I will really miss Linda Carlson (Brasse). To me, she was the best thing about SOE.
Not much we can do though as new owners often want to make changes.
For what's it worth, watch and like some Spyte Takes produced by TxR member Spytle and his wife Ellen here to cheer them up
PencilStick Forum Admin replied
555 weeks ago
Great link on those reviews of SOE by employees. I'd take them all with a grain of salt, not just because these guys (presumably) got fired, but also because they're mostly QA, which are the dregs and not largely the people at the level of the (known) layoffs.
That said, it does seem to support my long-held theory that the development of the game is stifled by misguided upper management and dysfunctional corporate culture. I try to avoid being negative in general, especially publicly in a community I help run. Nevertheless, I'm sure many of you, especially in leadership, have heard that particular rant of mine at least once.
Looking at all the reviews, this one sticks out to me. It is long, thorough, well written, and from someone who identifies themselves as a "senior game developer". Can't take that on face value, but given the depth of knowledge of the company presented (assuming it's accurate), it seems to check out.
Of particular interest are his suggestions to SOE. What he describes seems to fairly closely match the circumstances of the layoffs thus far:
This is November of last year and presents as a current employee, so this is pretty recent. If this guy is accurate in identifying the problems (and most seem consistent among these reviews), it means that these layoffs, while shitty, might actually be what the company needs to be successful. That doesn't mean it won't have a negative impact on our favorite franchises, I imagine we have far more loyalty to them than their new owners.
All we can do is wait and see. Hey, at least they can't really release updates much slower, right?
That said, it does seem to support my long-held theory that the development of the game is stifled by misguided upper management and dysfunctional corporate culture. I try to avoid being negative in general, especially publicly in a community I help run. Nevertheless, I'm sure many of you, especially in leadership, have heard that particular rant of mine at least once.
Looking at all the reviews, this one sticks out to me. It is long, thorough, well written, and from someone who identifies themselves as a "senior game developer". Can't take that on face value, but given the depth of knowledge of the company presented (assuming it's accurate), it seems to check out.
Of particular interest are his suggestions to SOE. What he describes seems to fairly closely match the circumstances of the layoffs thus far:
- Complete any projects that have direction and achievable goals with positive outlook
- Planetside on PS4
- DCUO expansion
- EQ & EQ2 expansions
- Cancel everything else
- EQ Next
- Landmark
- H1Z1
- Remove C-level staff
- Remove Franchise Directors
- Lay off vast majority of programming staff
- Ask senior programmers who is worth keeping
- Ask remaining programmers, artists, designers and producers who actually WANTS to stay
- The number is so low it may shock you
- Change the name of the company
- Recruit competent C-level employees
- Restaff back up to 25% or less of the original headcount
- Being far more selective and only hiring quality employees
- During this restructuring time period, use the talent on hand to enter preproduction
- A hand full of small (MMO/non-MMO & mobile) titles
- Evaluate all projects and only enter production on few
- Ensure reasonable scope, given this simple formula
- cost = time * headcount
This is November of last year and presents as a current employee, so this is pretty recent. If this guy is accurate in identifying the problems (and most seem consistent among these reviews), it means that these layoffs, while shitty, might actually be what the company needs to be successful. That doesn't mean it won't have a negative impact on our favorite franchises, I imagine we have far more loyalty to them than their new owners.
All we can do is wait and see. Hey, at least they can't really release updates much slower, right?
Higby just announced he is leaving too.Changes
Wasn't he the last of the original PS2 devs? Who is even the manning the wheel now that both Higby and Carey are gone?
I mean, not that they were even doing anything productive (for the PC version anyway) but someone has to at least attempt to steer this game away from the cliff.
Also, I just found this article which has the following tibit:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/236266/Layoffs_sweep_SOE_as_it_transitions_to_Daybreak.php
Update: A source close to the matter claims Daybreak parent Columbus Nova informed studio employees last week that mass layoffs were expected, but that game teams were "sacred" and cuts would come from divisions like QA and International Operations.
This source estimates that nearly 200 positions were cut, and suggests that the company may have lost up to 45 percent of its staff.
45% is HUGE. Way more than I was expecting.
last edited 555 weeks ago by Atron
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum. - Motto of the PS2 Medic.
New post from the "Director of Development, Planetside 2" Andy Sites, aka the man behind the curtain who nobody has ever heard of.
