallen Earth."
No need for the hyperbole about it including HR and the cleaning lady. They wouldn't be counted as core staff. Seriously. Things are already terribad, why would you have to exaggerate them further?
From what I understand, Icarus is gone and Fallen Earth LLC is what remains. They know the engine will never sell, that's why they seem to have given up on the idea. They want to keep the game up though. Remains to be seen how possible that will be with a small team, I agree with everyone on that...
But the panic level is already high, the flames don't need fanning with further misinformation and/or wild extrapolations.
Well I'm just glad I got out when I did - Loved the game as a crafter, but when focus was shifting to PVP/endgame I went walkies... Had a blast playing in their sandbox though!
Well I'm just glad I got out when I did - Loved the game as a crafter, but when focus was shifting to PVP/endgame I went walkies... Had a blast playing in their sandbox though!
FE is no sandbox.
The PvP additions wiill/would have made it more of one, though.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. Game is freakin awesome but the elitist community attitude is ruining it. Any time some new players asks for much needed changes example fast travel. They are told to get lost because it ruins immersion for some few beta testers who for some reason think they own the game. They basically told all of them to leave so thats what players have been doing..leaving. Even big guilds like Wolves Of Wars are bleeding players. FOE broke up long time ago. S3 is empty as always and new players can't be bothered to play any further then sector 1.
Even niche game needs money for development. Today they layed off half of the staff what will happen tomorrow if they are unable to turn in profit? this game needs lots of new players..period. This is what happens when you keep telling people to leave instead of trying to solve their problems and concerns.
really...I've never experienced this kind of community response. I've been playing for 3 months now and have been very happy with the community. No real arse -heads so far...very helpful and respectful GMs and Players. Of course...experiences and perceptions vary. This sounds like the restructuring process for most game companies..and businesses in general. Once a project core is finished...they "lay off" or re-assign their assets...leaving a basic crew behind to add and maintain. Doesn't sound too dire right now.. I hope business as usual, behind the scenes, results in the same gamewise because I really think this game is a jewel amongst a sea of glass.
Comments
Ouch.. "Restructuring" is financespeak for a creditor composition or chapter 11 at best, bankruptcy at worst. Glad the game gave me a few month of fun at least.
According to escapist article, game is officially on life support now. This makes me very sad.
All of this reminds me of the scene in "The Naked Gun" where Drebin is standing in front of the burning fireworks factory, with rockets and explosions going off, proclaiming "THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE. PLEASE MOVE ALONG!"
One word... "Vindicated" !!!
Iracus is feeling the consequences of my e-crusade... my message to them is : "mess with the best, die like the rest!"
Ever heard of the game Darkfall? or Love?
You can get by with as few devs as you wish so long as the game is tailored to this. FE isn't exactly a AAA blockbuster game so i think it suits a dev team that small.
As for the restructure...quite a few companies ditch a portion of their devs after release as they are no longer needed. I would have loved to see them stay and work on new content but often the companies opt to stick a tiny team on this and a skeleton crew to keep the servers running.
Hopefully they aren't doing this but it seems to be that way.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
UPDATE:
According to The Escapist it's much more severe. ICARUS studios is closing it's doors!
Bye bye Fallen Earth. /CRY
Alot of my friends got laid off today (a few are still on the team) and I am pretty pissed off about the way the company handled this. They are definitely able to push out the latest patch but only because they had mandatory 10 hour work days for the last month and required emoployees to work saturday and sundays every other week. My guess is the majority of the work is already done by the staff that they just screwed over.
Someone up top had to know that this was coming and the fact is they required overtime without overtime pay knowing they would be laying everyone off without even a full last paycheck or reimbursement of vacation time.
I hope the best for the few people still on the development team but honestly I can't say I'd be sorry to see Icarus go.
FYI i hear Xsyon has only 18 employees so they arent released yet and doing it and Icarus is bascially focusing 100% on FE now if did ur research ud know this company had alot of projects goign so sumthin had to crack. and S3 is full i know the bank in traders flat usually looks like a ceptor junk yard..lol population is growing and
DId Icarus sent you to promote their product and put a spin on the negative news? for last two months S3 is dead not to mention no activity at all in PVP areas. Only population you see is in S1but we all know how many of those players even make it to S3. Don't spread lies please; i was in S3 just 2 hours back and its as dead as ever.
no but hrmm their is a test server and alot have been their trying out the new stuff n are helping fix it and i donno wat time frame u are only but traders flat is usually full. and im not spreading lies ethier so try another 1 :-P
I dunno if they are going to be shutted down, i only know one thing, they lost a former player the day they announce the first expansion was about PVP arenas.
