Wow - THAT was fast…
Thats so sad - I love that guy. He’s been the most positive person I’ve ever seen, and a real force and character for Landmark.
I still say this is the death of most of their franchises, and streamlining of whats left. H1Z1 will probably be their last, major game and it will be milked hard.
Well, fuck.
I might be cynical, but I didn’t believe even for one second that the changes were for the better.
SOE didn’t exactly shine in the last years, and if it was going to be sold it was not because things were awesomely great.
Yeah, I totally agree. I really liked Dave and his early videos explaining the direction of Landmark and EQNext were a big reason I bought in so early to them.
I’m pretty sure it means exactly what he wrote. It’s a shitty day for him. It always sucks to have people laid off.
Not good. If you’re a company that just bought another company because your intent is to develop its existing assets and expand on its existing portfolio or products, you maybe let a few senior level management folks go and replace them with your own guys, but you do not sack the people responsible for the vision behind, ongoing development of and ultimate success of the assets you just purchased days after purchasing them. That’s exactly what seems to be happening at Daybreak, as it’s not just a few senior people being replaced, but a full scale downsizing.
The future of the EQ and PS franchises as we know them would seem to be pretty uncertain at the moment.
I’m just wondering how he could have been in the dark, being former? president.
I really wonder how anyone can be surprised.
Whenever a company (especially an investment holding firm) acquires another company, you should generally expect that there will be some layoffs. One of the first steps to increasing immediate profitability is reducing costs, which usually means getting rid of “redundant” positions and cancelling projects that don’t seem like instant winners. It’s tough to say what effect this has on ongoing games in development.
Yeah, but from all accounts, Dave Georgson was more or less the driving force behind Landmark and EQ Next. Sacking the community manager also really doesn’t speak well of understanding of how games and their communities work.
Again, I’m a bit sad actually that Dave lost his job (And the others, of course - thats never fun) and so may emotionally compromised in this matter, but it does seem like a rather stupid decision. Those two were the face of the game as far as I’m concerned, and they did a terrific job. Now, they’ll either drop communication, or bring in outsiders to do the job of those fired which won’t be a popular decision.
As for cancelling projects that don’t seem like instant winners, thats what I’ve said all along - EQ Next is probably deader than dead by now, if it wasn’t before. Landmark will probably never be fully realized as much more than it is now, and H1Z1 (the Dayz lookalike to an investment company) will get all the money. Planetside 2 I have no idea about how profitable it is, but I assume the PS4 version will not ever really be done if its not extremely profitable.
Once more, it seems extremely unlikely that if you want a company you have taken over to flourish, that you fire those that have had the greatest impact on the company over the last few years.
edit: My last paragraph is probably overreacting, but its not like we’ve not seen things like this before.
Right, you trim some of the fat, you don’t toss out lead designers.
Don’t care about SOE, but it sucks for the people losing their jobs.
Agreed. I’m not saying people losing their jobs doesn’t suck, just that I’ve seen enough merger/acquisitions that if I had worked at SOE when it happened, I would’ve been nervous. Especially if I held a position like CM, project lead, or a middle-management post. I hope everyone lands new jobs quickly.
Dave Georgson’s enthusiasm for EQNext/Landmark was just so damn infectious. I can only speak for myself, but seeing him get axed is just a real blow to any what optimism I had for either game.
Exactly. And Brasse is the same. They may not have been technical leads but they were the HEART of the EQ community these days. Remember how hated the days of the Verant timeframe were when it felt like every decision was customer antagonistic and how things turned around where you actually had a core of folks who were -beloved- by the community? That’s what they just killed today.
There is no recovering from that.
Based on the anecdotal evidence of people’s twitter streams…it looks like a lot of EQ and EQ2 people were let go. There are a number of lower level SOE employees out there who were working on EQN and H1Z1 who confirmed that they are still employed. I’ve seen no mention anywhere of any other senior people let go besides Georgeson. It will be interesting to see the final tally, but I’m guessing they are putting EQ and EQ2 into stasis and doubling down on EQN and H1Z1.
Edit: apparently one of the senior EQN/Landmark producers confirmed via twitter they are still there; also the senior programmer for H1Z1. Even the voxel tools programmer is still there. Not sure why you would keep him if your plan is to shut down EQN…
…rationalize the business…
When are the vermin in these capital firms going to realize that this kind of language makes them seem like evil androids? Well, I suppose if they were capable of realizing that they wouldn’t work in capital firms.
Looks like a few H1Z1 devs got hit as well. Not as many as we’re seeing with EQ, but it seems no one was safe.
SOE had over 1000 people before the acquisition? Insane.
It seems like a good number of EQN people on twitter have confirmed that they are still employed.
What H1Z1 guys did you see as out? I saw that the lead programmer and the loot/survival designer confirmed they are in.
Tech designer on H1Z1: https://twitter.com/Kelduum/status/565610037767573504
I saw another, but can’t find it now.