Did Anybody Else Hear?

[FlamingNinja007]

Trion fired more staff! I hope this doesn't effect the console gamers in specific

[Blue MTS]

I'ts the same with every game put out, they just got more light than most because of the announcement of Rift going free to play. IGN started this with the rumor from an unnamed source. When a game company brings teams in to develop a title they understand they are there till release. So no this won't have any effect on us.

[Doomsaw]

I'ts the same with every game put out, they just got more light than most because of the announcement of Rift going free to play. IGN started this with the rumor from an unnamed source. When a game company brings teams in to develop a title they understand they are there till release. So no this won't have any effect on us.

As a long-time industry veteran, I will tell you that you are not correct, it is not the same with every game. Games that have a successful launch with additional content and sequels do not lay off staff.

Examples include:
- Rockstar
- Blizzard (all games)
- Call of Duty developers (there have been a few in the last decade)
- Konami
- Valve
- Bioshock Developers
- Battlefield Developers

...etc

Successful games have sequels or follow-up content, unsuccessful games start to cut their losses depending on how bleak the outlook is. That is how the industry works.

No judgment regarding Trion, just clarifying some information for you.

[A s0t]

As a long-time industry veteran, I will tell you that you are not correct, it is not the same with every game. Games that have a successful launch with additional content and sequels do not lay off staff.

Examples include:
- Rockstar
- Blizzard (all games)
- Call of Duty developers (there have been a few in the last decade)
- Konami
- Valve
- Bioshock Developers
- Battlefield Developers

...etc

Successful games have sequels or follow-up content, unsuccessful games start to cut their losses depending on how bleak the outlook is. That is how the industry works.

No judgment regarding Trion, just clarifying some information for you.

what about THQ?

[Malgiliath]

And reading the small print on Rift, it's only the first twenty levels that are ftp

[dlCHIEF58]

And reading the small print on Rift, it's only the first twenty levels that are ftp

Keep up with the news, Rift is going completely free-to-play in June.

[Random]

As a long-time industry veteran, I will tell you that you are not correct, it is not the same with every game. Games that have a successful launch with additional content and sequels do not lay off staff.

Examples include:
- Rockstar
- Blizzard (all games)
- Call of Duty developers (there have been a few in the last decade)
- Konami
- Valve
- Bioshock Developers
- Battlefield Developers

...etc

Successful games have sequels or follow-up content, unsuccessful games start to cut their losses depending on how bleak the outlook is. That is how the industry works.

No judgment regarding Trion, just clarifying some information for you.

Really, let me know when ninteno stops doing that, because they do it every cycle.
It's a system. Bring in mass talent. Use them for things needed, then keep the good ones on as consulting.

Successful games do in fact have sequels but not all do. And many that do; do not have the same talent working on them.
It's funny you've mentioned Blizzard, a company reknown for source and cutting talent. Valve keeps it's employee's for a bit but cuts them easily when needed. Two of the three companies I mention operate right outside of my city here.

Long time doesn't matter anymore. It's a entirely different model from the one seen before. Games are simply not as profitable.

As for this one: Mmorpg's do in fact mass source talent and cut folks on finish, they are of no use. They have very little ROI after the game is made. You are paying 55k a year for someone to sit and fix things as needed, or you multisource the talent.

It's very simply from the business side of things easier to source and cut.
You may be a tech or whatever but from the business point. It's all about trimming the belt in this time. Companies are buckling down for round two of economic duress.

[dlCHIEF58]

Trion fired more staff! I hope this doesn't effect the console gamers in specific

And Trion has already responded to these statements stating the layoffs did occur and are greatly exaggerated in terms of numbers. They have also stated they have no effect on upcoming projects. More than likely they are letting go redundant staff that are not needed any longer after the launch and emergency patching of the game to bring it up to speed. I imagine there may also be a lot of marketing people included since the big ad push for the game has also subsided.

[Doomsaw]

Really, let me know when ninteno stops doing that, because they do it every cycle.
It's a system. Bring in mass talent. Use them for things needed, then keep the good ones on as consulting.

Successful games do in fact have sequels but not all do. And many that do; do not have the same talent working on them.
It's funny you've mentioned Blizzard, a company reknown for source and cutting talent. Valve keeps it's employee's for a bit but cuts them easily when needed. Two of the three companies I mention operate right outside of my city here.

Long time doesn't matter anymore. It's a entirely different model from the one seen before. Games are simply not as profitable.

As for this one: Mmorpg's do in fact mass source talent and cut folks on finish, they are of no use. They have very little ROI after the game is made. You are paying 55k a year for someone to sit and fix things as needed, or you multisource the talent.

It's very simply from the business side of things easier to source and cut.
You may be a tech or whatever but from the business point. It's all about trimming the belt in this time. Companies are buckling down for round two of economic duress.

It's very clear to me that you do not have first-hand understanding of the things you are saying, from the quantity of inaccuracies contained in your post.

However, it's not possible to educate someone on the internet.

So, I will agree to disagree with you.

Simply put, some companies cut staff after a game, some companies don't. When massive cuts are made, it's a very common sense indicator that the game is not expected to be a long-term success with significant revenue coming in. Nothing wrong with that, many games fail to turn a profit, that's just life.

Have a good day!

[dlCHIEF58]

As a long-time industry veteran, I will tell you that you are not correct, it is not the same with every game. Games that have a successful launch with additional content and sequels do not lay off staff.

Examples include:
- Rockstar
- Blizzard (all games)
- Call of Duty developers (there have been a few in the last decade)
- Konami
- Valve
- Bioshock Developers
- Battlefield Developers

...etc

Successful games have sequels or follow-up content, unsuccessful games start to cut their losses depending on how bleak the outlook is. That is how the industry works.

No judgment regarding Trion, just clarifying some information for you.

Quite a bit wrong with your reasoning and deductions here. It has been quite normal for many years to have a crunch time followed by layoffs when a game is released. It has been happening for years and always gets blown out of proportion by the doomsayers. DLC has curbed some of this as it keeps some of the developers working on things between projects after the title has gone gold.

And your examples are poor as well - all of them have encountered some sort of layoff in the past. Valve recently cut a bit from their staff. Blizzard also had a fairly recent layoff as well. And you can't realistically compare CoD developers (IW or Treyarch) to this situation as they are perpetually working on Call of Duty and it's DLC - they have no downtime.

Furthermore, Trion has commented on the situation stating that the numbers reported are greatly exaggerated and it has no effect on any upcoming project.