Official word from NCsoft on the Austin studio layoffs
by Adrian Bott 
Aug 13th 2008 at 7:30PM
Filed under: Dungeon Runners, MMO industry, Tabula Rasa
We had already sourced information that confirmed layoffs from NCsoft Austin, but formal notification has now gone out of the loss of 21 jobs. David Swofford, Director of Public Relations for NCsoft North America, has provided the following information:We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development. Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time.
Although exact details were not given, we can confirm that 13 out of the 18 Dungeon Runners staff have lost their jobs, following a post by Producer / Lead Programmer Stephen Nichols at the Dungeon Runners forums. Stephen has said that the Dungeon Runners team are 'in shock' at the news.
The remaining staff on Dungeon Runners are now:
- Stephen Nichols- Producer / Lead Programmer
- Scott Stevens - Senior Programmer
- Mark Tucker - Lead Designer
- Brandon Cotton - Senior Designer
- James Cleaveland - Technical Artist
Tabula Rasa has not been mentioned. It remains to be seen whether the game, which increased its online sales by 7% in the last quarter but also incurred an unprecedented negative royalties figure of minus 1,147%, is going to receive any special corporate attention.
We are glad to see that the situation appears to be less severe than internal sources at NCsoft, who had contacted several gaming websites, had made it out to be. The staff at Massively send our best wishes to those affected by these cuts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ripper McGee said on 8:57PM 8-13-2008
I mentioned this on the tentonhammer.com forums, but I think that quote is a little confusing, if not misleading. If you read it carefully, it really seems to say:
* 21 product development positions lost, most of which were for unannounced "prototype" products
* some additional Dungeon runners positions
Also, 13 out of 18 Dungeon Runners positions isn't "some", but "most" of the positions on that team. Also, if the grand total RIF count, including Dungeon Runners, was 21, "primarily" for unannounced products, then why were the majority of the 21 positions affected from a single, live product?
Like I said, confusing if not misleading...
Reply
Sente said on 1:25AM 8-14-2008
Note that the announcement says 21 from product development and also people from Dungeon Runners.
So it sounds like it is 21+13 = 34 people who have lost their jobs.
Reply
Jacob said on 6:10AM 8-14-2008
This is a nice 'i told you so' or massively after yesterdays post :)
Reply
Quinn said on 7:50AM 8-14-2008
How do you figure?
http://www.massively.com/2008/08/12/rumor-ncsoft-austin-to-be-shut-down/
Day before yesterday's post Zenke said he'd verified through third party "thrustworthy" sources and "highly placed NcSoft Employes" That any or all of the following would be happening:
-NCSoft Austin will be closed, with work on Tabula Rasa to be moved to the West Coast. Dungeon Runners is apparently to be closed. TR to be headed to Arena.net (implying the DG shop would've been closed and shuttered).
*Patently false.
-Future collaborations between NCSoft and the Garriott brothers will be very limited in scope due to "frustrations" between them and Korea.
*Wholly fabricated baseless supposition.
-Tabula Rasa may see closure by this time next year, if team fails to turn tide of subscribers and expectations.
*Utter bollocks, in particular given the current development cycle, 7% quarterly gain in profit and seems more like the fervent wish of the author (in particular given his statements on podcasts) rather than being based on anything based in reality or that of a vetted source, which in point of fact that whole article smacked of.
Finally, the alteration of the above's title about a hour after it'd been posted from "Rumor: NCsoft Austin, to be shut down" to "Rumor: NcSoft Austin, Dungeon Runners to be shut down". In point of fact none of the tabliod-esque rumour mongering in the above article proved to be remotely factual.
It'd be like taking a report of a incident along the American-Mexican border where a single illegal immigrant slipped across and then reporting that Mexico had invaded Texas, its that order of exaggeration and sensationalisms which a responsible journalist would've avoided by taking time to take a statement by or paying attention to, the repeated statements issued minutes after that "article" went to press by NcSoft representatives before going to press. It was and is nothing less than unfounded, unvetted tabloid rumor mongering drek and the editor at massively should've stepped in long before it got to press.
To quote another poster comments from said article:
Wraith:
"Solid reporting = doing footwork to get verification before spreading potentially damaging, unsubstantiated rumors. For example- from
http://kotaku.com/5036705/ncsoft-lays-off-21
Today NCsoft confirmed to Kotaku that they are indeed laying some folks off from their Austin offices.
"We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development," an NCsoft spokesman told Kotaku. "Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time."
The news comes a day after parent company Korean-based NCsoft announced a bump in sales but a drop in operating profit and net income. The news is a stark contrast to rumors that surfaces earlier this week that 140 to 160 people were going to be let go and the office possibly shuttered. At the time NCsoft told Kotaku that the rumors were "not accurate at all" and "pretty outrageous.""
Note how Kotaku spoke to NCSoft? And not some highly placed source?"
"At the time NCsoft told Kotaku that the rumors were "not accurate at all" and "pretty outrageous." indeed, quite so. Quite so.
recursive said on 4:13PM 8-14-2008
Sorry to hear this, my sympathies to all those affected. I wonder what way this refocussing business will go for NCsoft, but I thought Scott's $100 million budgets comment interesting.
Reply
Capn King said on 10:42PM 8-14-2008
That comment about $100 million was indeed interesting. I noticed that NcSoft stock is taking a nice uptick with sudden high volume of sales. That may be because the corporate board of directors is at last ready to show some discipline about Austin.