These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

EVE General Discussion

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
Previous page123Next page
 

CCP cutting staff in order to refocus on EVE.

First post First post
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Benilopax
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#21 - 2011-10-19 14:31:04 UTC
Morganta wrote:
Benilopax wrote:
Morganta wrote:
Welp...

As a person I feel bad for those getting cut.
As an eve player I'm glad focus will be returning where it belongs

as an American I'm somewhat disappointed with the statement that workers in Atlanta will feel the biggest cuts while CCP plans on "redeploying" personnel to this location for launch.

yeah, that kind of rubs me wrong...

Am I reading correctly that American CCP employees will be the bulk of the cuts and that they will be replaced by an icelandic team in Atlanta?

I'm trying to be understanding here, but WTF?



White Wolf is in Atlanta, White Wolf is WOD, WOD is being partially mothballed, therefore staff get cut at what was White Wolf. Bit of a bum deal for White Wolf...


I get that part, what troubles me is the "redeployment" bit.
that says to me that cut jobs in Atlanta (at lease a portion of them) will be filled by other company personnel, from outside Atlanta


I think they mean some people in Atlanta will be moved to working on DUST.

...
Barakkus
#22 - 2011-10-19 14:34:05 UTC  |  Edited by: Barakkus
That's pretty much what the CEO of the company I work for said last February when they realized they were too broke to pay everyone after losing a big portion of our larger clients, and cut all our pay by 10% and laid off 20 people.

Straight

http://youtu.be/yytbDZrw1jc
Blue Harrier
#23 - 2011-10-19 14:38:53 UTC
So far this scenario is following closely what I predicted in the old forums when I compared it with what happened with my ISP a few years ago.

Company starts as small family company and word of mouth starts customers rising due to good support and effective management.

Company reaches critical mass and new CEO is appointed.

New CEO appoints bean counters and adopts do as I say attitude to customers.

Support starts to suffer and complaints start to rise on forums.

CEO removes supportive people from forums and adopts head in sand approach to customer support, and continues with do as I say attitude.

Forums erupt in flames and customers start to leave in droves, bottom line starts to suffer and redundancies start to loom.

Big wigs meet and decide a radical shift in policy is needed to save company.

CEO is ‘redeployed’ (not in CCP’s case but who knows) and major shift in internal staff puts helpful staff back on customer support, knowledgeable staff promoted to leader positions and staff retraining implemented.

Forums start to cool down and drift away starts to decrease.

Forums start to praise support and word of mouth starts to spread that the company has turned the corner.

2 years on and company is winning awards again and the forums have returned to the more normal, company is thriving and customer numbers are rising steadily and after all that I’m still with them.

Please let this be the end scenario for CCP and the staff leaving now will get their jobs back in the future.

"You wait - time passes, Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold." from The Hobbit on ZX Spectrum 1982.
Grey Stormshadow
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#24 - 2011-10-19 14:40:49 UTC
CCP Manifest wrote:
Please keep your discussion of the announcement to this thread if possible, and understand that this and the days in the future are going to be very difficult for those at CCP. We stand behind our decisions and trust that it will ultimately bring you, the EVE community, a better game.

Now what part of the above quote OP failed to understand? Roll

Get classic forum style - custom videos to captains quarters screen

Play with the best - die like the rest
Benilopax
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#25 - 2011-10-19 14:49:19 UTC
Grey Stormshadow wrote:
CCP Manifest wrote:
Please keep your discussion of the announcement to this thread if possible, and understand that this and the days in the future are going to be very difficult for those at CCP. We stand behind our decisions and trust that it will ultimately bring you, the EVE community, a better game.

Now what part of the above quote OP failed to understand? Roll


I saw the news on Facebook came to the forums and checked Information portal, couldn't find a blog or announcement, so I looked at General discussion and saw what I thought was Hilmar's letter post and posted this thread. CCP can delete this thread if they so wish, but it's easy to lose these threads up in the stickys. People usually read top post below the stickys for latest "news".

...
Azelor Delaria
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#26 - 2011-10-19 14:51:51 UTC
Quote:
At CCP we have been working hard to expand the gaming landscape by applying the knowledge and expertise we've built up with EVE Online to create a new experience within the EVE Universe in DUST 514, as well as a new video game franchise in World of Darkness.

During the last few months, as evidenced by our interaction with the community, we made some missteps on that journey*.


*Links to Hilmar's "I'm an idiot, please ignore me" blog post.

Quote:
As we reexamine our outward relations, we are also taking time to reevaluate our internal goals. In doing so, we have come to the conclusion that we are attempting too many things for a company our size. Developing EVE expansions, DUST 514 and World of Darkness has stretched our resources too thin.