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/producers-letter.214798/
Hey everyone,
My name is Andy Sites and I’m the Director of Development of PlanetSide 2. While you may not have seen me a lot, I’ve been working with the PlanetSide 2 team for a number of years. As you’ve no doubt read this week, as part of the company-wide restructuring, the Planetside 2 team was impacted. Even though we had anticipated some changes, it’s never easy to see creative, hardworking and all around great people leave the team. That said, we are so fortunate that much of our team is still intact and excited to be part of PlanetSide 2’s future.
I know that some of these changes might have been unexpected and a surprise to our community, but I can tell you that we’re still fully supporting the game; this includes the current Live (PC) game, as well as continuing to move forward with our PlayStation 4 launch in the coming months (to see the latest PS4 updates,
visit https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/planetside-2-closed-beta-update.214795/)
With that being said, let’s talk about a few things that you can expect in the coming days and weeks.
First, we know how anxious all of you have been to see a Roadmap from the team and you can expect a revised one to go up later next week. We pride ourselves in being very open and transparent in our dev process, and frankly we’ve not done a good job sharing our short and long-term plans with you in recent months. While you can expect some slight format changes to the way it’s laid out, your feedback is crucial on the content/features/etc. listed, to help us better prioritize or efforts. Ultimately, our goal with the roadmap will be to share more information, provide better expectations on when things will be delivered, and make it the reliable source of information we have always intended for it to be.
In addition, our top priority will be refining the Live game (bug fixing, optimizing, network performance, etc.) and improving the in-game quality of life. We’ve dedicated a lot of time since the new year to addressing these issues, and we will continue to do so until we collectively (dev and the community) feel that the game is on a more solid footing. That’s not to say we won’t make occasional gameplay tuning adjustments and marketplace additions, but those efforts will be secondary to improving the overall near-term quality of the game.
Finally, on behalf of the dev team, I’d like to think you for the kind words of support on the message boards and through DMs. It has been a long week for everyone involved, but the team is excited to get started on the next leg of our journey and start sharing with you the great things we have in store going forward.
Take care, and we’ll see you online.
- Andy
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/producers-letter.214798/
Hey everyone,
My name is Andy Sites and I’m the Director of Development of PlanetSide 2. While you may not have seen me a lot, I’ve been working with the PlanetSide 2 team for a number of years. As you’ve no doubt read this week, as part of the company-wide restructuring, the Planetside 2 team was impacted. Even though we had anticipated some changes, it’s never easy to see creative, hardworking and all around great people leave the team. That said, we are so fortunate that much of our team is still intact and excited to be part of PlanetSide 2’s future.
I know that some of these changes might have been unexpected and a surprise to our community, but I can tell you that we’re still fully supporting the game; this includes the current Live (PC) game, as well as continuing to move forward with our PlayStation 4 launch in the coming months (to see the latest PS4 updates,
visit https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/planetside-2-closed-beta-update.214795/)
With that being said, let’s talk about a few things that you can expect in the coming days and weeks.
First, we know how anxious all of you have been to see a Roadmap from the team and you can expect a revised one to go up later next week. We pride ourselves in being very open and transparent in our dev process, and frankly we’ve not done a good job sharing our short and long-term plans with you in recent months. While you can expect some slight format changes to the way it’s laid out, your feedback is crucial on the content/features/etc. listed, to help us better prioritize or efforts. Ultimately, our goal with the roadmap will be to share more information, provide better expectations on when things will be delivered, and make it the reliable source of information we have always intended for it to be.
In addition, our top priority will be refining the Live game (bug fixing, optimizing, network performance, etc.) and improving the in-game quality of life. We’ve dedicated a lot of time since the new year to addressing these issues, and we will continue to do so until we collectively (dev and the community) feel that the game is on a more solid footing. That’s not to say we won’t make occasional gameplay tuning adjustments and marketplace additions, but those efforts will be secondary to improving the overall near-term quality of the game.
Finally, on behalf of the dev team, I’d like to think you for the kind words of support on the message boards and through DMs. It has been a long week for everyone involved, but the team is excited to get started on the next leg of our journey and start sharing with you the great things we have in store going forward.
Take care, and we’ll see you online.
- Andy
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum. - Motto of the PS2 Medic.
PencilStick Forum Admin replied
554 weeks ago
Whelp. That's not good news. O.M.F.G. took months with the OLD dev team where nothing else was coming out, and was more or less undone in a single content update.
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Atron Member replied
555 weeks ago