By Mepps. Appreciate all you did. I hope the game doesn’t die soon. I’ve spent too much money on this game to be a bad *** to see it vanish.
Except that the info about job losses was in the Kotaku article at the bottom of a VERY LONG list of industry staffing cuts. That was possibly more about the way the layoffs were publicised (LinkedIn) and the date (Feb 9) but still - it isn't just Daybreak/DI. Companies make adjustments all the time to preserve their bottom line. I guess time will tell if there's a real financial problem behind it. I'm inclined to see a tightening in the market and swings in gaming preferences putting MMO's at risk more generally.
Honestly the warning sign is going on in my head right now, I will always have hope that everything will work out and better days will come, I know that several companies are going through the same situation, anyway, I hope everything goes well with the game, I wish mepps luck in his life.
Good luck to Mepps, wherever you land. Hopefully you got a slice of this last TC to launch (maybe the 'LAST' TC to launch?) And...if you are reading this, it has to be asked....can I have your stuff? On a somber note though. This does not bode well for the state of the game. No dev update on the game or new DLC, a senior (if not THE senior) staff member laid off. This combined with last year's 'maintenance mode' discussion....well, it sounds like the clock is ticking down. Were wolfpacks the last great money grab before things fizzle out?
You don't cut your senior community manager of 13 years to satisfy a bottom line unless there was something going on that we don't know about. There were layoffs before the holidays in 2019. Two years ago, their CEO left to start his own studio and took a big chunk of DI developers with him. After that, the developers that stayed have been dropping out one by one. Last year we just saw a presentation from EG7's acting CEO (Daybreak's CEO) showing profits from this game are being funneled into other titles to keep those games afloat. Little is getting reinvested back into DCUO. There has been a huge stretch in between episodes because of "delays" but the new content is lite? PS5 has been out since 2020 but where is the PS5 client? The PS4 client was ready to go on day one when the PS4 first came out. There have been a lot of changes made, changes not well received and that might be what's biting them in the back now. I'm not saying the ship is sinking but... I hope everyone knows how to swim.
Wow. Mixed thoughts about the future of DCUO. Considering the parent company has decided to not make 'big investments' into DCUO: Considering the layoffs: Considering DCUO is the largest cash cow of DI/Daybreak/(new(er) company name (eg7?)): Is this the drawing near, to the end of an era, what was once the greatest superhero/villain game for over a decade? Is this a new beginning time, a revitalization of an old epic, thought to be drowning, only to be revived by minimal staff to create a stretch beyond and into a second decade? Goodbye Ted/Mepps. Personally I appreciated your time here. Though I may not have always agreed with your methodology, you did help quite a bit, with the game and it's longevity. Wish you well, and happiness. *To the remaining Devs: thank you thus far on your journey here. I sincerely hope that you pick up the communication torch, and bear it more brightly than your predecessor: communicate more, with the community. Obviously we are all full of questions, and very eager for some type of response, one that only you can give. So, I'll narrow down the questions, and hopefully we can get clarification. If not, verification that clarification cannot be made, is still respected responses. 1. Can you give us any insight, as the future of DCUO, projected into 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals/hopes? Summed up obviously, as to not request too many details. 2. Are there staff positions that are being filled, or hoping to have them filled? 3. We already know the fact, that EG7 is not dropping any prospective large amounts of cash into DCUO, at this time, or the prospective foreseeable future. Does this equate to less content, less quality of content, less content per year? 4. What can we expect over the next few months, in/with DCUO?
And, for the community, I would just like to add: Everything, eventually, does really its end. The same will be with DCUO. One day, and we as the community can only hope that we are given notice, so that perhaps on the last day we can all jump on into the House of Legends, for one final battle Royale against the developers dropping beasts for the slaughter, to close an era of such an epic game. Yet, that day could likely go, unknown. Perhaps one day, we will try to log in, and keep getting an error of something, and just never be able to log in again. Make no mistake, DCUO will eventually pass into the archives of the great games, lost to the old days. Be prepared. Hopefully the development team will keep us informed as best they can, as to when that day approaches, so we can all be prepared for it. But remember folks, there is hope: look how long WoW has been around. DC Universe, is ever expanding.
