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20% of funcom staff to be fired or put on forced leave. TSW delayed
tvalentine
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,216
http://www.funcom.com/wsp/funcom/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&func_id=1365&table=CONTENT
unfortunate to here .... hopefully they dont go under before the game launches.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
Comments
Err what free to play game?
and the fun continues.
so...
The TSW delay news are kinda funny, as they have not even given us a hint on possible release date, however the 20% forcework reduction is harsh.
Makes sense in ligth of the opening of the studio in Canada, FC is reducing operational costs and Montreal is way cheaper than Oslo for that. Aside from the leaves and delays i wonder what are the longer term plans they have, obviously the move of opening shop in Montreal was a preparation for this, but then what?
They still had almost 40million in cash reserves past quarter and a positive cash flow, so this is a more long term measure (i think).
They had a similar situation after AO's launch, but they directly and immediately stopped working on the MMO they were starting to produce, back then, and weren't opening ofices out of Norway.
Should have revamped and re-released AO or AO2, instead of the crap they have been putting out. FC is a good company, they just need to fucking focus. Also shoulda had a V8
Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.
Yeah, what free to play game? Anyone knows?
I suppose one of the 2 browser based games they staerted working on, according to one or two of their financial reports for the past quarters.
After reading the press release and several articles it sounds more like FC is merely relocating a big part of their Oslo crew to Montreal (which is cheaper overall and that offer several incentives, including a 30%+ return of the salaries to companies locating there) as they offered a relocation package to the staff their are letting go of putting on mandatory leave (no word on to how many of them, tho) and are hiring in Montreal.
Sucks to the ones that don't get the relocation offer, can't accept it or really dn't feel like moving to another continent to keep their jobs, harsh business decision, but Oslo is way too expensive, as is Oslo workforce.
20% FC staff is around 60 people, most of those should be TSW crew (Ragnar hinted that Montreal will have a big focus on TSW development), TSW had 100 people crew... months to relocate/rehire/properly return to full production. Sucks for TSW, but it's a great move for a company. They are having a positive cash flow, and had near to 40 million dollars in cash reserves, a lower operational cost will increase profit even if they don't increase revenues at all, and even if their revenues are reduced, to a point.
Good thing Montreal is attracting good quality professionals, if they were relocating to some cheap 3rd world country to save money...
Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.
I'm often on the side of compassion but this company is so inept I honestly sympathize with the guy who said the fun continues basically saying I don't know what the heck is going to happen with the people getting fired but equally they don't know the products they code so it makes me no difference programming can't be a hard industry to get into so you won't see me shedding tears for any FC staff but I will certainly hope they don't get back into the mmo industry.
And FC being a good company is certainly a point that can be argued they have yet to put out a single stable working game if that makes then good what does a company have to do to be considered bad?
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
If you find it fun that people get laid off.. well.. Something is truly wrong with you.
The F2P MMO (afaik) is aimed a Norwegian kids 8-14.
hope they sell the rights
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.
This seems to happen to every really innovative, hard working game company that manages to make one big mistake.
If you were part of Funcom last July, you had to know this day was coming. You cannot have as big of a disaster as AOC and not expect a lot of people to lose their jobs. yes, i feel sorry for people losing their jobs, but they had at least a year warning that this might happen.
As a believer in a free market...while it is not good that someone loses a job...if you make crap you should not expect to have jobs.
fixed your post for you. cant forget about that wonderful ao launch. or shadowlands lol
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.
You read into my post more than you should have. I really don't have any concerns about the people that have lost their positions because I don't know that they have or haven't made plans for such a potential loss. I was however, simply playing on the name of the company and the distress of the news. It's a bit sarcastic and not directed to anyone losing their job.
I figured the irony wouldn't be this obscure. Oh well.
so...
Hmm, it figures.
I was pretty excited about this game.
