SOE Layoffs Hit EQ2 Team — Goodbye Timetravelling
CORRECTION: Ikik is still on the Vanguard team.
Today we learn from EQ2Flames just who was laid off from the EQ2 team. Timetravelling designed some of the more interesting raid encounters in the Sentinel’s Fate expansion, including Roehn Theer:
I wanted to pop in and thank you all for playing EQ2 for the last few years.
You helped make it an absolute joy of a job, and I’m sorry to be moving on, but I suppose that thems the breaks.
Please keep on keepin’ on, having fun, and kicking the crap out of all of the encounters us poor Content designers create for you.
Hopefully y’all enjoyed some of everything I’ve worked on over the last few years as much as I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to create it for you.
And good luck with Roehn Theer…Slackers! =)
Brett – Timetravelling
Also, Saavedra, EQ2 designer from 2004-2008 and who had been working on other SOE projects also posted:
Guess I can post on flames now eh? Yeah, I am currently LFW
Vanguard
Also, if you have had any optimism for the future of Vanguard, they lost Wigin, as well as their Community Manager Raijinn. “On life support” would be a charitable way to describe the situation at this point.
Marketing?
Sources tell us that Marketing lost 2 team members during this layoff.
I guess now we know how SOE paid for those new Oracle 11G servers for EQ2.
Tags: layoffs
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Comments (12)
PK
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Wow. What a colossal mistake, I honestly don’t understand SOE sometimes. Where are they going to find anyone with even half of Brett’s experience / knowledge? ARE they even going to bother? Everyone is crossing their fingers that Velious will be amazing.. I guess time will tell but this really doesn’t inspire any confidence.
Thanks for the interesting encounters Brett and I look forward to seeing what you get involved with in the future.
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Blockhead
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Well this sucks. All the best guys.
Didn’t know EQ2 was in this bad of shape actually, so much for the glorious Velious come back, even more glad i’m getting out now as here comes another craptastic expansion. I also read they may split Velious into the next two expansions, good idea SOE keep people hoping/paying for 2 years instead of 1.
I think EQ2 should seriously look at a F2P options to bring in new players. It could be the only option left to save this game.
Bottom line people are losing jobs due to SOE mismanagement.
IF YOU STOP butchering EQ2 people may still be working.
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zerigo
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lol leave the developers alone, scrap the marketing team top to bottom.
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foozlesprite
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Get rid of Smed and bring the good devs back.
Timetravelling designed the funnest encounters in game right now. The ones that make me want to play. I guess they’re again choosing money over customers. What a way to lose players, guys.
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Grugg
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Nevermind that marketing is almost always the first to get hit. Products don’t sell themselves.
You do know that Smed started Verant Interactive, which became SOE, right? Just checking.
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Jyrek
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Its clear that SOE doesn’t have a clue. Laying off Timetravelling is a huge mistake. Its almost like they’re TRYING to kill the game.
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foozlesprite
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Doesn’t mean that Smed can’t be scrapped by the guys at Sony. And products don’t sell themselves, sure. But SOE’s marketing for EQ2 has been lackluster since /pizza. There’s certainly no TV ads, and actively looking for EQ2 in my area yields only a single copy of DoF at a resale shop. Ask someone at a game store to preorder the next expansion and you get a ‘huh? Never heard of that game.’
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Samous
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Hate to see Timetravelling go, but I do not see much of anything interesting in SF. Its the reason I canceled my account. Only just returned to level an entirely new toon because I wanted to play the good content.
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Eschia
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Vanguard may end up going the way of the matrix soon… :/
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Grugg
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So what? Firstly, advertising generates awareness. In the online games market, there is virtually nobody that doesn’t know the EverQuest name. Secondly, TV advertising produces the lowest ROI of all advertising tactics, especially in this market.
While retailing is usually extremely important to distribution, established MMOGs can avoid retail because they are online entertainment services with steady customer bases.
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Gazzaroony
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Things we don’t need much for EQ2…um ,raid designers?
Can anyone say “Casual market demographic”?
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Taranx
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Marketing??
Guess they finally got tired of saying NO to the department
“We think we should promote …”
“NO”
“How about we re-release…”
“No”
“We can get a great deal on airtime in theatres showing Clash of the Tita ..”
“No”
/sigh “can’t we just fire these guys and I dunno .. throw their salaries into Free Realms or something?”
Sorry to hear anyone loses their job these days. Just find it interesting that the bigwigs only look at $$ matrix’s and don’t use their heads
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