[Official Thread] SOE Restructuring Announcement

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

Yep, sounds about like every company owned by a large multinational corporation doesn't it?
Sad to hear about everybody that lost their jobs, I was hoping Kotaku was just pulling this out of their behinds, or that by some stroke of luck it wouldn't touch the EQ2 team at all. Looks like we still have Kander (he's been posting today), tradeskillers will be happy to know Domino has posted today, Gninja hasn't posted but he's been on the forums, Ttobey hasn't posted but he's been on the forums too, Rothgar hasn't posted but he is the lead programmer so he holds the keys to the kingdom (eg knows the code that makes everything work).

"discontinuing production of The Agency so it can focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties"
Sorry to hear about the lay offs ....
So are you making a Eq3 then ? For the console or mmorpg? I heard that was in the works from last year....or has that been scraped also? Or is that what will be announced next week? Either way I am glad you all are working on improvements to Eq2 I am a returning player and I have to say you all have done a great job, this game is awesome and I have no idea why I left...so please keep up the great work...
And my prayers go out to all that lost thier jobs today and hopefully they will find work quickly.

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

/Agreed
Now if LoN is going away, there is nothing to worry about, but if LoN is to be supported in SD, I'd have concerns about it.

While I, selfishly, hope the two EQ2 lost aren't some of my favourites, losing anyone is a Bad Thing. My heart goes out not only to the 2 now missing from the EQ2 team but also to the other 203 who are now looking at pink slips and shattered dreams rather than the hopes they had for a long career one of the leading games companies. I hope all 205 are able to find employment quickly and find gold out of this setback.

Its always bad to see people layed off - BUT - given the information in the original post that one can only speculate that this means there will be a EQ3 and a Planetside2. That's fantastic!
I should also note that (havig been in a parallel devlopment industry myself) shifting and "restructuring" teams and people around is just all part of the industry. It's really sad when it happens to those on the team that were great - I can very much sympathize with their situation from my own experiance. :-/

Atan@Unrest wrote:

They could probably get by with an intern to handle most of LoN, really. They've already been reusing cards more and more and it's already the regular EQ1/EQ22 dev teams that implement the loot cards.

I'm sorry to hear this happened. I wish the best to those who were layed off.

Must have been that budget request for new hardware for EQ2 servers, they had to find the money somewhere.

LON is kinda related to eq2. So is that feature being abandoned and if so can we now get all the loot cards made by the eq2 dev team placed in game somewhere.

Justa hunch LON will continue with the base of operations outta SD.

Bigron@Unrest wrote:

While that is my feeling as well.
Smokejumpers response was that "The EQII team is focused on making EQII better. That's all."
That doesnt jive with that statement if a bunch of devs are going to be adding in quarterly updates to LON.

Gungo@Crushbone wrote:

They never said some devs from denver wouldnt be comming to SD also.
Just as SC.... LON for years has been a part of EQ2....its fully envolved as "part of the game".

I hope they continue to support LoN as well. Enjoyable way to pass the time while LFG

Best of wishes to the people being laid off

SmokeJumper wrote:

Good post SJ. It's sad but if my 30+ years in the working world gave any insight it was when one door closes, another opens and usually for the better, cliche I know, but there is truth there nonetheless. Life is all about moving forward. So though sad for these folks, I suspect new opportunities in this industry are always a step away for those that truly seek them with vigor. It can be exciting though challenging in these times. I hope their transition is a good one.
Meanwhile I am excited for 2011 in EQ2. I suspect if I can get my new computer built this year I will be even happier still.

Andok wrote:

Denver and Seattle are pretty expensive too from what I understand. We made the decision to move from SD a few years ago and I wish we could go back. It gets more difficult to leave every time we go back. There is so much more to offer, including the general environment. There is a much bigger technical mentality there and I'm pretty sure they have other parts of the sony corporation there as well. So it really doesn't make sense to pack up that huge campus and move it someplace smaller.

Sad to hear this news. I hope pretty quick job recovery for laid off members.
I'm writing to hear the treatment of the international server from producer. Not only localization but player's relationship by each local languages. I'm afraid of luck of local language announement and promotion to add momentum to depopulation.

I am really sad to hear that a bunch of folks are goig to be loosing their jobs.
I do have one question smokejumper, the new server hardware to help those uf us who have really bad server lag. I would guess those requests are done for as well, even though it is really needed.
Oh well it was a sad day for everybody involved.

Sorry to hear of the layoffs and best wishes to those involved. I've seen about 10,000 people laid off in the past 8 years at my company and we're doing better than ever. I wouldn't take this as an ominous sign of the state of EQ2.. It's just a business decision regarding some unprofitable products and should allow the company to better focus on its core products.

Yo, red-letter dudes.
Would one of you please place a statement in here that the lay-off story is NOT an April Fools joke?
I have a hard time fitting the pieces together to make them fit a legitimate announcement of this type, especially in such close proximity to April 1.
If it IS legitimate, then I of course offer condolences to those let go. But I'm still betting on a joke story.
Bristlebane working overtime?????