SOE Sold Off by Sony, Becomes Daybreak

[Mixxi]

Well, damn.  Moorgard, too. And Brasse.

Here's the Reddit thread that's keeping a list of those departing. (Note, Domino will stay.)

http://www.reddit.com/r/EQNext/comments/2vkvji/ventinglayoffs_discussion_thread/

Current list of those apparently leaving (from that Reddit thread):

[–]3lfk1ng 11 points an hour ago*
Let's say our goodbyes and thank these people for their contribution to almost 20 years worth of entertainment!
Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson (Director of Development for the EverQuest brand, @DaveGeorgeson)
Linda "Brasse" Carlson (Community Manager, @Brasse)
Akil "Lyndro" Hooper (Everquest II developer, @akilh)
Aaron "Gnobrin" Bisnett (Weapon and Armor designer for 12 years, @Gnobrin)
Douglas "Endymion" VanDerveer (Everquest II game designer, @douglastweets)
Annah "Amnerys" Bianchi (Community Manager, @amnerys)
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Eric "Felgon" Smith (Associate Producer for EverQuest Next and Landmark, @F4Felgon)
Steve "Moorgard" Danuser (Lead Content Designer and Head of Story, @Moorgard)
Tiffany Spence (Social Media, @JustTiffy)
Kyle "Hats" Manchester (Community Manager, @Hats)
Racheal "Afista" McKenny ( Everquest II community Manager, @Afista)
Noah Watkins (Graphic designer, @noahwatkins)
Kelduum Revaan (Programmer for H1Z1, @Kelduum)
Katharine Anderson (Build master for PlanetSide 2, @katharinelilly)
Xander Clauss (Base designer for PlanetSide 2, @XanderClauss)
Taylor Dowell (Systems designer for PlanetSide 2, @Tayradactyl)
Possibly all contracted employees - Not confirmed
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
(source1, source2, source3)
Confirmed safe:
Kander, TTobey, Gninja, Windstalker, Covic, Phatkins, Kaitheel and Domino.
I will update this as more news comes in.

[PinkRose]

Yikes. It still looks like Core deveolpers of EQNext are still around and this is just removing those positions that Daybreak already has, but that's quite a big list.
This isn't looking promising. But EQN has been kind of lost so maybe this is a good thing.

[Mixxi]

I think Moorgard is a pretty big deal. The World Lead/Loremaster seems like a pretty important component if this game is going to be as lore-rich as I'd like it to be. We've seen what a game can be like when the lore-masters depart (GW2 and the atrocious Living Story crap of the last year) and how that can turn around when they return (new Living Story developments).

What I saw in this was that, of the EQ people, those who were VERY EQ specific were let go and people who could be put to work on other projects stayed. I hope I'm wrong, but that's what it looks like to me.

[Jasyn]

When Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson originally joined EQ2 as the Lead Producer way back when, I understood what his role was.  Then, all of a sudden we had a Director of All Things Everquest.  At that point, I never fully understood what his new role was all about.  EQ & EQ2 coexisted fine under the guidance of their own Production Leads for many years.  While I hate to see anyone lose their job, I'm sorry to say his current role simply screamed redundancy.  I think Terry Michaels should be more than capable doing for EQN what Georgeson used to do for EQ2, plus he's still got Domino at his side (had things gone any other way here, Columbus Nova would be inciting riot).

I love having an engaged lore lead on any project.  It helps with cohesion and continuity.  Moorgard, for me, is to EQN what Vhalen was to EQ2.  I'm disappointed by the move to release him, and won't pretend to understand it, but even after Vhalen moved on from EQ2, Lore survived--it just didn't have as visible a public face anymore, though several devs, including Kaitheel and Domino did a fine job dropping lore nuggets for the community now and again.  Hopefully, someone will be able to step in and take charge, though, because without a Lead, even EQ2 left behind a giant, steaming pile of Lore poop behind in the post-Vhalen era in spite of other Lore successes in said era, so it can be very hit and miss.

The list is very heavy with Community folks who were cut loose.  They don't directly contribute to game development, so I can certainly see an argument for redundancies there (Conspiracy theory: I instantly recognize Moorgard and EQ2's Gnobrin as former Community Managers early in EQ2's lifetime.  Something from their CM pasts come back to haunt them, perhaps?).  However, in my opinion, SOE had one of the best community managers, which attempted to communicate more openly with its players than what I'd seen with other companies, which were downright terrible in certain circumstances, so I'd hate to see them start to suffer there... especially when we need communication now more than ever.  Trion's communication may have been a close second for me, but there were a lot of SOE transplants there, which may explain some similarities I saw with community relations.

