Massive EA layoff, Mythic reduced by almost half. Effect on UO?

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

Well thanks Petra... you certainly have the inhuman power of reading my mind and knowing my intent without doubt. You certainly are good to ignore the fact that I worked and gave 4-8 hours a day for almost a year for our beloved game, as a seer and companion, and that I have been totally violated and trashed along with the whole team of that day because one or two of them used to sell gold on e-bay ?

Bleh. One year of my life...

Pops... thats very easy. The way the game is made you can create additional "facets" on an existing shard, so you create two lunas... static land on a server is not taking much room or bandwidith, so that would sucessfully up the shard traffic which would make the game much more challenging and fun.

And slowly, in maintenance mode, when a free spot opens on the main facet, you just transfer the house from the merged shard...

Hmm... Pazuzu CDS , were you also Pazuzu OES ?

 

[NuSair]

A possible silver lining?

For EA, whose fortunes were built on blockbuster franchises such as the Sims and Madden NFL that sold for $40 to $60 a disc, the silver lining this year was modest games played on mobile phones or online. That business, which contributed 12% of EA's revenue last quarter, has become its most profitable division, Riccitiello said.

From:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-ea10-2009nov10,0,387264.story

 

[Petra Fyde]

Masurai, I'm sorry you saw my comment in that light. It was meant to be re-assuring and to head off scaremongering.

In the past the only comments I've seen advocating shard mergers were highly unpopular. No one is prepared for it to be their shard that is removed, their housing spot that is lost.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

I was almost positive this was nother "the sky is falling post" ... my bad. I read the link and then looked on EA pages as well. Interestingly, this is another in a long line of questioning UO future as markets change.

I also find it interesting that not one Dev has at least commented "I'm here!!" with a wave. Huh.

 

[Saunders]

We lost some good people on UO today - people the project really needed, but it was all just a numbers game

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

 

[popps]

HEY THIS SHARD IS CLOSING IN 6 MONTHS. A transfer token is available to your account. Enjoy.

Really ?

And what about those players who had, for example, a Luna House or a Castle or a Keep on the shard that would be closed ?

I have my doubts that transfers would be that easy or painless.

Some paid dearly for that Luna House or Castle or Keep and I doubt they'd loose it to get a small two storey on some other shard.........

 

[hungry4knowhow]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

and that impeccable source being?

 

[LadyNico]

I was almost positive this was nother "the sky is falling post" ... my bad. I read the link and then looked on EA pages as well. Interestingly, this is another in a long line of questioning UO future as markets change.

I also find it interesting that not one Dev has at least commented "I'm here!!" with a wave. Huh.

As much as I hate debunking a conspiracy theory, both Sakkarah and TheGrimmOmen are viewing.

Furthermore, GrimmOmen has posted at least twice in this very thread.

 

[Saunders]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

and that impeccable source being?

A developer on Facebook.

But please allow him some privacy.

 

[Viquire]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

and that impeccable source being?

A developer on Facebook.

But please allow him some privacy.

rolleyes:

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Um Raven the subcription rate is now 12.99 a month. Its hasn't been $9.95 since 2003. Sorry.

Depends how you pay.

Besides the point is the same and 25% to the totals both low and high if that helps.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Really ?

And what about those players who had, for example, a Luna House or a Castle or a Keep on the shard that would be closed ?

I have my doubts that transfers would be that easy or painless.

Some paid dearly for that Luna House or Castle or Keep and I doubt they'd loose it to get a small two storey on some other shard.........

So Im sorry for their loss (AND IT HASNT REALLY HAPPENED)... thats my point.

IT ISNT HAPPENING. Geez.

But Popps if a shard ends having a search site isnt really going to help the pain now is it.

Come on.

 

[Riply]

Wow alot of posts thier is life on stratics after all.

First off EA is a business and thus when thier are loses thier will be job cuts. Were in a deep recessions atm and alot of companies are down sizing, (even ones who are still profitable) this just seems to be the norm.

I think it's pretty rough for the people (families) that may have just moved to Northern Virginia to work for Mythic. It's a nice area but a bit on the exspensive side to raise a family espeically with out a current job.


If you look at the whole picture UO is just a drop in the bucket as far as thier total expenditures goes. That could be a good or bad bad thing, depending on how you look at it. I personally think it's a good thing, when the accountants start slashing budgets for each game, thiers not a whole lot to cut from UO. I would imagine the extra help they had for the SA exspansion maybe terminated, but that may have happened regardless of the economy.

I just checked outside and the Sky is not falling.

 

[Uriah Heep]

"

Don't blame me I voted for the American.

ROFL

My new sig line!!!!! Can I use it Krrom? heheh

 

[Llwyd]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

I'm more worried about the silence right now, and the possibility that we may hear, not 'hello', but 'goodbye'...