Attaching this to the previous, Hilmar has come to understand that...he is, in fact, and idiot! CCP is not Blizzard. They do not have the capability at this time to maintain active groups for three games. Blizzard can get away with Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 3 because they have been around for...what, almost 20 years? They have had the time to establish their corporation and grow at a pace that allowed them to get to that point, without overtaxing any one group. That's why they put out such great games in the past (Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, Starcraft: Brood War, Diablo, Diablo 2) and maintain what they have today.

Quote:
Rather than allowing this to persist, we have made the decision to sharpen our focus. Sadly, this means reducing our staff. We estimate that around twenty percent of global positions will be affected by this process. These will be predominantly in our Atlanta, GA office, although select positions in our Reykjavik, Iceland office will be affected.

We are very sad to lose some of our talented and dedicated colleagues to this necessary process. Naturally we are making every effort within our means to help them find alternative employment. Decisions like these are difficult for all those involved and extraordinarily sad for all of those whose lives are affected.


This right here is the part that pissed me off. After Hilmar comes out and says, "You know what, I'm going to say I listened to you and admit to my idiocy", the corporations turns around less than a week later and releases this press release. And what does it try to do? It tries to make us feel guilty. It tries to tell us, "You're the reason we have to let go of roughly 20% of the people who work for us, because you wouldn't let us do what we wanted."

There was a proper way to work on three games at once, had Hilmar et al. thought just a bit. Developers were a better source for getting such information. Hilmar's main goal is monetary and nothing else. So now that he's seen exactly what happens when you **** all over the base of your one successful game - you lose the resources to continue on other games.

And so, now the guilt starts. "These people lost their jobs because you, the players, were selfish."

No, they lost their jobs because you, the morons in charge, were selfish. If you hadn't pushed the limits and broken them on what your company could do feasibly, you would not have hired these people to begin with.

Quote:
This will enable us to accelerate timeframes for new features and increase our ability to respond to community needs. The fruits of this realignment will be seen as early as this winter with the upcoming EVE Online expansions and the launch of DUST 514 private trials.


New features? New features?! Again, you come to us and say, "We have new things to offer in this game!" without actually mentioning fixing what's broken. Some things may be fixed, but how many times has that happened? "Okay, they want things fixed and they get pissed when we release new stuff but ignore what's broken. Let's fix one or two things to shut them up, then release Incarna."

Quote:
First, EVE Online is in good health. Our subscriber numbers are higher today than they were a year ago. Unlike many other MMO's on the market, we have continued to grow year-on-year since launch in 2003. However, over the past two months, our subscribers have gone down from their peak this summer. We attribute this to our own mistakes and poor communications with our players. We are correcting that now.


It might be higher, if we are to also include "inactive subscriptions". This term is important, because you aren't saying "unsubscribed accounts". You can't count those in said numbers. Player numbers at peak times are not the same when I started playing. Yes, it's because of your lack of communication, but it's also because you refuse to listen to us until your monetary base was in jeopardy.
Azelor Delaria
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#27 - 2011-10-19 14:55:26 UTC
Damn "You can only quote 5 times in a single post"...

Quote:
Second, World of Darkness lives on. Its concepts are revolutionary. CCP continues to believe that it will alter the landscape of the MMO as significantly as EVE has done but we need more time to continue to develop them before dedicating the substantial resources required to bring this experience to market.


You keep saying WoD will be "revolutionary", and yet if we are to take you at face value, how long before you throw that out the window to work on some new project? World of Warcraft, for it's time, was revolutionary. Homeworld during it's time was revolutionary. World of Darkness - and I'm calling this now - will have nothing of value added. It will be another Twilight-esque glittery vampire crap. I fully expect it to be akin to Rhy'din, from my days of AOL roleplaying.

Quote:
As an innovator in the industry, CCP has never shied away from tough decisions, remaining agile to allow for shifts in production, technology and gaming trends since even before the launch of EVE Online. While our decision to refocus is a solemn one, it will benefit our players through a renewed commitment to the EVE Universe and its fans.


You shied away form actually talking to the players when Monoclegate happened. You gave us a sacrificial lamb who didn't want to be there, and even threw you on the bus for putting her in that position (<3 CCP Pann!). You ignored us until the last possible minute, when it became very real that your subscription numbers were in trouble.

You. Ignored. Us.

You seem to think that releasing a new blog or statement saying "We're committed to EVE Online" every week will placate us and make us forget your shortcomings. It won't. The more you have to tell us that you are committed to our ships, the more it becomes harder to believe you. It's very much the same in any walk of life: the more you draw attention to it, the harder it is to believe it.

As I said months ago - and was well-liked by the players-at-large: Actions speak louder than words. You can tell us everything you want, but if we don't see marked improvement, lip service means nothing.
Gealbhan
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#28 - 2011-10-19 14:56:19 UTC
Disband the CSM, there ya go money saved on air fares etc.
Garbad theWeak
#29 - 2011-10-19 14:58:43 UTC
I'd rather see himlar get fired. He was the one who screwed up, by his own admission. Hold him accountable.
White Tree
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#30 - 2011-10-19 15:05:03 UTC
Gealbhan wrote:
Disband the CSM, there ya go money saved on air fares etc.

