Q1 layoffs

[Soln]

Lord of the Rings Online dev Turbine hit with layoffs

A number of employees at The Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine lost their jobs today, though it's not clear how many people were affected or how this affects the studio's future operations.

A representative of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Turbine's parent company, confirmed the news to Gamasutra and issued the following statement:

"As part of our normal business process, we’re routinely looking at the strategic alignment of our company. Unfortunately, in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine, we have to eliminate some positions."

"These are always tough decisions, which we don’t approach lightly, but it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace."

Gamasutra is reaching out to find out how many people were affected and how this affects Turbine's current operations, including work on the studio's upcoming MOBA Infinite Crisis.

Former employee told me 2 years ago that MOBA project was bleeding them dry.  Sad to see this happen.  Hope it doesn't starve the game anymore.

[schild]

Two Years ago now? So, it's going to be 4 years too late?

Bravo.

[Tannhauser]

Sad news.  Although I didn't buy the xpac, I heard that Rohan wasn't well received in game as well as online.  I wonder if this hampers further xpacs or maybe even puts LOTRO in maintenance mode.

It's not a bad game, it's just old as fuck and, like WoW, people are tired of playing it. 

[Ingmar]

We don't actually know which games they hit in what magnitude, either; DDO or their MOBA might have eaten the brunt, potentially.

EDIT: FWIW, I asked a guy I know with a friend there, and the layoffs at least partly involved something that "failed to greenlight". And they have like 450 people there still, which should be plenty for 2 old MMOs and a MOBA.

[Stormwaltz]

One of them was Jared "Amlug" Hall-Dugas, an old-timey LotRO dev whose Twitter mentioned nine years at the company.

Another was apparently John "RockX" Steady, whose name I first heard in conjunction with class redesigns in the recent LotRO-NGE (though the chattering class suggests he was only an axeman for clueless managers).

The last name I've seen is Hannah Foell, who I'd never heard of at all. Her LinkedIn says Associate Producer since 2012, which suggests one of the vital, largely invisible wheel-greasers.

http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2014/02/12/more-layoffs-at-turbine/

EDIT: I'm so full of typos tonight. And I haven't even started drinking yet.

[luckton]

So they renewed the license for Tolkien stuffs, but with crap like this, why bother?

[HaemishM]

If the MOBA project is Turbine's big hope for the future... 

[luckton]

They're gambling that the MOBA will arrive and be primed in time for the upcoming DC Comic movie explosion (aka "Well we'll show those Marvel guys a thing or two about movies with more than one hero!), that is Batman v. Superman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, et al.  I'd say they have a decent chance of seeing success, but only to keep them afloat, certainly not to knock off LoL from the MOBA top spot anytime soon.  Blizzard has a better chance of doing that bit.