 

[Siteswap]

For the record the only thing I can find referencing game cuts is the announcement that 12 UNANNOUNCED projects will be canceled, meaning sequels in development, new games in development or on the slate to be developed that have not been announced to the general public. Nothing about games that are currently in a release state.

So by that token, should UO be effected in any way by the cuts, they could well stop work on our Enhanced Client, which after all is Beta. They'd be hard pressed to convince the top brass that they should continue invest time and money on developing the new client ...

 

[Podolak]

, so you create two lunas...

Two Lunas??? NO!!!!!!

 

[Aurelius]

A developer on Facebook.

But please allow him some privacy.

I know what you mean, but I do have some problems understanding why someone who would want 'privacy' posts the comment they are concerned about on Facebook....

 

[hungry4knowhow]

For the record the only thing I can find referencing game cuts is the announcement that 12 UNANNOUNCED projects will be canceled, meaning sequels in development, new games in development or on the slate to be developed that have not been announced to the general public. Nothing about games that are currently in a release state.

So by that token, should UO be effected in any way by the cuts, they could well stop work on our Enhanced Client, which after all is Beta. They'd be hard pressed to convince the top brass that they should continue invest time and money on developing the new client ...

No, the enhanced client has been announced and is in a release state its beta.

Doesn't mean development won't slow down, but its not going to be cancelled.

 

[hungry4knowhow]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

and that impeccable source being?

A developer on Facebook.

But please allow him some privacy.

rolleyes:

My sentiments exactly.... Saunders its sounding more like you are

Edited to add: Also, after a google and Facebook search(where you can search posts by everyone) I can not find that quote anywhere....just sayin'

 

[Siteswap]

No, the enhanced client has been announced and is in a release state its beta.

Doesn't mean development might slow down, but its not going to be cancelled.

Cancelled? Probably not. But they may well suspend any further work on it and what you see now is what you get...

 

[hungry4knowhow]

Cancelled? Probably not. But they may well suspend any further work on it and what you see now is what you get...

I would think IF anything that development would just slow down. For the most part people are happier with this client than they have been with any other "new" client released. I doubt they would just cancel dev work on it now.

IF any of these hits affect UO I would guess that we would see it in the form of slower updates due to the dev team shrinking, or money allocated shrinking.

Not saying I think or forsee this happening, just if I had to guess of any reprecussions we might feel those would be it.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Oops! Mised Grimm totally! day-am! I shall hang my head in shame for 1 hour.

Thanks for yanking my chain on that.

 

[Saunders]

From a impeccable source on Facebook.

I imagine nobody is coming here to say hallo because it just hurts too much.

and that impeccable source being?

A developer on Facebook.

But please allow him some privacy.

rolleyes:

My sentiments exactly.... Saunders its sounding more like you are

Edited to add: Also, after a google and Facebook search(where you can search posts by everyone) I can not find that quote anywhere....just sayin'

Somebody says his page is down, and maybe I just have it on a cache... really not stirring.
I became a FB friend of a developer in good faith some time back, saw that message today, and thought it might help readers here understand a bit what is happening.
Please assume good faith here.

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

Well, I think that depends on your definition of "Maintenance Mode". From what I've seen when other titles have gone into "MM", UO doesn't come close to that description. The lack of "New" UO boxes on the shelves, despite the arguable need for boxes on the shelf, isn't an indication of "Maintenance" status.

-GO

I'm not so sure I'd use the term maintenance mode....I think it's more of an "immediate profit" mode. New expansions are released to draw back players and make some temporary monetary boosts....but the long term maintenance for Ultima Online is simply not there. Look at the faction system and the AoS releases...both are beautiful when considered by themselves...but AoS took years for the game to recover from (speaking from a PvP perspective...I"m sure we all remember Hanse...) and the faction system went from being broke to worse. Let's not forget issues like the 7AE items on Siege...how long did it take for that to get fixed?

I would gladly continue to pay for several accounts if the game were properly maintained. It's just not.

Though the artists are brilliant .

 

[Gheed]

But there's worlds of difference between 'profitable', what we see as 'profitable', and what a corporate regards as 'profitable enough'.

It has been profitable enough to merit attempting two next gen remakes (UO2 and Oddyssey) and they are on their third attempt at some sort of enhanced client.

 

[Storm]

I will miss chrissay she was a great help!

 

[Theo_GL]

It has been profitable enough to merit attempting two next gen remakes (UO2 and Oddyssey) and they are on their third attempt at some sort of enhanced client.

That does not guarantee profit.

It may have been a case of a game LOSING money and them deciding to make an 'investment' to try to turn it into something that could compete with WoW.

