NCsoft lays off 21 employees

[Lýfelíëk Heroblãde]

From Kotaku:

More unemployment in the gaming industry happens today as NCsoft confirms that they have indeed laid off members of their staff from their Austin offices - 21, in fact.

A spokesman confirmed this to Kotaku, stating that, "21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development... Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases." The spokesman also revealed that they are cutting as well some positions on the Dungeon Runners team in light of the management's decision not to port it to other platforms for now.

This occurrence thereby disproves the rumor that recently circulated, claiming that 140 up to 160 employees will be terminated, and the Austin office probably folding.

[Rabid Scotsman]

Poor NC.

Hopefully we aren't seeing a trend here and there's no cover up for a
bankruptcy issue. Although, NC hasn't been on the top of any one's list
recently... I wonder if they're spending every thing on their release of
"Guild Wars 2". Hopefully they get some more well diserved credit in the
coming years.

Here's hoping.

[Zeiram Wing]

GamesIndustry.biz has posted a rumor this morning regarding big changes in store for MMO publisher NCSoft. According to "sources close to the company", the developer / publisher is planning on cutting 50 positions from their European office in Brighton, England following a decision to stop working on an unnamed MMO being developed there.

Along with job cuts comes the resurfacing of the rumor that Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, the ambitious MMO that failed to capture a significant portion of the MMO market, will be closing it's doors in the coming months as well, which would lead to more job cuts as NCSoft further streamlines their business.

An announcement addressing these issues is expected within the next day. We're currently looking into the rumors and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

NCsoft is consolidating their European and U.S. subsidiaries, including ArenaNet, under a single lable, NCsoft West, the company announced today.

While the headquarters for the newly named company will be established in Seattle by the end of 2008, the offices in Europe and Austin will not be closed. The announcement today does not address whether there will be job cuts in Europe, Austin or at ArenaNet.

NC West will be led by Chris Chung as CEO, Jeff Strain as president, product development, David Reid as president, publishing, and Patrick Wyatt as CTO as well as yet to be announced European executives.

“We are confident that by combining our subsidiaries into a unified global organization under Chris Chung’s leadership, NC West will become a more powerful force to be reckoned with in the western MMO market,” said TJ Kim. “Chris has become a guiding force within our company and has been extremely successful at every position he has held with us. His detailed first-hand knowledge of all aspects of our business is invaluable and will help establish NC West as a global leader.”

yeesh... alot of restructuring going on... makin me worry about gw2...

[Lýfelíëk Heroblãde]

I'll tell ya what- if I spend all of this time obsessing over these maxed titles and GW2 falls through, you're gonna know one angry son of a bitch. Personally, I don't think that there's much to worry about, but I could always be wrong...

[Rabid Scotsman]

*crosses fingers*

[Zeiram Wing]

figured i'd post this here seeing as it has some not so good news about ncsoft in it...

Tabula Rasa Shutting Down, Team Hit by Lay Offs
By Brian Crecente, 11:30 AM on Fri Nov 21 2008, 4,937 views

With NCSoft slowing sinking, teams being laid off, Richard Garriott himself exiting the company, it should come as no surprise that another round of lay-offs have rippled through the company.

Sources tell us that today many of the Tabula Rasa team were let go. The plug has also been pulled on the game, according to both our sources and the official Tabula Rasa website:

To the Tabula Rasa Community,

Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we've achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn't performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

Before we end the service, we'll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.

We can assure you that through the next couple of months we'll be doing some really fun things in Tabula Rasa, and we plan to make staying on a little longer worth your while. For more details about what we are doing for Tabula Rasa players, please click here.

Stay tuned for more information. We thank you for your loyal support of the game and encourage you to take us up on the benefits we're offering Tabula Rasa players.

The Tabula Rasa Team

Our sources tell us that only a handful of people from the original Tabula Rasa team will be sticking around to maintain the game until it is shut down.

Update: NCsoft spokesman David Swofford confirmed to Kotaku that the game has been shut down and that there will be lay-offs.

"We’re going to be scaling down the TR team in preparation for the end of live service. But for now Brian, we currently don’t know how many people will be affected by that."

Horrible times. Horrible times.

I think i just heard a collective "gulp" from the GW community...

[Lýfelíëk Heroblãde]

Do you think it would be possible that ArenaNet would go with another publisher for GW2? I say this as I can't imagine how much they've spent developing the game already(not that that's stopped games from being cancelled in the past). I'm not sure what NCSoft actually does besides get the game to retail and make sure the servers are operational. ANet does all of the skill balancing and updates, so that can't be an issue. You'd figure NCSoft would get rid of the smaller MMO's first like AION, Dragonica, and Punch Monster.

On the flip side, anyone up for a month-and-a-half of a free to play MMO after Christmas?? 8)

[Zeiram Wing]

ArenaNet is a part of NCSoft.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaNet

but i agree that NCSoft should thin out some of the smaller mmo's first. i mean, they have WAY too many. probably part of the problem.

but i saw tabula rasa on amazon for $.99. not sure if there is a client to dl but i always wanted to try it out.

[Lýfelíëk Heroblãde]

Damn, I never realized that NC actually acquired them- I always thought that they were just extremely closely affiliated. That's both great and not-so-great. Let's just hope that ANet(and we have no reason not to) stays a viable part of NC's plans.

[Zeiram Wing]

More layoffs hit NCSoft

In order to solidify and streamline company operations across all NCsoft West territories, we are implementing some structural changes this week which will impact 70 to 90 employees. We are working with these employees to determine the best fit for approximately 80 alternate positions within the company.

The European office is transitioning to have a stronger focus in marketing and sales, with many of the existing disciplines being consolidated in our studios on the US West Coast and our headquarters in Seattle. Additionally, we are transitioning to an embedded quality assurance (QA) model in which the QA staff works in our studios directly with the development teams, providing support throughout the entire development process.

This finalizes the NCsoft West reorganization plan which began last September, and the resulting structure will better support the company's direction.

kotaku.com/5151611/more-layoffs-hit-ncsoft

i've been saying theres gonna be some big bad news from ncsoft within the year, and with this, its looking like its going to come true. the company seems to be losing more and more people. just keeps invoking images of cutting chunks off a worm and watching it squirm until it dies...

[Lýfelíëk Heroblãde]

Time to find a new online RPG to back, eh? Is there any end in sight for this down economy? I hope everyone REALLY like western first-person shooters, 'cause that's all you're gonna see from now on...

[Zeiram Wing]

Richard Garriott Suing NCsoft For $24,000,000

Late last year, Ultima creator Richard Garriott split from NCsoft, the developers and publishers behind his latest game, Tabula Rasa. Sounds like the split wasn't exactly amicable.

While at the time it sounded like Garriott had - fresh from his trip into space - simply walked away for a new challenge outside of games development, court documents have surfaced today showing that Garriott is suing NCsoft for a whopping $24 million.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court earlier today, with Garriott, the plaintiff, accusing NCsoft of fraud. We've contacted both NCsoft and the court for further information, and will update when we hear more.

yeesh, ncsoft has no flippin luck. makes me want to play some gw while its still around...