The Secret World Forum » General Discussion » 20% of funcom staff to be fired or put on forced leave. TSW delayed

http://www.funcom.com/wsp/funcom/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&func_id=1365&table=CONTENT

unfortunate to here .... hopefully they dont go under before the game launches.

Err what free to play game?

and the fun continues.

The TSW delay news are kinda funny, as they have not even given us a hint on possible release date, however the 20% forcework reduction is harsh.

Makes sense in ligth of the opening of the studio in Canada, FC is reducing operational costs and Montreal is way cheaper than Oslo for that.  Aside from the leaves and delays i wonder what are the longer term plans they have, obviously the move of opening shop in Montreal was a preparation for this, but then what?

They still had almost 40million in cash reserves past quarter and a positive cash flow, so this is a more long term measure (i think).

They had a similar situation after AO's launch, but they directly and immediately stopped working on the MMO they were starting to produce, back then, and weren't opening ofices out of Norway.

Should have revamped and re-released AO or AO2, instead of the crap they have been putting out.  FC is a good company, they just need to fucking focus.  Also shoulda had a V8

Originally posted by apocalance

and the fun continues.

Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.

Originally posted by neoterrar

Err what free to play game?

Yeah, what free to play game? Anyone knows?

I suppose one of the 2 browser based games they staerted working on, according to one or two of their financial reports for the past quarters.

After reading the press release and several articles it sounds more like FC is merely relocating a big part of their Oslo crew to Montreal (which is cheaper overall and that offer several incentives, including a 30%+ return of the salaries to companies locating there) as they offered a relocation package to the staff their are letting go of putting on mandatory leave (no word on to how many of them, tho) and are hiring in Montreal.

  Sucks to the ones that don't get the relocation offer, can't accept it or really dn't feel like moving to another continent to keep their jobs, harsh business decision, but Oslo is way too expensive, as is Oslo workforce.

 20% FC staff is around 60 people, most of those should be TSW crew (Ragnar hinted that Montreal will have a big focus on TSW development), TSW had 100 people crew... months to relocate/rehire/properly return to full production.  Sucks for TSW, but it's a great move for a company.  They are having a positive cash flow, and had near to 40 million dollars in cash reserves, a lower operational cost  will increase profit even if they don't increase revenues at all, and even if their revenues are reduced, to a point.

  Good thing Montreal is attracting good quality professionals, if they were relocating to some cheap 3rd world country to save money...

Originally posted by alakram

Originally posted by apocalance

and the fun continues.

 

Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.

I'm often on the side of compassion but this company is so inept I honestly sympathize with the guy who said the fun continues basically saying I don't know what the heck is going to happen with the people getting fired but equally they don't know the products they code so it makes me no difference programming can't be a hard industry to get into so you won't see me shedding tears for any FC staff but I will certainly hope they don't get back into the mmo industry.

And FC being a good company is certainly a point that can be argued they have yet to put out a single stable working game if that makes then good what does a company have to do to be considered bad?

If you find it fun that people get laid off.. well.. Something is truly wrong with you.

The F2P MMO (afaik) is aimed a Norwegian kids 8-14.  

hope they sell the rights

This seems to happen to every really innovative, hard working game company that manages to make one big mistake.

Originally posted by Aercus

If you find it fun that people get laid off.. well.. Something is truly wrong with you.

The F2P MMO (afaik) is aimed a Norwegian kids 8-14.  

If you were part of Funcom last July, you had to know this day was coming.   You cannot have as big of a disaster as AOC and not expect a lot of people to lose their jobs.   yes, i feel sorry for people losing their jobs, but they had at least a year warning that this might happen.

Originally posted by Alandora

Originally posted by Aercus

If you find it fun that people get laid off.. well.. Something is truly wrong with you.

The F2P MMO (afaik) is aimed a Norwegian kids 8-14.  

 

If you were part of Funcom last July, you had to know this day was coming.   You cannot have as big of a disaster as AOC and not expect a lot of people to lose their jobs.   yes, i feel sorry for people losing their jobs, but they had at least a year warning that this might happen.

It has nothing to do with AoC. They're moving the studio.

As a believer in a free market...while it is not good that someone loses a job...if you make crap you should not expect to have jobs.

Originally posted by Tisiphone

This seems to happen to every really innovative, hard working game company that manages to make one big mistake over and over again.

fixed your post for you.  cant forget about that wonderful ao launch.  or shadowlands lol

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Originally posted by alakram

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Originally posted by apocalance

and the fun continues.

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Fun in people losing their jobs?. No its not fun. No matter how much you hate funcom, people getting fired is not fun, its real life mate, not a game.

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You read into my post more than you should have. I really don't have any concerns about the people that have lost their positions because I don't know that they have or haven't made plans for such a potential loss. I was however, simply playing on the name of the company and the distress of the news. It's a bit sarcastic and not directed to anyone losing their job.

I figured the irony wouldn't be this obscure. Oh well.

Hmm, it figures.

I was pretty excited about this game.

Hopefully Funcom gets things straightened out and can get this game published....soon.

Hi all

Ragnar  Tornquist (developer) recently put a post up on his website dealing with this. they have basically put something called dreamfall on hold, while FC is still continuing to develop its major product, at this time those are AoC:RotGS and TSW. So hopefully this means that the game will be still progressing nicely.

Ragnar's site is http://ragnartornquist.com/

I ALMOST feel bad, that when funcom banned me from the aoc forums for complaining about the multitude of missing promised features, I actually said...."when you guys start losing your jobs over there, im gonna giggle like a schoolgirl"

almost

./giggle