Rumors Mass Layoffs To Impact Arenanet / GW2

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Ever since GW2 had set itself up for a story where the heroes would have to go on a long journey to defeat the six dragons, I was worried that the game might not run long enough to see the conclusion of that story. It doesn't help that they inflated the the story between each Elder Dragon arc, with Scarlet before Mordremoth and Balthazar before Kralkatorik. We're three paid box games and four seasons into GW2, and only two of the six big bads are down. Unless the writers start having the dragons devour each other to lower the number of dragons we need to kill, pull out some sort of superpower for the heroes to start downing dragons very quickly, or otherwise skip the box set/season long build up to a dragon fight, I don't see how Anet can satisfyingly resolve the GW2 story before the plug is pulled.

I really, really want to see an underwater/naval expansion against the last and most dangerous big bad of them all, the Deep Sea Dragon. There is so much potential there!

[PACOX]

Whatever happens, I can't see NCsoft axing off Anet and Guild Wars, it's, as far as I know, the only successful studio they have in the west left, they killed off CoH, pulled all support from Carbine and Wildstar until they shut them down, and now all they have is Anet.

The worst thing that will happen is NCSoft takes away Anets independence. Seems like the layoffs are due to two projects Anet has had in the background. One was a mobile one I remember them hiring for at least 3 years ago.

Not a huge deal taken at face value. Something similar happened during GW1s run where projects were canceled because the relatively small studio bit off more than it could chew. That's why it's under a parent company and not completely independent.

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Ever since GW2 had set itself up for a story where the heroes would have to go on a long journey to defeat the six dragons, I was worried that the game might not run long enough to see the conclusion of that story. It doesn't help that they inflated the the story between each Elder Dragon arc, with Scarlet before Mordremoth and Balthazar before Kralkatorik. We're three paid box games and four seasons into GW2, and only two of the six big bads are down. Unless the writers start having the dragons devour each other to lower the number of dragons we need to kill, pull out some sort of superpower for the heroes to start downing dragons very quickly, or otherwise skip the box set/season long build up to a dragon fight, I don't see how Anet can satisfyingly resolve the GW2 story before the plug is pulled.

I really, really want to see an underwater/naval expansion against the last and most dangerous big bad of them all, the Deep Sea Dragon. There is so much potential there!

Actually there's one two dragons left. We beat one in season 3 and the other was beat off screen. There's just a dragon we've never seen and a super dragon left. They've made Kralkatorrik a bit OP at this point though...

According to them season 5s story narrative is done.

[Edge-]

Whatever happens, I can't see NCsoft axing off Anet and Guild Wars, it's, as far as I know, the only successful studio they have in the west left, they killed off CoH, pulled all support from Carbine and Wildstar until they shut them down, and now all they have is Anet.

They didn't pull support from WS, they actually kept support strong despite the games financials being dogshit for the first year or two and scaled back further and further as the F2P relaunch didn't turn the game around nor did its Steam launch. The game was doing so poorly they stopped reporting its quarterly revenue like they do with their major titles and folded it into their "other" revenue, because it was making even less than CoH.

But Anet is safe, they've been the shining star for NCsoft in the west. These layoffs will hurt, but I doubt NCsoft is looking to dump them anytime soon.

The worst thing that will happen is NCSoft takes away Anets independence. Seems like the layoffs are due to two projects Anet has had in the background. One was a mobile one I remember them hiring for at least 3 years ago.

Doubtful, NCsoft has never done that with their western studios. The one thing you have to give them credit for regardless of their other shenanigans is how much freedom they offer their western studios, they really give them a huge leash and a lot of support.

[RuneDK]

I'm personally wondering when the shit storm is going to happen over them laying off people will come.

[Jibjub]

This is what happens when you stop developing entirely new, interesting worlds and stories, and rely on rehashing the same crap for 5-15 years.

Marvel Studios begs to differ.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

This is what happens when you stop developing entirely new, interesting worlds and stories, and rely on rehashing the same crap for 5-15 years.

I don't think that's really a problem. NCSoft seems to be big on mmos or stuff like that. Like thats their thing or was.

[Vynestra]

lol larger restructuring.

I don't get why people play games that are published by NCsoft, I was done after they shut city of heroes down for -no- good reason other than re-focusing on the eastern market.

It was still making plenty of revenue. Wildstar followed suit, like I predicted it would, now cuts to gw2, predictable.


