Massive layoffs at SOE?

[Velorath]

Posted this in the Agency thread, but it's looking like it may need its own thread:

In an odd rumor, apparently George Broussard of all people has been posting on twitter that SOE has massive layoffs planned for today including the closing of the Seattle studio making the Agency, and possibly the Denver studio.

Word that Sony Online Entertainment Seattle is having layoffs and that studio closure is possible.

To be more clear, the layoffs may be SOE wide and not just limited to Seattle. So, Austin, San Diego, etc...

SOE Seattle and other studios (Denver is rumored) will be closed tomorrow. Good luck to all impacted.

Also, from a poster over in the GAF thread:

SOE Seattle, SOE Denver (TCG studio), and SOE Tucson (PoxNora studio) closed.

Half of SOE Austin (DCUO, SWG) laid off.

Large number of SOE San Diego laid off.

Total of 1/3rd of the company.

[tmp]

Well, it's April 1st tomorrow so the timing would be rather... precious.

[Merusk]

April 1 is also the beginning of another fiscal quarter, (and new year for some companies) so the timing would be rather appropriate, really.

I wonder if it has anything to do with a reorg of Sony in general.  I deleted the e-mail but got a notice a few weeks back my PS3 Live ToS was changing company acronyms.

[Velorath]

The closings would be happening today I think (the twitter post was made on the 30th). The Agency has obviously had some development issues. The Denver studio apparently just makes a bunch of online Trading Card games. Not really a shock to see that shut down.  Really the only thing about this that is surprising to menus that SOE has that many studios in the first place.

[Samprimary]

I get the sense that this was a long time coming for SOE.

[01101010]

So much for a Planetside announcement. 

[Stormwaltz]

From Kotaku (yeah, yeah...)

Sony’s MMO Makers Close Three Studios, Lay Off One-Third of Workforce

Owen Good — Sony's MMO Makers Close Three Studios, Lay Off One-Third of WorkforceSony Online Entertainment, makers of D.C. Universe Online and Free Realms, closed three studios and will lay off nearly a third of its workforce, Kotaku has learned.

Word began spreading when George Broussard, best known as the co-creator of Duke Nukem Forever, tweeted earlier this evening that SOE was seeing layoffs and "studio closure is possible." Kotaku has confirmed through a source familiar with the matter that the closures affect SOE's studios in Seattle, Tucson, Ariz. and Denver. Half of the workforce at SOE offices in Austin, Texas were pink slipped along with a sizeable portion of San Diego. In sum, it accounts for nearly one-third of SOE's manpower before today.

Kotaku has reached out to Sony Online Entertainment for official comment. Any statement will be updated here.

http://kotaku.com/#!5787461/sonys-mmo-makers-close-three-studios-lay-off-one+third-of-workforce

[Mrbloodworth]

Normal spring cleaning?

[Shatter]

Ok so what did they have up and coming game wise?  Agency...Planetside 2....

[Sir T]

Did they have anything to do with Duke Nukem Forever?

[Ingmar]

PC Gamer claims to have contacted SOE directly (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/31/soe-closes-three-studios-lays-off-205-employees-cancels-the-agency-live-games-unaffected/)

- The Agency canceled
- The employees at the 3 closed studios that weren't let go are off to San Diego to work on Planetside and some EQ thing
- Supposedly live games unaffected

[Velorath]

Gamasutra has an article up now with more details.

DC Universe Online house Sony Online Entertainment confirmed to Gamasutra that it is closing its Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios, cutting 205 jobs and cancelling the long-awaited The Agency.

An emailed statement added, "As part of this restructuring, SOE is discontinuing production of The Agency so it can focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties, while also maintaining its current portfolio of online games."

"All possible steps are being taken to ensure team members affected by the transition are treated with appropriate concern," the company added.

SOE said the decision will have "no impact" on games currently operating. Development efforts that were taking place at the Denver and Tucson studios will be transferred to the company's San Diego headquarters.

The company said the streamlining will help SOE service its 20 million players it has hosted over the past year.

Originally revealed in 2007 and under development at SOE Seattle, The Agency was an ambitious PC and PlayStation 3 MMO that put players in the role of spies. Rumors of development challenges had emerged during the course of the game's production that brought into question whether the game would see the light of day.

SOE's Tuscon studio had developed a Facebook spin-off of the game with The Agency: Covert Ops. SOE Denver created trading card games including Free Realms Trading Card Game and Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures: Card Commander.

[koro]

Well of course the closures won't affect existing products. It's not like everything except DCUO, EQ, EQ2, and Free Realms are running under more than a skeleton crew. I wouldn't be shocked to see DCUO go into maintenance mode before too long.

[Soln]

1/3 their workforce?  Has that been verified?

that's not tweaking, that's the start of SOE retrenching

[Ratman_tf]

I tired paying my bills with Appropriate Concern once. Turned out they just wanted money. 

I hope the people let go hit the ground running.