Two choices:

1 - Shut game down
2 - Invest in game to grow revenues to profitability

Once it was clear these investments were not going to pay off- they were cancelled.

The most interesting part of all of these numbers in this thread is that people are all giddy over UO maybe making $12m/year in subscriptions. That is a complete drop in the bucket to EA's $4+billion yearly revenue number. A rounding error to any accountant.

WoW reports 11.5million subscribers at $15/month. That is $172million a month or over $2billion yearly. Now that is some cash.

WoW is around half of Activisions revenue of $4.2billion per year. Now that is a significant game (they report it as 42% of revenue).

Uo on the other hand is likely less than .3% of EA's revenue.

People keep acting like there is no way EA could do without UO. I am sure most conversations on EA's future do not even discuss it.

 

[olduofan]

@JoshDrescher glad you survived. I'm the lone man left from my entire team. Lost a LOT of friends elsewhere today.

 

[hungry4knowhow]

@JoshDrescher glad you survived. I'm the lone man left from my entire team. Lost a LOT of friends elsewhere today.

Entire team for what?

 

[Elric_Soban]

Layoffs at EA?

uh oh. hopefully this doesn't affect their awesome customer service for UO.

 

[lucitus]

I will miss chrissay she was a great help!

Is Chrissay out? Hmm and who is now doing her work? Damm ****! Hope you will find a job asap.

 

[Taylor]

News of layoffs reaches investors:

 

[Gheed]

That does not guarantee profit.

It may have been a case of a game LOSING money and them deciding to make an 'investment' to try to turn it into something that could compete with WoW.

Except UO2 was announced in 97 and canceled on 01. Oddyssey was canned in 04. The same year (04) WoW was released q4. So it really doesn't make sense to make an investment that would compete WoW..if it didn't exist.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. And WoW has been very flattered by all the look alikes to come and go. But that (copy cat) mentality confuses me. If you want to play a game that looks like WoW... a game that has a UI like WoW... then why not just play WoW? In this case imitation is deadly for any other MMO and for the most part nothing more than free advertising for the reigning industry giant.

Sure everyone wants a piece of the WoW pie. Who wouldn't? UO offers an ancient client, but the game play is bar none. It is that attention to detail and quality in the original release that has kept this game alive and well through the years. Big sandbox and lots of toys in it.

Think about that.

WoW has been out for five years, what company would continue to sink resources into a game that loses money for five years? At best this should be a zombie game by now if that were the case. Yet content grows. Expansions still come out.

 

[Aurelius]

Is Chrissay out? Hmm and who is now doing her work?

We may find out by observing who from EA posts (hopefully fairly soon) to tell us what's going on....

Assuming UO still lives, based on past experience I'd expect a WAR or DAOC community rep to get told 'you now cover UO as well'.

 

[MalagAste]

I look at things like this... If UO were canceled tomorrow... what would I do?

I can bet you one thing... I won't be playing WoW..... EVER. I suppose I'll be saving about 120 bucks a month... or more as I sincerely doubt I'll be playing any other online game... I can't see anyone coming out with anything I would consider an "acceptable" alternative to UO.

I may try a free shard again... though it's doubtful... Will I invest in anything EA ever again??? Probably not unless they by chance came out with a TRUE 3d UO... but that's not likely.

For the the complaining I do on the boards about UO it's not because I hate the game... It's because I really LOVE the game... and I want it to be so much more than it is. I get irritated when I think things are "messed up" or going in the wrong direction. I get angry when I feel people are "ruining" the game by cheating, hacking and the like... and I get even more angry when I feel that folk are doing things that wind up driving away more of the already thin player base.

So am I pleased with this news.... NO I am not... Am I concerned... You bet I am!... What will I do about it? Perhaps I'll take the time to tell EA exactly how I feel about UO... and what it means to me the loyal customer who's pumped quite a bit into EA's pocket... from playing Sims to UO... (I no longer play the Sims and haven't since the beta of Sim's Online stunk so bad it left a nasty taste in my mouth)... but I still play UO... and I do it with 8 accounts that I pay for EACH and EVERY Month... not pay for one account and then turn the others on only once every 3 months... NO I pay every month... for each of my 8 accounts.

So whatever happens... I'll be keeping my eyes open for something else... though I'm thinking I'll find nothing at all... I suppose if UO shut down I might actually finally get done playing Balders Gate..... maybe.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Is Chrissay out? Hmm and who is now doing her work? Damm ****! Hope you will find a job asap.

I don't think there have been any truly confirmed dismissals from UO. Chrissay's FB page has someone wishing her well or some such thing, which has been turned into "Chrissay no longer has a job."

Until someone actually says that X, Y, or Z has been let go, and it's in a public place, presume that it's all just Rumora Online.