People, stop buying, spending money on, or playing NCSoft games. They are one of the few large companies (sans perfect world) who actually shuts down games when they're just done with them. They don't even keep them online and support the players they have, once its lost its ability to make a lot of profit, its -dead- to them.

GW2 will follow suit.

NCsoft is trash, trash trashhhhhhh.

[Ealyssa]

Whaaat? I admit, GW2 isn't for me (I did buy it, didn't like the gameplay at all), but outside of box sales are you saying there's a huge market for people to buy shirts, hoodies and mousepads branded GW2?

lol wut ? You should have played it when you bought it...
There is a crazy big cash shop.

[CrossNgen]

They didn't pull support from WS, they actually kept support strong despite the games financials being dogshit for the first year or two and scaled back further and further as the F2P relaunch didn't turn the game around nor did its Steam launch. The game was doing so poorly they stopped reporting its quarterly revenue like they do with their major titles and folded it into their "other" revenue, because it was making even less than CoH.

While Carbine had a whole lot of bad upper management in the studio, I do 100% believe that after the first year of Wildstar's release NCsoft pulled almost all support from the studio, most evident by the shortage of servers when they made the game F2P.

[Svifnymr]

Either way this isn't the end of the game, I wouldn't be surprised if LS episodes slowed down a bit or were scaled back some, but I doubt we'll see them dropping support anytime soon. The game is still profitable and doing pretty well for them (PoF has been a nice revenue bump in its life-cycle compared to HoT), hopefully the next expansion can keep their numbers growing and they can staff back up.

They do say in there that they're moving from Season 4 to Season 5, so no expac in between there. Not sure if the "other projects" were expac related, since they specify GW2 isn't affected, but who knows for sure.

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Actually there's one two dragons left. We beat one in season 3 and the other was beat off screen. There's just a dragon we've never seen and a super dragon left. They've made Kralkatorrik a bit OP at this point though...

Zhaitan, Mordremoth dead. Jormag and Primordus taking naps, Kralkatorik current, and Undersea dragon still out there. They could bring Jormag and Primordus back to the story at any time. I don't really see them doing much with the Undersea dragon.

[PACOX]

They do say in there that they're moving from Season 4 to Season 5, so no expac in between there. Not sure if the "other projects" were expac related, since they specify GW2 isn't affected, but who knows for sure.

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Zhaitan, Mordremoth dead. Jormag and Primordus taking naps, Kralkatorik current, and Undersea dragon still out there. They could bring Jormag and Primordus back to the story at any time. I don't really see them doing much with the Undersea dragon.

I'm 70% certain that Jormag and Primordus were 'reset' lore wise, as in they won't wake up until the next 'cycle. Meanwhile the magic that Balthazar didn't get went to Kralkatorrik, which doesn't matter because Kralkatorrik has all of it now anyway.

[Edge-]

This is what happens when you stop developing entirely new, interesting worlds and stories, and rely on rehashing the same crap for 5-15 years.

What, you have a super successful launch of your sequel, grow your company over the next 6 years, and are forced to make cuts when your parent companies financials aren't great?

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I don't get why people play games that are published by NCsoft, I was done after they shut city of heroes down for -no- good reason other than re-focusing on the eastern market.

To free up market space, internal resources, and money to support the recently launched GW2 and the upcoming launch of WildStar, which had growth potential while CoH had already peaked and was minimally profitable.

It was still making plenty of revenue. Wildstar followed suit, like I predicted it would, now cuts to gw2, predictable.

Its revenues were low and they had exhausted all their potential for growth (F2P transition done, game continuing to age etc.) so things weren't going to turn around for it.

WS "followed suit" because the game tanked. Hard. And despite that NCsoft still supported the game for years and gave them every opportunity to turn things around. They didn't, so after keeping the game alive for far longer than most other publishers would they shut it down.

As for GW2...predictable? I mean, layoffs were eventually going to come as they do with almost every company, but they had a great run of 6 years of success without layoffs. To the contrary, they grew due to their success.

They are one of the few large companies (sans perfect world) who actually shuts down games when they're just done with them. They don't even keep them online and support the players they have, once its lost its ability to make a lot of profit, its -dead- to them.

Why should a company keep a game alive that's draining money without any returns? Games are a business, if your financials are all in the red you're not going to stay in operation and you need to cut things that aren't profitable.

GW2 will follow suit.