The truth is somewhere in between "We're fine" and "The Sky is Falling!"... It is true that all MMOGs trim down and lose people from their development teams once the game goes live. That is pretty much SOP. However, it remains to be seen whether the supposed 28-man crew can effectively continue to maintain and develop an MMOG like FE. I have my doubts, but I am not ready to jump ship, on the contrary. I will continue to support Icarus as long as FE is open and fun for e to play. The game seems to be gaining populaiton slowly but steadily, as I see lots of activity in the areas that I play in like S1 and some S2/3 areas. As long as I still have plenty of people to play the game with I am fine... I think a lot of this negativity is disgruntled haters that have always trolled around bashing games on these forums and FE in particular. Noone should be pleased when these small, creative independent developers struggle...
-------------------------
"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
Live teams are traditionally pretty small, actually. I can't say whether or not they are doing well or not, 28 sounds low but it's fairly typical from what I understand. Development teams are much larger, though.
And some of my friends wonder why i quit working as a GM for this game.. There were some good people there..but the rest..A great concept of a game..just the ones running it will run it into the ground..good thing I left early.
I think Darkholme is right, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
There is obviously some sort of financial pressure on Icarus, and this is how they've chosen to react to it. It seems incredibly harsh, 80% of staff, and I'd assume that stuff like the mac client will now fall by the wayside.
It's hard to know what a core team of 28 can do to keep the game evolving, and to straighten out the increased bugginess that's been around for the past few weeks, never mind deal with the inevitable glitchiness after the big patch May 7th.
From my pov, it's shoddy that they're dropping staff who have put in so much work on the new content before the content even hits live. Never mind the work they put in over the years. I feel really bad for those people who are now out of work in economic times like these.
However, I'm not subbed to FE to support Icarus and their policies, I'm subbed because I enjoy the game.
As long as there is a game, and I continue to enjoy it, I'll continue to sub.
This^^^. Its like Deja Vu all over again. Think Tabula Rasa. A small portion of the game community, very vocal, intent on silencing others that may have other suggestions or concerns about the game, literally telling them TO LEAVE THE GAME 'If they don't like it". And yes...we did leave TR. And yes, we did leave FE. And now, due to most likely money concerns (because sandbox be damned, its all about money... ain't a damn thing funny...) talk of layoffs and political BS ("Oh yes, we are still doing great, la de da!"). What's next? Closure? F2P? RMT....? We all know where this is likely to lead. I personally dont want to see this, and I actually hope for the best, but I cant help but hold the vocal minority partly responsible for the game's demise (if that is indeed the case). And Speaking of them...
To the vocal diehards of FE, please for the sake of all that is holy...Shut UP! Stop telling people to leave the game. Stop being an elitist tool and stop hurting the game you claim to love. Games need subs...subs = $$$, $$$ = jobs for devs, Devs = more game content and expansions. And learn to be flexible. There are some elements in MMOs that make them more player friendly and accessible. These things make the game more popular, which of course = more $$$. Even CCP listened to the community and made certain aspects (mainly the new player experience) more accessible to players.
Best of luck to this game(devs, the studio, the idea, etc.) unfortunately however, it's in a quandry...it has a rabid, dedicated fanbase that on too many occasions, appears to be it's worst enemy.
Current Games: WOW, EVE Online
If this game goes away that would be a damn shame. It's a unique game and has a lot to offer. Also I found the community and gm's to be very helpful.
I'm kind of waiting for housing to be implemented before I come back. That, and I want to get a new computer so I can play with all the bells and whistles.
I agree. They could easily keep the game running with team of 28. Considering FE has only one server.
They can also make some minor fix patches.
But thats it. With 28 people. The game is feature complete , and will remain the same. No more changes , areas , quests ... thats it
How long will they survive as such ?
You know, both of you are right. It's hellish reading the FE forums this morning.
I saw people cackling about people losing their jobs because they (insert uber forum poster here) didn't like the changes coming in 1.4 There's a bunch of "I told you so's" going around too, all of which is infuriating to read when you think about all those people, and their families, having to deal with out of the blue job losses.