 

[lucitus]

We may find out by observing who from EA posts (hopefully fairly soon) to tell us what's going on....

Assuming UO still lives, based on past experience I'd expect a WAR or DAOC community rep to get told 'you now cover UO as well'.

You know if any of the Devs are laided off? Hope not the team was not soo big i would say...

 

[It Lives]

*angry* hrrrm... could have waited till 01/05/10 and people wonder why others go "postal".

The ethics of these large company's make me sick.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Rumours abound but facts are severely missing.
I am waiting for the facts and ignoring the rumours.

I have a strong aversion to rumours, they so often prove to be unfounded, exaggerated or just plain wrong.

 

[DaveSP!]

I dunno what you people are worrying about - UO died years ago, it cant do it again

 

[DHMagicMan_1]

*angry* hrrrm... could have waited till 01/05/10 and people wonder why others go "postal".

The ethics of these large company's make me sick.

What's special about 1/5/10? Other than they'd have paid 2500 people another two months pay...

 

[It Lives]

Its just a Date after the holidays...

Don't know about you but getting canned right before the holidays would suck major.

 

[Aurelius]

Until someone actually says that X, Y, or Z has been let go, and it's in a public place, presume that it's all just Rumora Online.

Well, 'someone' has, in another well-known forum, and not been corrected... but that's not the sort of source you're after, I suspect.

I may be wrong, but circumstantially I suspect it's correct she has gone - that 'other' forum post, her Facebook being changed to 'friends only', and her linkedin profile all make me suspect it's true.

(Other EA/Mythic folks have a current job listed in the first section, and later in their page their entries for what they do list being with EA, for example :
January 2008 — Present (1 year 11 months) or June 2009 — Present (6 months). Chrissay's? January 2008 — November 2009 (1 year 11 months) )

Plus, of course, this is exactly the sort of thread a Community Manager would be all over, killing rumours and addressing player concerns - and in the past, even with small cutbacks, 'community reps' were first casualties when EA looked for headcount trimming..... but, as I say, I may be wrong.

 

[Zephenia]

Well at least UO is still around... JUST posted on www.uoherald.com

http://www.uoherald.com/news/index.php rolleyes:

Now to wait and see who is still on the 'team'.
Keep your chins up folks.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

*angry* hrrrm... could have waited till 01/05/10 and people wonder why others go "postal".

The ethics of these large company's make me sick.

I'm not certain how losing one's job immediately after the holidays is somehow preferable to losing them just before the holidays.

Losing one's job is never fun. Companies, whether right or wrong, do what they believe is necessary to maintain the bottom line. The bigger the company, the less in-touch with the effects on employees they are. But don't think small companies don't make just as sucky decisions.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

I may be wrong, but circumstantially I suspect it's correct she has gone - that 'other' forum post, her Facebook being changed to 'friends only', and her linkedin profile all make me suspect it's true... but, as I say, I may be wrong.

No, to be honest, I suspect you're correct as well. It's just that I think that the rumor-mongering is less than productive for the situation at hand. It'd be better to wait for official news of who is or is not with Mythic any longer.

I mean, really, it's sort of a personal thing, and if she has chosen not to share it publicly, that's fine... but I mean, we could be guessing Draconi, Phoenix, Sakkarah, or any number of people who haven't commented are also gone, and it just won't do us any good until we know for certain to have any idea what's going on.

If Chrissay has been let go, she certainly has my condolences.

 

[Salya Sin]

THis was just posted from Mythic... I think we're fine.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=167218

And I don't think Chrissay was laid off... I think she's hiding from the masses. I can't blame her...

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Oh let me reiterate.

UO is fine.
Sadly people lost there jobs. They arent fine.


When jobs are cut, new people get hired as needed at a lower cost. It sucks. Ive been there.

 

[olduofan]

Until someone actually says that X, Y, or Z has been let go, and it's in a public place, presume that it's all just Rumora Online.

Well, 'someone' has, in another well-known forum, and not been corrected... but that's not the sort of source you're after, I suspect.

I may be wrong, but circumstantially I suspect it's correct she has gone - that 'other' forum post, her Facebook being changed to 'friends only', and her linkedin profile all make me suspect it's true.

(Other EA/Mythic folks have a current job listed in the first section, and later in their page their entries for what they do list being with EA, for example :
January 2008 — Present (1 year 11 months) or June 2009 — Present (6 months). Chrissay's? January 2008 — November 2009 (1 year 11 months) )

Plus, of course, this is exactly the sort of thread a Community Manager would be all over, killing rumours and addressing player concerns - and in the past, even with small cutbacks, 'community reps' were first casualties when EA looked for headcount trimming..... but, as I say, I may be wrong.

from what i have been told she is no longer with us I WISH HER WELL