Two interesting pieces of news have arrived over night. In the first, the EverQuest Next Reddit has been updated with a full list of SOE/Daybreak employees affected by yesterday's firings. Eric Smith, Jeff Butler and Steve Danuser join Dave Georgeson from the EQ franchise team as those now seeking employment.
The list goes on to show other employees from other IPs as well:
Everquest Franchise
- David "Smokejumper" Georgeson, Franchise lead
- Eric "Felgon" Smith, Landmark/EQNext producer
- Jeffrey Butler (skip to 27:20, in chat), EQN/Landmark creative director
- Steve "Moorgard" Danuser, EQNext lead content/story designer
- Mark Storer, EQNext programmer
- Aaron "Gnobrin" Bisnett, EQ2 artist
- Akil "Lyndro" Hooper, EQ2 Designer
- Racheal "Afista" McKenny, EQ2 community manager
- "Endymion", EQ2 developer
Planetside 2
- David Carey, producer
- Katherine Anderson, build master
- Xander Clauss, level designer
- Kevin Moyer, designer/vehicle balance
- Taylor Dowell, database/marketplace
- Sarah Vu, QA
- Ryan Owens (confirmed via reddit PM), QA
H1Z1
- Noah Watkins, UI artist
- Kelduum Revaan, technical designer
DC Universe Online
- Ellen Andersen, producer
General Staff
- Linda "Brasse" Carlson, Director of community relations
- Tiffany "Amnerys" Spence, community manager
- Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske, community manager
- Kyle Manchester, community manager
MMORPG.com user ice-vortex also dug up a letter written by now-former PlanetSide 2 producer Dave Carey where he asks the community for calm during this transition and further explains that the new management company, Columbus Nova, has done the right thing with the firings to give the current franchises a new direction and a chance to survive.
Columbus Nova deserves no hate in all this. They are more like white knights than negative forces here. SOE needed a shake up/new direction, and CN provided that. They have done nothing but been gracious in their new ownership, and they went out of their way to make sure that Devs and support teams that got laid off were taken care of. Right now things seem shitty, and of course for the folks that were let go, today was rough, but CN and DB were both very open about the need for restructuring. This wasn't a surprise to folks in the company.
Back to the subject - if you guys feel angry or betrayed, it would be misdirected to place that at the feet of the new company. They didn't bring in new staff to replace us, or say we did a shitty job and treat us poorly - they looked at the bottom line and the numbers just didn't line up. The new layout lines up now, and the goal is that DB can be successful and move on from this and eventually expand again. Saying "I'm cancelling my sub" or "I'm never buying another thing in PS2" isn't the right tactic, as much as the former Devs appreciate the intent of your support. If you want to make a positive impact, then keep doing what you're doing - if you like the game, play it. Give feedback. Get your friends to play. Buy what you want to, and what you feel gives you value. If you aren't happy, tell DB through the means you do now, social media and /bug reports. The game will grow or shrink depending on how you guys act, which is how it should be. If you make a statement on principal for the dearly departed devs, you will be hurting the remaining staff who have worked just as hard to make you guys a game you like to play. They may not be all names you know, but trust me, they put their blood, sweat, and tears into this.
You can discuss Carey's letter and read the full post in this MMORPG.com forum thread.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