We have some design staff being let go from multiple projects, but there seems to be a good number of solid devs still on board with the new company--and honestly, not a particularly huge dent made specifically to EQN's team: 1) I argue Georgeson's role with EQN is just strange since he's diluted across the entire franchise, 2) Moorgard Lead Designer and Lore Dev--I disagree with the decision to let him go, 3) Felgon, Associate Producer that I rarely see anything from, and if you already have Terry Michaels and Domino, what is the need for yet another Producer?

Reddit is incredibly doom and gloom about EQN's future.  I'm going to have to step back and disagree to an extent.  I don't quite hear the same death knell when put into some less histrionic context.  The crying from fandom is loud, but I only see a limited number of things to cry about.  People should have cried louder when Omeed left last year.  I can correlate a slowdown in hype and marketing for EQN after his departure over philosophical differences.

Last week, the thing that worried me most about EQN is the thing that continues to worry me in light of today's news: Timeline.  EQN has been in the works for a long, loong time and doesn't seem to be much closer to becoming reality than it did 2 years ago when the game officially became more than rumor if Landmark alone is to serve as a gauge on progress.  With this in mind, I worry about how much latitude they will continue to be given as an "independent" studio, how much things will become rushed, how many plans get delayed, re-tooled, or scrapped in that rush to an accelerated release.  Hopefully, this is the spark that tightens things up and gets us a quality product within a reasonable project horizon.

This is depressing news, yes.  Is my gut reaction geared to kick into full Chicken Little mode and shout about the falling sky?  Yes.  That's what the Voices in my head are doing at this very moment.  However, if I attempt to look at the situation rationally, I just can't see the new Evil Overlords completely doing away with a potentially huge title that people are prepared to throw money at, but they are perfectly capable at irreparably damaging it.  Since we gamers are fickle, if production is not permitted to proceed with wisdom and measure, we'll be just as quick to take our money away.  The bar is set high, and EQN has a lot of expectations to live up to.  I guess we'll see what more is to come in the days ahead...

[PinkRose]

I didn't even know Omeed left already.
Here's hoping for the best for all parties involved.

[Jasyn]

In my blind nerd rage, I just thought of something and will add it to end my thoughts on a more upbeat tick.

As much as I may disagree with Moorgard being laid off, there's a name I still haven't seen, who--if he's still part of the team (and I do hope so)--will leave me some bit of comfort with respect to the lore development of EQN: Bill Trost, co-creator and original lore master of EQ.

[Rumze]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/2vm5nl/dont_hate_on_columbus_novadaybreak/

Message from one of the planet side 2 ppl laid off - someone highly regarded.
It seems the company was open with its employees and made sure they were taken care off if they were let go.
Gives me some confidence again

[Pedekele]

you know people siad stuff like: now that SOE is Daybreak they get more resources, why dont we get any news from them actually hiring people, they didnt even mention that they're looking for people to hire... so fishy...

Also now i wont ever be able to joke about their names... George "Jumpsmoker" Davidson, Dan "Gardmoor" Steveuser... this is my last chance...

[Talon]

The post Rumze linked, I think, echoes a lot of our own thoughts.

A little bit of re-evaluation and shake-up to get things rolling the right direction. And, hopefully, make some realistic and tangible progress that can be shared with the community and seen so we don't feel we're in limbo any longer.

Crossing fingers. I hear people do that.

[Jasyn]

you know people siad stuff like: now that SOE is Daybreak they get more resources, why dont we get any news from them actually hiring people, they didnt even mention that they're looking for people to hire... so fishy...

That came from the official press release; plenty of public relations spin included at no extra cost (see, we're already conserving resources).  For example, they've since downsized, thus freeing up more monetary resources so Smedley can get a bigger bonus for whatever it is he does (never mind the reduction in manpower resources necessary to produce a game and content for said game).  It's press release magic!  The truth has still not been violated!  Viola!

I still would have expected to see some expansion to fill roles more familiar with development on console platforms, given how eagerly they (Smed in particular) latched onto this aspect.  I guess that could still happen, but it's still too soon.  After all, the second press release, which announced the "realignment of resources" (realigned straight to the unemployment line) touted the action as a way "to better position [their] newly independent studio for future growth" (in order to grow, we are going to do the opposite of that).

Though, I'm not remotely familiar with the Planetside franchise or Dave Carey or the things he's done, I appreciate the honest and thoughtful comments he left in the reddit thread Rumze linked.  I also appreciate the person who posted that "downsizing [does not equal] stopping".  I've been seeing a lot of hyperbolic absolutes being tossed into a reality of greys.  This event doesn't mean the future no longer exists, but it does mean it's time to step back and reassess what that future might look like when we get there.

