f13.net

Jeff Strain (ArenaNet co-founder, current President of Product Development) and David Reid (President of Publishing) have both left NCsoft West at the same time. For "unrelated reasons".  (http://www.massively.com/2009/08/11/breaking-arenanet-co-founder-leaves-ncsoft/#comments)

I'm not going to call DOOOOM on this, but for both to leave a month before Aion launches makes me wonder if NCsoft West is going to get hit with much less autonomy from NCsoft Korea. 

God, you have to love Massively. They always bring the comedy.


Yea, that could get worse. Totally.

No not my Arena-Net.  :ye_gods:

Jeff Strain: "What is this grindy piece of shit doing in north america?"
NCsoft: "It going to make us millions!"
Jeff Strain: :facepalm:, "Fuck you alright."
NCsoft: "But Strain the money hats!"
Jeff Strain: " I said fuck you."

Suspect more realistically he had as much to say concerning his leave as Richard Garriott did when it came to his.

How dare you take away sinij's bread and butter, Unsub!

Jeff Strain is to  :drill: to leave because he was about to get fired anyway. Unlike like Richard, Jeff had a got tier game under his belt with the last 4 years.

I shall retitle it "NCsoft circling the drain" or "The Total Death of ArenaNet" forthwith.

Strain leaving 3-4 years into GW2 production, a year or so before planned release, means something's going on. There's a story there.

Reid, who gives a shit?

 :why_so_serious: In other news, Mythic has stated there will be a big news release by the end of the week! :why_so_serious:

I hope this doesn't mean something is messed up with GW2.  :sad:

Sense. You still make none.

I think it's some weird dialect of Engrish. Or Drunken Stupor.

Jeff had the balls to leave because he was about to get fired anyway. Unlike Garriott, Jeff had produced a decent game in the last 4 years.

How do you know this? Explain.

It's a curse.

i know a little voodoo...maybe it will help.

Why was Strain going to get fired?  And what's he up to now?  Is he (or was he up to this point) still a part of Arena Net?  Did he leave with GW2 still in good hands?

Why was Strain going to get fired? No reason I can think of. Nothing he was involved in was a flop and the reason he was offered the job in the first place was because his last game gave NCsoft West plenty of money hats, that they of course quickly waisted on Richard's pet project...

What's he up to now? No one knows.

Is he(or up to this point) still apart of Arena Net? Apparently he he was involved up until Guild wars 2.

Did he leave with GW2 still in hands? The other cofounder Mike O'Brian is still on the helm. Though Jeff was the guy who prevented Guild Wars 1 from becoming WoW meets diablo...We don't know if Guild Wars 2 will still be made from Jeff's school of game design. I part of me thinks that by now it is apart of the ArenaNet dev culture, but another part of me considers what I understand what will be in GW2 and what isn't and is dreading GW2 beta.

Well, in their financial report for end of 2008 NCSoft wasn't able (or willing) to provide any kind of launch schedule for GW2, for either 2010 or 2011. Don't know if there's a connection here, but maybe their recent experiences are shaping their outlook.

Paging Hindenburg!

My take on the 'translate DLRiley' game is that he's saying that Strain *wouldn't* quit just because they were going to fire him, he'd make them actually do it. Because he's  :drill:. And thus he left of his own volition and wasn't going to be fired. Or something.

I've no idea why Jeff Strain would ever get fired, since GW made a lot of money for NC, which wasted it on Tabula Rasa. I also haven't the foggiest about his current projects, or if he's still involved with ArenaNet. All I know is that he took part in the making of GW2.

I'm afraid that, since Jeff was the one that prevented O'Brian from making GW nothing more than a combination of WoW and Diablo, that's exactly what we might get when GW2 finally arrives. Since I've some degree of knowledge about ArenaNet's dev culture, I'm confident that they'll improve upon some of GW1's qualities, but I'm also well aware that that same culture will be responsible for an atrocious beta.
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I think. He's getting worse.

 :headscratch:

Did you just put his post through Translation Party?

Because if so, lol.

Thanks Triforcer.

Translation Party, or the guy who comes up with WAR servers:

Ecuador Volcano Fist
Implicit Ownership of Wrecks

This is a useful turn of phrase.

Your correct.
Also correct.

4 words = 1 grammar mistake?

For christ sake, go back to school, and possibly figure out the Preview button.

Now, what makes you say that?

And GW2 was on my radar, too. :( Maybe it turns out alright.

I don't know. He's crazy. Ask him.

I pictured a frog riding up on a motorcycle coming to help you and everyone cheering.

Amateurs.

darmok and jalad at tanagra

Shaka, when the walls fell.

Temba, his arms wide!

Reid and Strain on the ocean?

Jeff was probably lead to believe that he will be leading NC West with his team (all top executive from NC West were former A.net) .
But 8 months into the Job (15 may 2009)  NC parachuted there chief financial officer as new NC West CEO ... and the Chief financial officer 's way of making  great successful game success might not have fit Jeff's idea.




ORLY ?

I'm kind of curious as to whether this is Aion-related...  Even on the fan boards (such as Aionsource) you have a pretty surprising number of folk complaining bitterly about the grindy elements of this game.  I imagine that the US developers felt that this was going to be problematic in the NA release (especially considering that they are the developers of a very successful title (GW) that deliberately eschewed most of the grind elements of traditional MMORPG's).  Perhaps they didn't want to spend the development resources to offer a version of the game more amicable to the NA/European markets?

When reached for comment, every company in the history of companies will say what needs to be said to placate stockholders. Honestly, it's not even worth asking. You're better of getting confirmation from the dude's friends if you're going to try and be the least bit investigative. Otherwise, don't even write the story.

Probably the only time you want to ask a company a question is when you already have a verifiable answer and it contradicts the expected response from said company.

My thoughts are that NCsoft West needs a hit, but Aion is a two-edged sword. It might restore some revenue to the division, but it is not from a game designed by NCsoft West and it says to NCsoft Korea that they are probably better off spending less money to transpose one of their titles than more money trying to create a new MMO in the west.

NCsoft Korea wants GW2 out ASAP because that was its biggest success story out of the western titles (with CoH/V as #2 and Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa being locked in the Vault Of Things We Don't Talk About). GW was a huge revenue driver but the delay in getting out new GW boxes / GW2 sees NCsoft Korea wary that they could be looking at another potential financial problem.

On top of this, NCsoft West only brings in about 11% of NCsoft's overall revenue. NCsoft Korea brings in something like 80%. So NCsoft Korea has all the power in this particular relationship and, given recent history, has no issues in stomping down NCsoft West costs. Hence the recent departure of NCsoft West high-level management and this replacement.

All in all, I don't think NCsoft HQ has much faith in NCsoft West's ability to deliver so they are taking steps to control costs. (It's also a reason why I think CoH/V's announced expansion probably only has a 50/50 chance of getting on the shelf.)

Sounds about right. 

This is only because Korea sees NCsoft as national fucking heroes, not because they're magically a great company.

Arena.net is too good for NC, it's actually pretty depressing they're still part of it. BREAK AWAY AND FLY FREE, ARENA, BREAK AWAY AND FLY FREE.

They should be bought by Microsoft. That'd be crazy awesome.

:ye_gods:

That AV is oddly fitting for this train of thought.