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Funcom CEO resigned one day before TSW launch
tares
Member Posts: 381
I am assuming they are related but here is the "official" story http://www.funcom.com/investors/funcom_n.v._announces_ole_schreiner_as_new_ceo_for_the_company
Logic tells me something must be wrong with the launch. When AoC launched the lead developer "resigned" just after launch and then the CFO "resigned" right after reporting 33 million in losses.
"Resigned" being used by Funcom is a lot like "inconcievable" in the princess bride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk
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Comments
Kind of reaching don't you think? He's still going to be with the company so...
Yeah, not seeing the issue here.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
"Trond Arne Aas, long term CEO of Funcom N.V., takes on new role as Strategic Advisor to the Board and Chief Strategy Officer"
"Funcom N.V. (Funcom) announced today that the Supervisory Board of Funcom has nominated Ole Schreiner as the new CEO of Funcom and as a new member of the Management Board of Funcom. Ole Schreiner comes from the position of COO of the Company, a role he has held with great success for several years."
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Well, he's still in the company and sits with more than 1 million shares, so it can't be that bad - but yes, the timing is a little odd indeed. He has said himself that the reason he resigned when he did, was that he wanted to be there all the way till the game was 'done'. TSW has been in production for around five years, and he didn't want to leave in the middle of the process. And that does make a little sense.
When that's said, Ole Schreiner has been very passionate and engaged in the beta community, and I think he will do an outstanding job! - so except for the odd timing, I'm actually satisfied with these news.
Sorry but there is nothing there to insinuate much of anything. He decided to take on a lesser role with the company for whatever reason. So not really what is the point of the thread honestly. The one stepping into his place was also involved with the project so there is no issue there of drop or anything. If anything this spells out that the plans were already laid for him to step down and they only waited for the launch of TSW before it went active to make sure it went smoothly. So it may just spell out that the launch went as expected and he is free of the burden of handling any conflicts/issues.
So he goes from the number one guy to the number 7 guy. He has a large number of stocks and something else keeping him employeed there but he got bounced. If gaute or the old CFO or many of the employees that got bounced after age of conan had millions of shares they wouldn't have to leave either.
Would your bosses' boss take your job?
It indicates he is taking on a "new role". It's possible that they needed this "new role" or that he saw a chance to do something that more closely alligned with his skillset/interests.
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He wasn't "bounced". If he was he would no longer be with the company. If a board wants you removed they don't give you a "lesser role". They send your ass packing or force you out completely. Which most are more than willing to do anyways with the damn golden parachutes those bastards get.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Resigning any position at the launch of a major product is worrying regardless of what industry, there really is no other way to slice it.
Ask yourself : If you were the boss of a company that was launching a product you loved, would you resign on the eve of its release?
While it doesnt spell total doom for TSW, something obviously went down at Funcom that he didnt like/didnt want his name stamped on it as the #1 guy responsible.
Or maybe he simply got tired of the (most likely) incredible stress of running a company like Funcom. Or maybe he wanted a lesser workload so he could spend more time with friends & family. There's plenty of reasons a CEO would step down other than, "OMG CATASTROPHIC FAILURE INCOMING!!!"
Lol...little too late now. If the launch doesn't go well he'll already be held accountable for it. If that was his sentiment he should have resigned a month or two ago.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I hope you don't put your back out with all this stretching OP.
It indicates he is taking on a "new role". It's possible that they needed this "new role" or that he saw a chance to do something that more closely alligned with his skillset/interests.
Or maybe he simply got tired of the (most likely) incredible stress of running a company like Funcom. Or maybe he wanted a lesser workload so he could spend more time with friends & family. There's plenty of reasons a CEO would step down other than, "OMG CATASTROPHIC FAILURE INCOMING!!!"
People do not willingly take demotions unless they are desperate, or the demotion is more in line with what they want to do anyway. Companies don't offer demotions if what they want is to fire someone. If he had enough 'something' to stay employed in the face of termination, then he had enough 'something' to stay the CEO of the company if he wanted.
He just didn't feel like doing the job any longer, but the company wanted him to stay on. His desire to to not do the job didn't stem from a hatred of the company or what it was doing, otherwise he would have left. It's not a shock that people aren't always happy in the jobs they manage to get.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I mean really...
Do people honestly think that if the board was unhappy with him they would put him essentially in charge of their new mmo project (Legos? Really? Meh...anywho)?
Pretty sure they wouldn't want him to have anything to do with that let alone anything else.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I know that while playing TSW, its important to look for things that may not be there at first.
However this is RL, and I think its ok to give this one a break, no?
It's FunCom's most successful launch in the history of the company, so no, I don't believe this thread has any merit whatsoever.
Maybe to the players as it doesn't have major issues that other launches don't have. AO and AoC brought in a larger proportion of players though as those games were hyped. We all work or have worked so we know money, sales, and profit are the purpose of any business.
Legos was mentioned but the former CEO's job has nothing to do with it, he is the strategic vice president of a 300 employee company. Guess whose job covers business strategy and who has the final say? The CEO. CEO decisions are in local papers, national, any financial papers.
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That's not really a high bar for FC though.
OMG the CEO stepped down. I am cancelling my sub...
AO is widely regarded as having the worst MMORPG launch in the history of the genre.
AoC had large sales numbers initially (what MMO doesn't these days?), but poor retention rates.
TSW has just as many, if not more, players right now during early access than AoC did. FunCom is selling lifetime subscriptions to TSW (and account upgrade packages, of which there are a few options, each with relative pricing), something they did not do with AoC, and a large number of customers have taken that route. They also have seen great success already from the Cash Shop, which despite previous claims has been received very well by the community and current playerbase.
The potential for easy profit, and the game has not technically even launched yet, is much higher for TSW than for any of FunCom's previous titles.
Essentialy it's impossible for anyone outside of a company (or thier inner circle) to divine the real meaning behind a move like this....
I certainly have witnessed first hand "Taken on a new role with the company" style verbage as corporate speak for "This guys a train wreck but it's too difficult/expensive for us to get rid of him altogether so we're going to move him somewhere where hopefully he'll do less damage." I've also seen it used for "This guys an ACE, we need to focus his talents here".... and for "This guy really wanted to do something else, and this was the only way we could keep some sort of relationship with him".... and everything else in between.
Honestly, there is no way anyone can really translate these sort of statement with any accuracy unless they have acess to some inside knowledge. The only thing that can be safely assumed....and this goes for probably 90% of the companies out there..... any relationship between the reasoning given in a company press release for such moves and the actual reasoning is purely coincidental.
If you had actually played the game, you would realize how monumental an improvement TSW is compared to the previous FunCom titles.
I'm not a fan of the company, but they have earned some of my respect by taking the criticism that people have given them over the years, much of it extremely harsh (and extremely warranted), and using that as a guideline on how to improve the experience for customers.
Your logic is terrible. More like pure speculation on your part.
A documented and heavy gW2 supporter spewing a lot of assumptions about a move in a company of a game that will be rivaling gw2.... color me supprised.
Especially after his last comment in another thread:
"Is this a joke? TSW didn't draw in many players so far, so that is a very poor launch. If GW2 decided to have an early head start releasing tommorow it would gank most TSW players. When GW2 releases in two months it will gank most remaining TSW players. There isn't much longevity or story in TSW, I blew through most of the 8 zones in closed beta at about 8-12 hours per zone to do it all, after the story the PvP and combat is enough to drive many away."
Don't you all know that gw2 will "gank" any game coming to the table...ROFL.