The cost of running the CSM isn't very large. In fact we read people like you make posts like this entirely free of charge!

Former member of CSM6.
David Grogan
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#31 - 2011-10-19 15:08:20 UTC
Benilopax wrote:
http://www.ccpgames.com/en/public-relations/press-releases/article/2990/ccp-focuses-on-the-eve-universe

Up to 20% of staff being effected, WOD team being reduced significantly.

Discuss.


Proof subs are definitely down alot it would seem. 20% less subs

Everytime you buy something that says "made in china" you are helping the rising unemployment in your own country unless you are from china, Buy locally produced goods and help create more jobs.
Azelor Delaria
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#32 - 2011-10-19 15:08:50 UTC
White Tree wrote:
Gealbhan wrote:
Disband the CSM, there ya go money saved on air fares etc.

The cost of running the CSM isn't very large. In fact we read people like you make posts like this entirely free of charge!


Except, you know, we pay $14.99/month.
Buruk Utama
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#33 - 2011-10-19 15:12:15 UTC
They are telling you the truth but being very wordsmithy in what they are telling you. Yes they are working on very new features in eve, however, these are not necessarily EVE-related features nor ones you want. These will be DUST-EVE bridge features put in the game to make DUST relevant to EVE and operate with EVE.

What I get from the statement is that investors want a return now and the recent issues how EVE to be unstable and weakening. They need to get DUST out now as I suspect more money isn't going to come in as before once they reevaluated the damage from the summer. I wonder how much they are pinning their financial future on DUST sales and micro-transaction sales from that game and EVE? Hilmar himself the subscription model isn't viable going forward so I believe any new feature will be geared towards getting people to pay AUR or buy PLEX @ $20/per to get things done in the game....all of which will be triumphantly touted as NEW FEATURE!
Kengutsi Akira
Doomheim
#34 - 2011-10-19 15:17:06 UTC
I have a quote thats appropriate here:

Quote:
I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say. Innovation takes time to set in and the predictable reaction is always to resist change.


how much you think he wishes he could take that one back?

"Is it fair that CCP can get away with..." :: checks ownership on the box ::

Yes
Nova Fox
Novafox Shipyards
#35 - 2011-10-19 15:17:38 UTC
They've stated they're trying to help most of the staff as possible, they could have done it though internal cross hihring a perferred methood of a company to hire new staff is to basically 'promote' people out of one sector into another. This is probably what happened to some of the staff.

CCP however also does has alot of third party ties, its very possible they may have shuffeled off the staff off to those organizations so they can keep them employed while remaining on contact and foster better partnership between the secondary companies eve uses so when next time ccp requests a ship to be built they wont get a flash light model in return from that companies.

Dust 514's CPM 1 Iron Wolf Saber Eve mail me about Dust 514 issues.
Kanexus
F.13 - Union of Russians
Legion of xXDEATHXx Academy
#36 - 2011-10-19 16:05:51 UTC
I live in atlanta...and unemployment is like already high...now more to the stats...

and ccp focusing on EvE online...of course they are....CCP lives off of eve...thats proly how they get development money to make all those other games cause eve is the source of funds...players leave eve online so they gotta shift back there...cause really to CCP eve online is like stable money....

Dont blame CCP either...if i had x amount of money coming in every month and now x amount is lower....id do something about it too..
Caius Sivaris
Dark Nexxus
S0ns Of Anarchy
#37 - 2011-10-19 16:20:13 UTC
White Tree wrote:
Nice lag, EVE-O forums.

Can a GM delete my dumb posts,


Well, I for one, hope that the web team are the select few getting the axe in Iceland.
Bane Loppknow
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#38 - 2011-10-19 17:19:52 UTC
Kengutsi Akira wrote:
I have a quote thats appropriate here:

Quote:
I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say. Innovation takes time to set in and the predictable reaction is always to resist change.


how much you think he wishes he could take that one back?



That's the real issue. I don't think anyone is sure he genuinely regrets saying it. Obviously he regrets it was leaked.... but that's not really relevant.
Janos Saal
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#39 - 2011-10-19 17:25:25 UTC
So the management fucks everything up, but as per usual it's the rank and file that pay the consequences. If CCP had listened to its playerbase 18 months ago would this have been necessary?

I'd offer my condolences to those being made redundant, but CCP is such a joke of a company that you'll probably all be better off elsewhere.

Good work, Hilmar.

EVE is dead
Satav
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#40 - 2011-10-19 17:34:19 UTC
Overall,

I think a good decision. Eve is CCP's bread and butter and they need to make sure it stays healthy.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Your Erebus is docked? How did that happen?" "It took a lot of pushing and grease....."
Previous page123Next page