Key NCsoft West people head for the door

[Bzalthek]

Shaka, when the walls fell.

[raydeen]

Temba, his arms wide!

[taolurker]

Reid and Strain on the ocean?

[ynot]

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.

"Korea-based MMO developer NCsoft has appointed their chief financial officer, Jaeho Lee, as the new CEO of NC West, the company’s recently formed European and North American subsidiary. NC West was formed last September, unifying NC Interactive, NC Europe, NC Austin and ArenaNet under one group based in Seattle. Lee is replacing Chris Chung, who began his tenure with NCsoft at ArenaNet and went on to become the CEO of NC Interactive.
Reached for comment earlier this week, NCSoft’s corporate PR director Jae Sung Lee, told Kotaku that the move helps solidify the communication between the two groups.
“As part of the corporation’s global strategy, global management grows increasingly important, and the need to work together across business units becomes paramount to our success,” he said. ” This personnel change increases our ability in each market to remain competitive.”

Reached for comment, however, NCsoft tells Gamasutra that widespread media reports suggesting Lee's move implies either remote leadership or a shift in control of the Western division to Korea are misleading

ORLY ?

[amiable]

Reached for comment, however, NCsoft tells Gamasutra that widespread media reports suggesting Lee's move implies either remote leadership or a shift in control of the Western division to Korea are misleading

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?

[schild]

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.

[Bzalthek]

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.

[UnSub]

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.)

[DLRiley]

Sounds about right. 

[schild]

NCsoft West only brings in about 11% of NCsoft's overall revenue. NCsoft Korea brings in something like 80%.

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.

[Hindenburg]

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

[01101010]

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

[tmp]

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

That AV is oddly fitting for this train of thought.