Hopefully Funcom gets things straightened out and can get this game published....soon.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Hi all
Ragnar Tornquist (developer) recently put a post up on his website dealing with this. they have basically put something called dreamfall on hold, while FC is still continuing to develop its major product, at this time those are AoC:RotGS and TSW. So hopefully this means that the game will be still progressing nicely.
Ragnar's site is http://ragnartornquist.com/
I ALMOST feel bad, that when funcom banned me from the aoc forums for complaining about the multitude of missing promised features, I actually said...."when you guys start losing your jobs over there, im gonna giggle like a schoolgirl"
almost
./giggle
Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.
I'm often on the side of compassion but this company is so inept I honestly sympathize with the guy who said the fun continues basically saying I don't know what the heck is going to happen with the people getting fired but equally they don't know the products they code so it makes me no difference programming can't be a hard industry to get into so you won't see me shedding tears for any FC staff but I will certainly hope they don't get back into the mmo industry.
And FC being a good company is certainly a point that can be argued they have yet to put out a single stable working game if that makes then good what does a company have to do to be considered bad?
I remember having the same feelings when i was young and ignorent, playing AO and hating the lag and its buggyness... but i played it for 5 years... go figure... I hated the crew for not fixing the game for us... But they tried.. atleast said so..
Today i sympathize with both FC and the staff for loosing their jobs and are forced to ship their company overseas, its a hard marked all over! I recently bought stocks in the game cause i have faith that TSW will be FC flagship to come, i have confindence
Sad that its beeing delayed, as i really want to see it soon!
Xandathrii:
Plays: AO
Played: WoW,AoC,ff14
Funcom may have screwed the pooch with their AoC release, but they have done a good job fixing the game and it's issues. I like to think they learned a bit from that experience and are on the right track now. I hope they get it together for this game, becasue if they can release it in a stable state with finished content, The Secret World will be freakin awesome.
I think the layoffs and problems Funcom is having are a direct result of how poorly managed AoC was.
It never fails to amaze me how these companies spend so much time and money on these games only to release them in a poor state, which completely destroys the longevity and player retention. MMORPGs have huge reward possibilities with monthly subscriptions, but that is only if you can retain your customers. Settling for breaking even in such a massive undertaking as making a quality MMORPG is just horrible business practice.
Here is to hoping! :cheers:
I don't take enjoyment in someone losing their job, unless I specifically know that they aren't doing their job or doing it correctly. For that I'd have to work with them and see it to know (and I've seen that and then see the person get fired).
However when you continue to work at a company who's products are underperforming and that keeps making mistakes then you have to accept the fact that you either need to be looking for another job or accept the fact that you might get let go when the companies poor performance catches up with that. That is just common sense.
Now if this is a moving the studio and a person doesn't want to move that far away so they get let go, that again sucks. That is not like the situation above and it is unfortunate for someone to go through that, many people can't just move that far that easily. I know I wouldn't for my company.
It's also not fun when the economy tanks and people lose their jobs because other people and companies were greedy and stupid and caused the economy fail when the person who now has to lose his job did nothing wrong. But the economy is on the rise again and this can't be that.
So how much compassion you have for a person who loses their job is all in the context in which it happens. Although it is generally not nice to laugh directly at someone in their time of need like some people have, it also doesn't mean you have to necessarily feel bad for them either.
Ugh, I was really hoping that somehow The Secret World would make it through whatever troubles funcom was going to encounter and come out without being affected by it.
Time will tell I guess.
Seems like almost every MMO company is cutting staff these days. Not good for upcoming games.
Typical that they delay TSW, the idea is actually very neat (I just love Chaosiums "Delta green").
Hi all
This is 6months old. According to TSW's dev Ragnar Tornquist, the game is not being delayed, but another funcom project called dreamfall will. Thank god i guess that its being developed in Norway rather than the states or Canada.
you can find his blog here http://ragnartornquist.com/ and if interested you can look for the "definitely not indefinite" post