SOE layoffs detailed, EQII and Vanguard affected

Layoffs in any industry are never pleasant, and in a smallish community like that of the professional game developer, they can be even more trying. As we reported yesterday, Sony Online Entertainment recently announced the decision to serve 35 employees with their walking papers, and speculation has run rampant in the absence of official information.

Two of the developers now looking for work checked in on the EQ2Flames forum to confirm the news and thank the community for their support. SOE's big-budget fantasy titles look to be the most affected by the moves. EverQuest II loses Brett "Timetravelling" Scheinert, responsible for various raid designs on the Sentinel's Fate expansion. Rumored Vanguard losses include William "Wigin" Bidermann ~~and Jason "Ikik" Weimann~~, as well as Joel "Raijinn" Sasaki, the game's community manager.

Finally, Steve "Saavedra" Kramer, a former EQII designer and most recently working on The Agency, was also let go. SOE also terminated two as-yet unnamed marketing employees.

[Update #2: While we now have confirmation that Jason "Ikik" Weimann was not among those let go (as originally rumored), we're still attempting to clarify the rumored departure of the other Vanguard dev. Joel "Raijinn" Sasaki's departure has been confirmed as well. We'll update the post as soon as we receive additional info.]

Reader Comments (31)

Man, this economy is shot to hell. Well, hope they land back on their feet, and end up with a better company than SOE.

Well this peoples talent was wasted on this games anyway! Brett Scheinert, William Bidermann, Jason Weimann and Joel Sasaki hope you all find better jobs soon!

Delicious irony! 3 weeks after SOE announces EQ II won't go F2P, they're laying people off. I guess SOE would rather kill its games and leave its employees jobless than follow Turbine's example.

Massively's article on the EQ II announcement here, for those who missed it:

http://www.massively.com/2010/06/27/georgeson-eqii-wont-be-going-free-to-play/

That's kind of a large leap, don't you think? Chances are the layoffs have been in the works for some time, as this economy isn't getting any better regardless of your preferred business model.

I didn't mean to imply that the first announcement caused the second, but that their arrival so close together makes beautifully obvious the results of SOE's stubborn inflexibility in the face of changing economic conditions. Turbine showed us that you can roll with the punches and thrive rather than roll over and die.

I've always wanted to give Vanguard a whirl... but then news like this comes out and it scares me off from trying the game.

Wait.. what? Does Vanguard even have a dev-team anymore then?

Note the lack of sources aside from a rumor mill of a forum.

The only confirmed devs I can see are Saavedra and Timetravelling via the source posted, and Raijinn via Twitter.

As posted on the VG forums: "Someone initially here stated those two devs (Ikik & Wigin) were gone, but when I PM'd them for info they admitted they made that part up to get a response from the team."

As well as Ikik posting in an official manner on the VG forums yesterday, after the layoffs.

I will say if Ikik goes, VG as a whole is right behind him.

And John $Medley continues to pull down a six figure salary, even while they walk people out that can really use the money.

I feel really bad for anyone getting laid off. I know THQ is hiring. Lucas Arts is hiring. Disney is always hiring. Cartoon Network is hiring. Turbine is hiring. CCP is always hiring.

@Jef

I don't think he is making a leap at all. Freemium is what consumers are demanding and Turbine is smart to jump on that boat early. Freemium EQ2? I smell 1million+ players easy. I mean if DDO can.... It really should be a no-brainer for SOE, they already have the code in place for the cash shop. Just sayin

@eqjase

We'll have to agree to disagree then.

Unless he has inside knowledge of SOE's financial situation and company roadmap, he's drawing a correlation between two things that may or may not be related. You simply can't make a statement like "if they were f2p they wouldn't have to let those guys go." Well you can, but you then look pretty silly for not having all (or really any) of the facts. That's why it's a leap.

To your point, I'm also unconvinced that consumers are this unified body 'demanding' freemium. Certainly a very vocal segment of the population is, but everyone? Nah. The majority even? Hard to say, but I doubt it, otherwise SOE would be leading the charge towards the new money promised land.

In any event, I feel for those guys that got let go, but I also get a chuckle out of the f2p zealots attempting to turn that unfortunate circumstance into an example that supposedly supports their point of view.

Univac and eqjase can count me out for one, Jeff. I can't trust anything F2P as far as I can throw it, unless something that's modeled after GW.

Granted the freemium model may have saved DDO's bacon and become their cash cow. But I don't think it's appropriate for heavily sub based world of LoTRO. And could backfire on Turbine if LoTRO's solid community breaks down and leaves for greener pasters over the transition. But we won't know that until a few months or so after they release it. So it's not a great example to use currently.

And 2 things that should be pointed out peeps easily forget.

1) If Turbine was so successful...why did they run to Warner Brothers?

2) SOE has a hugely successful F2P called Free Realms. Yet apparently it wasn't enough....not sure EQ2 going F2P would help them out either.

Perhaps it's the economy, stupid.

I am really surprised SOE has not done it already.

Exactly because of the financial situation going F2P would probably be more profitable and indeed a smart move; get people playing free now, and when the economy bounces back spending will surge.

Still, far too intelligent for SOE. I do hope someone buys VG off them.

Thats too bad, maybe if they go to f2p maybe more people will play their games. I'm just saying, look at DDO.

so that leaves how many devs for Vanguard? 2?

Hell, from what I've understood. Vanguard has only had 2 devs for quite awhile. So if 2 devs AND the Community Manager are indeed being sacked ( per rumor ), Vanguard is toast.

Based on the frequency of updates, I would say... roughly -2.

@Jef

Ultimately you're right. We are lacking sufficient data to make a claim that warrants any merit. That said, we are just shooting the breeze in the comment section of a blog and in that framework I think conjecture and hyperbole are a-ok.

I guess it just seems to me that the evidence suggests that F2P transitions DO work.

Off the top of my head here are some games that have gone F2P from P2P

Archlord
RF Online
DDO
LoTRO
Global Agenda
Spellborn

All of which are still open and would likely not be in a P2P model.

But again you are right, profitability doesn't necessarily translate to jobs and it is a bummer they are losing theirs.

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SOE layoffs detailed, EQII and Vanguard affected

Reader Comments (31)

Posted: Jul 16th 2010 12:44PM Theeinferno said

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Posted: Jul 16th 2010 2:36PM Jef Reahard said

Posted: Jul 17th 2010 4:08PM Its Utakata stupid said

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