Another round of layoffs at DBG

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Derresh, Oct 11, 2019.

  1. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    It looks like Lauren McLemore (former EQ franchise producer) moved on in March 2019 for Epic Games.
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenmclemore

    I give credit to Holly and the EQ team for the largely brass tacks, no-nonsense approach by focusing on the core business (bread and butter: expansions and TLP). The EQ team is a rare breed and not only because the engine is ancient.
    IblisTheMage likes this.
  2. Derresh Augur

    We're lucky to have such a great Dev team working on Everquest, 40 year anniversary here we come!
  3. Terranos Elder

    They had staff left to lay off?
    Xanathol likes this.
  4. enclee Augur

    Best wishes in the job hunt to those affected!
  5. Rayvorn Elder

    I like the Dev team at EQ also but I feel they have zero power. They are just waiting for some clueless DBG investor/upper management to have them fired because they didn't meet some unrealistic goal or because they had zero support on the back-end. I am sure these same managers came to the Planetside office once every three months (dog and pony) and shooked peoples hands and informed them they were doing a good job and how proud they were of them. But was no where around when they were fired.

    But I don't think there will be anymore people fired. The next announcement will either be selling of the company or announcing a merger. If they fire people from EQ/EQ2 or DCUO it will just show that the company has no value and I hope they aren't that bad in basic investing to understand why that would be a horrible idea.
  6. Warpeace Augur

    So were the lifetime memberships a warning sign?

    To be honest when they offered them I could only think of the Landmark fiasco.
  7. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    For EQ players that bought the lifetime membership it may not look too bad, for Planetside2 players I'd imagine it ain't looking too great.
  8. Bobokin Augur

    The EQ dev team is doing its best to alienate players, so it won't be long for them either.

    That's really too bad for the players.
  9. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    The EQ team are NOT doing their best to alienate players. Thing is there are a lot of things we don't know about that are involved in decisions they make. They can make good decisions or bad decisions but in each case they are making them in what they think is good for the game overall.

    It can be argued they favor things that are not good for a particular portion of the player base but that is not the same thing as doing their best to alienate players.

    I may think they make bad decisions sometimes and yeah the zone line to hell is paved with good intentions but I don't think it's that bad.
  10. Whulfgar Augur

    The level of laughability this guys post is outstanding.

    Raise that forumquest game Yo!
  11. Bamboompow Augur

    Seems like there are no "careers" anymore. Just an stream of gigs with no benefits and uncertainty. Well, maybe some certainty: When the gig is over so is your paycheck. Hopefully those effected had ample notice to get something in the works. Always have to look forward to what comes next!
  12. Febb Augur

    It doesn't surprise me that they are laying off more people. There are just better games out there on the market right now. I just don't see any decent games I want to play that's made by Daybreak other than EQ. It's a gamble to work for Daybreak right now if you are the new person. Unless they release something people will actually stick around and play, they'll be laying more people off in the future. They are lucky they have some lifer subscribers to keep their company afloat right now.

    Anyways, someone within the company that knows what's going on will usually will give people a heads up to update their resumes and start looking before they are laid off. I've been there and saw the writing on the wall for one of the companies I worked for when we experienced a big slow down. I told all the new guys to update their resumes and start looking months before it happened. A few months after the first round of layoffs they laid me off as well, and I had been there a while. This is a big international company as well.

    It doesn't matter who you work for. If your company is poorly managed or can't compete in the same market, or that market dries up, your days are limited within that company. That's why it's important to pay attention to what's going on with your company and the market your company is a part of.
  13. Rayvorn Elder

    And invest in your own Roth or Traditional IRA because...those company 401k's don't mean anything once the company leaves. They also find ways to get out of them or do buyouts ..that will save them millions on the backend and screw you over.
  14. Littlelegs Elder

    Don't worry, we're just rightsizing the department.
    kizant likes this.
  15. KermittheFroglok Augur

    That's not how 401(k) plans work. A 401(k) plan is a separate legal entity and the sponsoring company going out of business shouldn't impact a plan participant as long as the contributions have been sent to the plan (not sending them would be illegal and is a relatively rare scenario), they should always be fully funded since it's largely the employees' money in the custody of a third party record keeper. You are confusing 401(k) plans with defined benefit plans (e.g. pensions), which are rarely offered anymore because they are generally not economically sustainable.
    Xanathol and MasterMagnus like this.
  16. Rayvorn Elder

    Naw not confusing them I was just being to loosly based with my statements on purpose because most people don't know about investing. When I said they can find ways to get out of them I mean they can file bankruptcy to ensure they can stop the matching portion of the 401k plan. This is the reason many companies wait to match till the end of the year just in case. Many older companies can also force you to cash out of the plan when they fire you. This is usually tax free with no penalty but now you might have say 100k with no where to put it or forcing you to roll it over into something you didn't want because you haven't found a new job yet ect.

    Laslty many companies don't allow you to pick what your money is invested in (new 401ks allow you to switch to what you want but older companies had a set mutual fund you had to select). This means you could be invested into a large portion of the companies stock (very shady and happens alot). Imagine having a 401k plan with BP where they put 15% of your money in their company. Oil spill happens, they fire you while their stock is in the tank and force you out of their 401k plan (with a cashout). 15% of your stock is drastically lower..and you also dont get to pick when you want to pull out of the market and might not be a good time economically. Eitherway, you don't lose everything but the company will do everything they can to make sure they are getting the better deal.
  17. enclee Augur

    I'm just at a loss on the misinformation about 401k.
  18. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    And this is possibly an example of why they don't listen to player's suggestions on how to run the company
  19. Zunnoab Augur

    I don't agree with everything done, but they absolutely do not intentionally do that.

    Well, other than adding "lol" to event mob names when callously pretty much outright attacking mid/low tier guilds in EoK (add multiple AE nerfs in an expansion in which AEs help tremendously on some events and mana recovery nerfs when the expansion has an event about managing mana during the past phase for that same time range too). That's the only thing that I found to be completely unacceptable.

    I may not agree with all of the other changes, and I think they have an enormous perception problem with people expecting them to nerf things or outright take them away in patches, but they do not intentionally try to alienate players and frankly do quite impressively considering their staff numbers.
  20. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    I think you would see buyouts and such when we are talking pension plans as opposed to 401ks