[Jasyn]

In my blind nerd rage, I just thought of something and will add it to end my thoughts on a more upbeat tick.

As much as I may disagree with Moorgard being laid off, there's a name I still haven't seen, who--if he's still part of the team (and I do hope so)--will leave me some bit of comfort with respect to the lore development of EQN: Bill Trost, co-creator and original lore master of EQ.

Meh.  Nevermind.  I did some research, and it looks like Trost may have quietly departed to go do something else in August of 2014.

#haironfire
#skyisfalling
#loreisdead
#eqnisdead
#goingbacktopinball

[Mixxi]

You know, even if none of this happened, EQN would still be up in the air. The whole industry hasn't really taken shape in the last decade or so. My son, whose goal three years into college is still game development, and I talk about this a lot. It's brutal out there for game companies. Players have the attention span of a gnat. But then, you also get tremendously successful things like League of Legends and Minecraft, and both of them have atypical trajectories for development.

EQN is being developed pretty much along the old model. I don't even know if developing a game like that even works anymore. LoL essentially started as a battlefield mod for Warcraft III. Minecraft is an indie. I almost wish, instead of trying to develop a new game, they'd approach the project as modding EQ1. I think something like that, while grittier, could have tremendous potential. Both League and Minecraft have shown that staying power goes to the game that is the most fun to play, regardless of graphics beauty and bells and whistles.

[PinkRose]

Jasyn, There's a cool RPG Pinball game I found a few months back on Steam called 'Rollers of the Realm'.

[Jasyn]

Jasyn, There's a cool RPG Pinball game I found a few months back on Steam called 'Rollers of the Realm'.

I don't care what the other dwarves say about you.  I absolutely heart you for this response, Pinkie.  (But that's between you, me, anyone who reads this thread, and all of the web crawlers out there).

[Jasyn]

Quick Update from Senior Producer Terry "Fairan" Michaels

This is from an EQN & Landmark point of view, which is probably a good thing for us to see considering that Saga has been following developments in these arenas.  The thread goes on to revisit the post from the Planetside 2 producer and also includes comments from Smedley as a follow up to an article written by EQ2Wire's Feldon, which reveals that, in addition to Columbus Nova, Perfect World (Star Trek Online, Neverwinter) also extended a buyout offer.

[Mixxi]

which reveals that, in addition to Columbus Nova, Perfect World (Star Trek Online, Neverwinter) also extended a buyout offer.

Well, that explains a mysterious comment from the Planetside guy. He said that Columbus Nova was a white knight. That puzzled me, because I'd never heard that anyone else was trying to buy SOE, and you can't really have a white knight unless you are being saved from being bought by someone you don't want to buy you.

[Jasyn]

Daybreak Game Company (official shorthand, DGC) officially has a face... erm... or a really menacing eye with a cog wedged in it... I'm inclined to suspect that Smedley posed for this eyeball portrait.  Poke it with a cursor to judge for yourself.

Straight from Smed: Letter to the Community

Hello Players, Partners & Friends,

This year has already kicked off to be quite an incredible year for our company – we successfully launched H1Z1 to Steam Early Access, introduced beta testing for the upcoming launch of PlanetSide 2 on the PlayStation 4, and most importantly, became a fully independent game studio (and that was just in the first quarter alone!).

Since we first announced we would become Daybreak Games this past February, we have been burning the midnight oil to quickly and seamlessly transition our game services and sites to reflect our new company name and identity. With that said, we are excited to debut the first chapter of our new story as Daybreak Games by unveiling our new logo as an independent game studio...drum roll, please:




We are so proud of our new company branding as it truly reflects who we are as an organization and captures our vision of approaching each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward. We are also pleased to announce that we launched our new corporate website today, www.DaybreakGames.com.

To kick off this momentous occasion and help celebrate internally at Daybreak, we are hosting a Celebration Week this week which will include a variety of virtual and IRL activities, daily livestreams, giveaways and more! We encourage everyone to get involved and participate so visit here for more details.

Looking ahead, we are happy to announce we will be moving our San Diego headquarters into a new office space this fall so stay tuned for more news on this front! As for our games – it's business as usual, but better than usual – as we have many new exciting developments for our existing IP and games, and other concepts in the pipeline.

Sixteen years ago we introduced the world to the modern MMO with EverQuest, and we can't wait to see what successes the future holds and what we will accomplish together to move gaming and this industry forward.

Thank you for your continued support. Here's to each of you and a game well-played!

[PinkRose]

I'm beginning to think that Daybreak refers to the Day I Break down and cry because EQN isn't really gonna happen.
Not one word about the flagship product.

[Mixxi]

Yeah. I noticed that. 

[Corsair]

/sigh