I've never been one to say that FE is without faults, I love the game in spite of them, and many of the things old alpha/beta testers rail about seem insignificant to me. It seems for every change made some people are happy and some people are /ragequitting. For instance, all very nice to give us new content, new melee animations, a combat revamp and kill off buffstackapalooza, but WHY no fix for warping/unresponsive mobs, wonky AI pathing, rag-doll corpse bouncing and bugged out quests? The game is less stable in the all-important starter-areas (even the initial tutorial for Pete's sake!) now than it was just after launch. For someone trying the game for the first time (the potential new customer pool), all of that is BAD.
I know resources were devoted (and people overworked from what I've read) to the patch the past few weeks, but the live game seemed to grow increasingly buggy over that time. And none of that was being pushed on the forums, unless by trialers posting their impressions of the game, and they were, for the most part, ignored. Instead there was constant stuff about Crafting XP being nerfed (yeah, it hurts, but I could suck that up), the lack of a fansite program, pitched battles about content no-one had even seen yet (yes, the test server is busier than I've ever seen it, but people on the forums were admitting they hadn't tested and complaining/arguing anyway).
I've seen newbies on the forums getting worried about stuff these posters argue about (a lot of which is purely hypothetical) and saying they won't buy the game/sub up because they're scared about the direction the game is taking.
It's really not hard to see where the trouble is coming from, a few long-time players who think they have as much right as Fallen Earth LLC (as they are now) to dictate the direction of the game. None of us have that kind of right, nor should we expect to. I take the game as it comes, and as I've said before, I'll keep playing as long as I keep having fun, same as for any game. My fun =/= someone else's fun, and I'm aware of that. Sometimes I find it hard to grok why people consider things I don't mind to be hellaciously boring, but I think we've all been guilty of that at one tme or another.
And yeah, even now, FE Forumites are telling people to go back to WoW. When a bunch of people got laid off, there are worries about the future of the game, people are getting all panicked and threatening to quit....they're telling them to go right ahead.
Problem isn't that they reduced staff, problem is they did so on a game that's been barely out a year. Reading some of the comments by ex-Icarus employees here and in other places, it seems like the full staff worked like hell just to get the current patch out. Going to a skeleton live team so early is worrisome because any MMO simply can't rest on its content so early.
See how it goes I guess.
Yes but the BIG difference here is, that they also have a horrible unfinished and unoptimised Game Engine to maintain.
Who and how many remain to continue working on that?
Those 28 aren't developers. It's the ENTIRE staff left after the big axing yesterday.
It includes Management, Technical personel, GM's, Communications, HR, cleaning lady, janitor.
Then from that 28 not much is left to actually work on the game itself.
Jer,
it was the core development team that was cut to 28, Circatrix posted on the FE forums that GMs etc. were not affected by the change.
To quote directly: "Hi all. Thanks for your questions and for your interest in what's going on with the company. Some of you who know staff understand that this was a difficult step for us. As of today, there are 28 core staff members plus customer support staff and GMs. We believe in our product--we know we have a great game, and we have an amazing community. None of this will change. We are on time for Blood Sports Patch 1.4 next Friday, and we are on schedule for subsequent content updates. The decisions made today regarding staff are for the general health of the company and the game as a whole, and we don't anticipate any changes on the player side of things. Servers are up, customer support and GM guidance are still in place, and our production schedule is still on target. We appreciate your support and dedication to us personally, to our team, and to Fallen Earth."
Link to source: http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=37357&page=4
No need for the hyperbole about it including HR and the cleaning lady. They wouldn't be counted as core staff. Seriously. Things are already terribad, why would you have to exaggerate them further?
From what I understand, Icarus is gone and Fallen Earth LLC is what remains. They know the engine will never sell, that's why they seem to have given up on the idea. They want to keep the game up though. Remains to be seen how possible that will be with a small team, I agree with everyone on that...
But the panic level is already high, the flames don't need fanning with further misinformation and/or wild extrapolations.
Well I'm just glad I got out when I did - Loved the game as a crafter, but when focus was shifting to PVP/endgame I went walkies... Had a blast playing in their sandbox though!
FE is no sandbox.
The PvP additions wiill/would have made it more of one, though.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
really...I've never experienced this kind of community response. I've been playing for 3 months now and have been very happy with the community. No real arse -heads so far...very helpful and respectful GMs and Players. Of course...experiences and perceptions vary. This sounds like the restructuring process for most game companies..and businesses in general. Once a project core is finished...they "lay off" or re-assign their assets...leaving a basic crew behind to add and maintain. Doesn't sound too dire right now.. I hope business as usual, behind the scenes, results in the same gamewise because I really think this game is a jewel amongst a sea of glass.