Gonna be sad to say goodbye when the game does go down for good, as it'll be the end of my gaming days as well as I know them now, but it's about time. It's the greatest game of all time for me.
Lots of media companies including those in film and television are taking hits not just video games. Probably a result of the economy under pandemics. But it’s gonna be a shaky leaky boat for all media till the economy stabilizes. And you’re right it’s not just Daybreak it’s nationwide game studios feeling the crunch so we might have to wait and see. Normally seeing all video games industry taking hits wouldn’t be so alarming BUT they just had a mass exodus of staff not too long ago and they haven’t really replaced them either. Are you telling me if all the staff had stayed EG7 would have to let even more Daybreak staff go? Shouldn’t the mass turnover of Devs been enough to cushion today’s budget cuts now? That’s scary if EG7 is hurting that much to layoff more Dimensional Ink staff. I mean in this respect Jackstar poaching staff away from Daybreak makes more sense and sympathetic if they were just going to be fired today anyways. I dunno about you guys but DCUO’s future doesn’t look good. People speculated it had at least five more years. Man that seems a fever dream today.
It makes me sad from a compassionate PoV but I'm very glad from a prospective PoV. It's always a gamble when changes are made to the game I'm not one for gambling but I very much welcome fresh ideas for the game which this layoff definitely offers. Going forwards I'm so excited to learn what the new team would bring to the table. Anywho thanks @Mepps for a staying true for 13 years your commitment has achieved a trophy. Live long and prosper my good man @Mepps. The future is only looking up for you with such an amazing resume (CV). I wish you the best on your future endeavors, may we cross paths again. Godspeed.
It seems like a no-brainer to come up for an investment firm to come up with a press statement ahead of layoffs. Such an easy thing to come out ahead of to save money and to save face ... The best news for us right now would be "we're removing redundancy across our offerings; we'll have staff working multiple games where we think it makes sense." Even if it means the game is going to shut down, the half-truth they still could've told "we're just consolidating offices, we'll be considering applications for local talent as new positions become available" It just makes no sense for an investment company to say nothing.
It makes no sense that they would shut down this game atm. If that were the case, they wouldn't have bothered with layoffs. Also, we all know from the EG7 release that this game is the investment firms cashcow. If they shut down DCUO, it would kill any chance for them to be successful as an investment firm since it would negatively impact all of their games across the board. That's why I look at this as an overall positive change for the game. Again, it sucks that real people lost jobs, but business is business, and sometimes these things have to happen to move forward, especially in a new, better direction.
Just thinking out loud. Thank goodness the Wolfpack Token was released before this disarray, obviously the Ally Token will experience a massive delay that's if it's not lost among this disarray. As a community when the dust settles and the new comers are feeling good we will have to remind them of what possibilities were on discussion before there enrollment.
That has nothing to do with what I said ... it's like you read "even if it means the game is going to shut down" and didn't read anything else around it.
Companies typically avoid making comments about lay offs despite my agreement with you that sometimes getting in front of the optics can be helpful, because anything said isn't going to be taken favorably because of the unfortunate human element involved in the circumstances. These things just suck no matter what way it gets spun. Corporations, especially those the size of EG7, Daybreak, Dimensional Ink and any other studios incorporated under the umbrella, go through restructures from time to time and it can be numerous. It often isn't done because the company is at risk of imminent financial collapse, not to say there isn't economics at play in any decision making like this, but it can also be done simply to consolidate perceived duplication within the company personnel. There's a lot of player based speculation during these types of events, and it almost always ends up being wrong, there's been lay offs in this company before and it hasn't ended in the demise of the company, players should avoid getting sucked into wild speculation
I don't know how it's handled at other studios but this has been the norm for Daybreak. Every time someone significant leaves or there's a mass layoff, it's done quietly and the information comes secondhand.
That he lasted thirteen years in a job is an admirable accomplishment in itself. I have zero doubt he's going to be fine.
