SOE Layoffs Announced

UPDATE: For those looking for more information about the SOE layoffs, John Smedley has posted a great deal on his Reddit account. He speaks a great deal about PlanetSide 2:

Some specific comments.

1. Is this layoff going to impact PS2? - no. we have a large team still working on it. Yes some people have been let go from the team. They did terrific work and it's just simply a cost cutting issue.

2. Is Planetside 2 doing well - yes. These cuts were SOE wide. They were neccessary to get our costs in line with our revenues. Simple as that.

3. Was anyone fired because we have Player Studio know and we don't need them? - Absolutely not. this is silly.

There are many people with theories on why stuff like this happens. I can tell you this very simply - we make the best games we can and as a company I can say with a straight face that we do our absolute best to minimize the times when we need to do layoffs like this. They absolutely suck. However we do our absolute best to get people placed with good companies and we absolutely hire people back.

I don't much like the boilerplate statements companies make these days, ours included.. so I wanted to come on here and let you know we stand by PS2 and our other games and despite some people no longer being at the team we are working hard on the optimizations and the other features we have promised. We are making good progress and we intend to have a full status update next week

Smed

Sony Online Entertainment's Linda Brasse has announced via her Twitter account that layoffs have happened at the game developer and publisher. The exact number and which studios are affected is not clear. We will keep you posted on this developing story.

From the DC Universe Online forum:

Today we announced a reduction in our workforce at SOE. As a company, our goal is to focus on our core expertise of MMO games and as part of these efforts, we had to make the difficult decision to eliminate positions to help reduce costs, streamline our employee base and strategically align resources towards our current portfolio of games and upcoming slate of MMOs, including EverQuest Next Landmark and EverQuest Next. We deeply value our employees and are grateful for all they’ve contributed to our company and games. They will be missed by colleagues and friends, and we wish them well in the future. Out of respect for our employees, we request that you do not discuss personnel matters on our forums.

Thank you for your understanding.