Just like GW1, which recently spun back up its support services after a few unexpected significant patches after it went into "maintenance mode"? The game that's largely automated and set to stay alive for many, many, many years to come?

That's poppycock.

NCsoft is trash, trash trashhhhhhh.

You don't have to like them, but the hate you're directing their way isn't remotely fair in light of reality.

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While Carbine had a whole lot of bad upper management in the studio, I do 100% believe that after the first year of Wildstar's release NCsoft pulled almost all support from the studio, most evident by the shortage of servers when they made the game F2P.

...what? They had deep layoffs, but the game still saw strong support for the first year+ until F2P, had a solid F2P launch that Carbine dropped the ball on, and even kept supporting it for a while afterwards through their Steam launch. This isn't remotely accurate, they were still supporting WildStar even after its revenue was so bad they stopped reporting it individually and started including it with their "other" revenue.

They do say in there that they're moving from Season 4 to Season 5, so no expac in between there. Not sure if the "other projects" were expac related, since they specify GW2 isn't affected, but who knows for sure.

Well, that bit we already knew. We've known S4/5 would come before the next expansion for a while now.

[GreenJesus]

Yeh games that require subs are tough because I have to find value in the limited time I have available for WoW, ESO, FF14. You can't reasonably play more than 1 or 2 MMOs at a time. It feels like a waste if I only get to log in to FF14 once a week and I don't feel like I got the full value of sub. However, dark souls for example I just pay once and I know eventually I'll get around to finishing it so I don't have a problem buying it.

[Edge-]

Yeh games that require subs are tough because I have to find value in the limited time I have available for WoW, ESO, FF14. You can't reasonably play more than 1 or 2 MMOs at a time. It feels like a waste if I only get to log in to FF14 once a week and I don't feel like I got the full value of sub. However, dark souls for example I just pay once and I know eventually I'll get around to finishing it.

GW2 doesn't require a sub. It doesn't even offer one.

[GreenJesus]

GW2 doesn't require a sub. It doesn't even offer one.

O I thought it did. Maybe they got rid of it I don't know. It's probably the only MMO on the market without a 15 dollar sub then.

[Edge-]

O I thought it did. Maybe they got rid of it I don't know. It's probably the only MMO on the market without a 15 dollar sub then.

They literally never had one. That was one of their big selling points with GW1 when it came out when P2P MMO's were the norm, and they made it clear with GW2 that they weren't going to have one and had no plans.

And it's not the only MMO on the market without one. There are a handful of other F2P/B2P games that don't offer one, though it's common to offer an optional subscription to keep revenue sources diverse.

[Svifnymr]

Well, that bit we already knew. We've known S4/5 would come before the next expansion for a while now.

We did? I don't remember it being said. Guess it doesn't matter then!

Also, is this like on the main page or something? Seems to be a lot of folks that never played GW2...

[Edge-]

We did? I don't remember it being said. Guess it doesn't matter then!

Also, is this like on the main page or something? Seems to be a lot of folks that never played GW2...

I think it was a on one of the NCsoft earnings calls a quarter or two ago, they mentioned that S4/5 content were in the works. I'll try to dig up a source, but this wasn't an official announcement put out by ANet.

And I imagine it's getting bumped up on the "recent posts" section of the front page if people haven't de-listed the GW2 forum.

[Rogalicus]

We did? I don't remember it being said. Guess it doesn't matter then!

Also, is this like on the main page or something? Seems to be a lot of folks that never played GW2...

3:34

[Gray_Matter]

The point I'm trying to make is that yes, people from the GW/GW2 team will be laid off as well.

I seriously don't know how people think B2P games are sustainable without a cash shop, which it doesn't look like GW/GW2 has?

GW2 makes on average $90 million a year. That is much higher for years where they release an expansion and it is lower in the quarters leading up to a new expansion. They have a cash shop as others have indicated. There isn't any PR spin going on. They are cutting the teams that are working on other unnamed products. That's all. They have no reason to cut the GW2 team. It's a product that is making money.

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O I thought it did. Maybe they got rid of it I don't know. It's probably the only MMO on the market without a 15 dollar sub then.

They never had one. That's the beauty of the game. You don't feel obligated to play because you are subbed. You just sign in a play whenever you feel like it. They have have a free option which covers everything in the base game with a few limitations to stop gold farmers (e.g. No trading post access and no daily login rewards).