[Modern Angel]

Honestly, is anyone surprised at any of this other than it took THIS LONG for it to happen? I like EQ2 a lot but realistically what are they selling anymore that people are buying? DCUO did alright but I can't imagine people stuck around after the bugs vomited everywhere. They billed Free Realms as the Great Hope when it came out only to completely change it around. I know precisely Zero people who ever even glanced at that F2P Star Wars game.

Shit, I'm surprised that Sony's taken this long, given that they're big fish who probably have a somewhat low tolerance for shit performance, much less shit performance ever since WoW hit.

[Velorath]

Like I said, my surprise is mostly that they had that many studios to close down.  Sucks for the 200+ people losing their jobs, but it is slightly amusing to go back and read the first page of the Agency thread where Schild proclaims it to be the future of MMO's.

[HaemishM]

Mass layoffs and cancellation? Yeah, I'd say that's actually a pretty accurate future for MMOG's. 

[Lantyssa]

That sucks since the Agency was at least trying something different.

Free Realms they've let stagnate and they missed a huge opportunity with Clone Wars.  This doesn't really surprise me given their best properties are now years old.

[Ghambit]

Does anyone think that the state of the Japanese economy has anything to do with this?
Also, isnt it a GOOD thing they're gonna concentrate on Planetside2?

[Lantyssa]

No, I don't think it has anything to do with the Japanese economy.  I think it has a lot to do with SOE has put out little more than shit for years.  When it gets something promising it bungles it, and it backs losing horses.  DC Universe has more to do with their current state than the economy of Japan.

Presumably they would already be investing in Planetside 2 with the resources it needs.  Adding anyone else would give marginal returns.  Maybe they feel there is more to be gained than just letting some people go or keeping them working on failed projects, but if it makes that big a difference then why weren't they supporting it at those levels to begin with?

But GOOD?  No.  I'd like to see a diverse set of games released.  Now we've got in the works another fantasy game and a sequel to a game they never properly supported, and then went the wrong direction in payment model on.  I have little faith in them learning.  Doom and Gloom and whatnot.

[UnSub]

Rumour was that DCUO was pushed out the door because SOE desperately needed money flowing back into the studio and a hit.

I wonder how tenable Smedley's position is (or if he's even still there). He's made a lot of public statements about titles that have missed the mark entirely while leading SOE down an increasingly worsening business path.

[Tale]

I wonder how tenable Smedley's position is (or if he's even still there). He's made a lot of public statements about titles that have missed the mark entirely while leading SOE down an increasingly worsening business path.

My thoughts exactly. He's overdue.

[Amaron]

I wonder how tenable Smedley's position is (or if he's even still there). He's made a lot of public statements about titles that have missed the mark entirely while leading SOE down an increasingly worsening business path.

Well people like Smedley don't get fired.   They get let go with multimillion dollar bonuses .

[Ratman_tf]

But GOOD?  No.  I'd like to see a diverse set of games released.  Now we've got in the works another fantasy game and a sequel to a game they never properly supported, and then went the wrong direction in payment model on.  I have little faith in them learning.  Doom and Gloom and whatnot.

Yawp. I'm hoping to get a good 6-12 months out of PSNext, and that's being optimistic. I can see it going a lot worse.

[Kageru]

It would be amazing to know just how much money the agency sucked up. It's been in development for so long that killing it is probably a merciful act.

Other than that SOE has been a spent force for quite a while. The idea they had 600 developers and so few titles making decent money makes it impressive they held on this long.

[Margalis]

It's been obvious for years that The Agency was never going to come out.

SOE's E3 booth for the past couple years has been a disaster, filled with extremely outdated looking games that garnered no interest from anybody. They need a serious rethink of their overall strategy.

[Modern Angel]

So what's on their slate? EQ3, though I haven't heard ANYTHING since that initial blurb, and Planetside 2 and...?

[Hawkbit]

I still look forward to the possibility of EQ3, though they will have to radically change how the series plays for it to be successful. 

[5150]

I know precisely Zero people who ever even glanced at that F2P Star Wars game.

My 5 year old plays it every once in a while - he has a predictably short attention span so when I do let him play on the PC he bounces between Minecraft, Just Cause 2 (just wants to drive stuff off cliffs) & Clone Wars Adventures.

Unfortunately without subbing you end up owning everything you can buy very quickly but the shiney is really the only thing you get when you sub (and they just keep adding more shiney to keep you grinding) gameplay wise you dont get significantly more content than F2P

[Shatter]

If they want some credibility back(and I use that term loosely) they need to make 1 decent MMO rather then focusing on multiple that all turn out to be mediocre at best.  Do I think that will happen...no...not with whats his name in charge.

[Maledict]

I didn't even realise their F2P game had been released. Fantastic marketing there...

[Lantyssa]

It's targeted at kids who watch Clone Wars.  Really young kids who can handle mini-games for a little while before they get bored of it.  There's no obvious long-term plan for it.

[UnSub]

Free Realms launched on the PS3 this week, apparently. SOE's marketing is absolutely awful.

[UnSub]

Not sure if hotlinking from Wordpress works, but anyway... something SOE-related I found on the weekend that made me laugh.