Hartsman Leaves Trion Worlds [Update]... But Then Came Back, Sword Held High

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Article from Massively.com

I don't play RIFT, but the only real confidence I had in Defiance was that Hartsman was at least partially behind it. So... yeah. That's a big gap for Trion Worlds.

UPDATE: The thread title, to reflect current events.

[Falconeer]

Now where the hell is he going? Cause I probably want a piece of that.

[Soukyan]

Maybe Bethesda cherry-picked him for ESO.

[Lantyssa]

Maybe Blizzard hired him for D3.

[Ghambit]

To be fair, Defiance was always Trion's initial "baby."  The main line item in their business plan.  RIFT was really the stopgap tech. barometer and salespitch for their middleware.  When RIFT did well, they gave a final thumbs-up for Defiance.  Wasn't Hartsman brought in specifically for Rift?  Game's been out a while so probably time to move on regardless.

Still a bummer, but injecting him into Defiance likely would've created a 'Rift'  with upper mgmt. 

[Pennilenko]

While I am definitely a Hartsman Fanboy from when he was on EQ2, I don't think that he was 100 percent of the magic at Trion. Trion always felt like it was full of devs that were in tune with the players and care deeply about their products. Well, at least that's the impression i get. Where ever he goes will be lucky to have him.

[Draegan]

I don't think Scott has ever worked on a project as the head guy from beginning to launch.  If I had to guess that's what he's going to try to do. 

Hartsman and Firor working together on TESO would be hilarious.  I also don't think he'll get poached for EQN either.  Bother games are way to far into their development.

[Ghambit]

He was always more a fantasy geek anyways.  Defiance is a different type of crazy.

[palmer_eldritch]

I hope he does something I'll be interested in playing. It seems to me that Rift is one of very few mainstream MMO in years that really succeeded as a game. It didn't break the mould, it was a WoW-style game with some fun twists, but it did what it did well.

[Numtini]

Hartsman back at Trion as CEO. That pretty much solidifies my recent return to Rift and is the first thing that's made me think they could turn Defiance around.

I'd love to hear the backroom gossip on that one.

[Nebu]

Hartsman is the reason I played Rift.  He's a talent and where he goes, I'll follow.

[satael]

Hartsman as CEO might actually salvage Defiance (or just quietly kill it off but even that might be a better option than going on with the current game)

[Bzalthek]

Hartsman CEO?  Half Life 3 confirmed.

[Chockonuts]

Hartsman back at Trion as CEO. That pretty much solidifies my recent return to Rift and is the first thing that's made me think they could turn Defiance around.

I'd love to hear the backroom gossip on that one.

Meh. Whatever happens to the Defiance team, they deserve it.

They should say "Thank you for not firing us along with the other schlubs during the Great Purge", especially now that Defiance fell down to $10.

[Sky]

Funny timing, given the rift thread today.

[Jerrith]

I'd love to hear the backroom gossip on that one.

I am very excited to have him back and in charge. :)

[BlueAvocado]

Meh. Whatever happens to the Defiance team, they deserve it.

uh, thanks?   

[Lantyssa]

I am very excited to have him back and in charge. :)

I am, too!

Made me worry about Arche Age being published by y'all a bit when he stepped down.  Now I'm all excited again.

[Abelian75]

Wow, awesome news!

[Numtini]

Looks like something's going on with Defiance, San Diego studio closing and being merged with other operations.

[Sky]

Yeah, forgot to mention 

[Chockonuts]

Meh. Whatever happens to the Defiance team, they deserve it.

uh, thanks?   

Oh, I didn't mean that personally. Don't take it that way. You're the new guy there.

I meant that collectively as in, that team that made Defiance before you showed up from End of Nations? Those guys should be happy they have a job with all the lack of information, communication, delays, bad info, you name it.  That combined with how Trion seems to have been pissing money away too quickly by doing too much too soon without real income coming back... wow. Seems like Rift was the only game making money to pay for all of that.

Now, when I posted that about 5 hours ago, I didn't realize that Scott would come in cleaning your house so soon by shutting you all down and shifting ops. He sure didn't take long, but that's what it takes when you're the boss... gotta crack that whip.

Let the troops know it's nothing personal and sorry for the coming layoffs a lot of them are going to get, but I am a firm believer in gaming Darwinism.

[Kageru]

Seemed fairly inevitable, it was clear Defiance wasn't living up to expectations and turning it around was not going to be fast so they needed to control the cash burn.

Suspect he's going to be pretty busy, but wish him luck in getting everything back on track.

[schild]

This pleases me. Deep down I wish he was CEO of a new company though.

[Pennilenko]

I just want him to issue DLC package refunds. I feel straight ripped off.

[Sky]

This pleases me. Deep down I wish he was CEO of a new company though.

Or heading up EQN, amirite!? 



Don't hurt me

[BlueAvocado]

[/quote]Oh, I didn't mean that personally. Don't take it that way. You're the new guy there.
[/quote]

I know! Just giving you a hard time.

[Surlyboi]

This pleases me. Deep down I wish he was CEO of a new company though.

Or heading up EQN, amirite!? 



Don't hurt me

I'd back that for a dollar.

[Margalis]

That sucks, I know some people down there that managed to make it through the first round of cuts. But I'm sure everyone suspected it was just a matter of time.

[Draegan]

This makes me happy.

[Ghambit]

Must've been such a tough life decision.

[Draegan]

I remember those End of Nations chicks. I had a similar picture taken with them at one of their events at PAX (I think).

[Senses]

Why doesn't Defiance have a poster in that picture ;P  I get the impression it was Hartsman who hated Defiance in the first place and thought Trion should be working on the game that was already working, and not the piece of crap they sunk all their money into.  They said no, he quit, they realized he was right, and made him CEO.  Maybe they can sell the game to Red 5 and package it as Firefall's hot new DLC.

[Draegan]

Probably has something to do with Syfy. They've had panels as early as NYCC 2011.

[Numtini]

There's a lot to hate.