The Daily Grind: Are we witnessing the bursting of a gaming bubble?

@(Unverified)

Ok, so the only two of those that actually had anything to do with money were Lego Universe and Troy Online. ALT1 is closing down Troy Online because it is very much just a generic MMO and they would rather focus on revamping the game. Lego Universe's business model was barely profitable and they probably didn't get the subscriber numbers they needed due to games like Terraria and Minecraft occupying that niche market space and the other lego games (Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, etc) being of a much higher quality when it came to user experience.

NCSoft moved most of its billing and customer support positions to Seoul, and thusly had to lay off people that were occupying said positions elsewhere.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/27/layoffs-hit-ncsofts-north-american-offices/

CCP studios noticed an overlap in departmental responsibilities and streamlined it. (see the related articles on Massively)

Earth Eternal development halted because the lead (and quite possibly only) developer was moved to a different project. http://www.eartheternal.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1497
Also, it has such a small community and with no development costs currently so chances are it will be hosted for quite a while.

Don't believe me? http://realmsofkaos.net/ has been around since I was in FREAKING MIDDLE SCHOOL! I wonder if I still have Nitehawk on AIM. Probably do.

Any analyst would look at these bit of news and say it is just business as usual. Chances are that if we really hold the MMO industry up to the microscope we'll find a few more layoffs over the next few months (and indeed any month in the next decade), and even if it does become a trend all it proves is that the MMO industry is not recession proof, not that there is some sort of bubble related to a purely virtual product. The games themselves aren't even the driving factor in this industry and I can't view this "article" as having anything to do with economics.

@Ozewa CCP didn't just streamline to remove operational overlaps. They were forced to cut costs dramatically because they'd staffed as if WoD and DUST would be live and producing money at this point, but neither game is ready. That spread the income from EVE subs pretty thin, so that when 8% of subscribers quit in the wake of monoclegate CCP was financially in a very bad position. 60% of the staff on World of Darkness were cut, not because their job could be done by someone else within the company but because their job could no longer be afforded. A number of the Iceland staff working on EVE were also let go.

@(Unverified) Yeah, maybe they should stop making shitty games as well, theres an idea! If the market was saturated with quality games i would be all over it.

@Ozewa NCsoft's layoffs is probably more of a delayed reaction from the whole thing with Richard Garriott: 32 million is an assload of money, and the douchebag executives who tried to screw over RG on his stock options (but only ended up screwing the pooch) sure as hell aren't going to cough up those three dimes and two pennies from their own pockets (or cut staff in Korea).

why the hell these pricks even operate in the US is beyond me, it's obvious that they hold nothing but contempt for their western employes and customers so why not just farm out their titles like Hanabit does?

@(Unverified)

I completely agree with that.

@Brendan Drain You pretty well took the words out of my mouth. The production cycle can go very wrong. This just shows why good budgetary planning is very important. You would think that CCP who's game is just a very advanced spreadsheet would have done a better job managing budgeted cash flows, and shock testing for unforeseen liquidity issues.

@Fakeassname Why would NCSoft have ever tried to screw Garriot over his stock options? Whats their benefit? Except the stock might to go even worse? Except they might lose face? They could have shut down TR whether Garriot left of not. Garriot could be dealt with in any other way.

Now Garriot on the other hand hadnot just a motive, but a good motive to create a hoax about a "forced depature". He saw his own shares at NCSoft crumbling (because of his failure as developer and designer, sucking up tenmillions of NCSofts budget and far too much time for a subpar unfinished game failure).
He is the only one who could actually benefit from selling stock of a company he caused to tank and nearly hit rock bottom. He wanted to save his shares, made a deal with NCSoft for some lowprofile departure. What could NCSoft do with a developer who had already forsaken his game and the game was a flop anyway? Just leave him and forget everything.
Everything was fine if it wasnt for Garriots greed and NCSoft share suddenly months later even after the massive disaster he brought up to them skyrocketed from bottom to never before seen heights due to a new gametitle presented to public. Something no one not even Garriot could have forseen. Something that made someone very made who had feared low stocks, gambled and sold them at a hypothetical loss (with Garriots fail game they where deemed to crumble), then faces the prices climbing day after day prices rising, duplicating tripling quadrupling and more...


Remember Garriot nor anyone could never proof his hoax in court, he made up after he weaseled out of the company to sell his crumbling stocks but then got mad when they raised after he sold them. He never was proven innocent or NCSoft proven guilty. NCSoft was judged guilty by a Texan jury literally consisting of Garriots old laymen neighborhood. NCSoft wasnt judged guilty twice like some blind Garriot follower claim, but got their appeal denied for the possible most retarded reason ever brought up the deny an appeal . Effectly "If we let NCSoft appeal they could just appeal any court decision if they dont like it" Which is the goddamn very point of appeal systems exsit and they likely just didnt want to re-roll the case. NCSoft just asked for a fair trial in any state that isnt biased to both in favor of the Texan grown up Garriot and known to be often biased against foreigner.

The biggest joke is that the jury actually forces NCSoft now to compensate Garriot not just for his losses from investment due to the bad deal HE made, now he wants to be compensated for hypothetical losses he would have made if he had not sold his stock instantly he run away from the company. He wants a chunk of a cake that NCsoft backed after he abandoned them and his fans, that because of him might have never occurred.

Its only wise for NCSoft to pull out of America with such a bad law system where criminals like Garriot are awarded more than they even deserve even if they where the victims as in their hoax story. And all they have to do is convincing some laymen in your neighborhood you are right. NCSoft went here for business and the courts support criminals like Garriot exploiting them while they follow their daydreams.

Imagine your company went bankrupt and you are about to lose your job and you wife breaks up with you because she only cared for the money and 3 months later you win 10 Million in the lottery and your company is all better, then she suddenly comes back claims you never where divorced and sues you for half of your stuff including the lottery price.

@(Unverified)
I been reading plenty of replies with the same theme but this one is short and to the point. No essay length posts; gotta love that.

And ya, ain't this the truth.

@(Unverified) my point is that the first 2 "crashes" where much more then just shitty games. it was also the mindset of the players and the not so willing mainstream society for the whole video game sensation that would later sweep the nation

@Seldra thank you i appreciate it... if it's not sarcastic.

@(Unverified)

You're right. Many games are being developed with a priority of making the players spending time grinding than in trying to be just fun.

@(Unverified) There is not even any grind in Champions Online. It takes me a total of 30 minutes to level in that game. If you made "no progress" you have no skill at MMOs.

@(Unverified) No, you just level up fast and reach an end point to do...absolutely nothing.

@Tizmah
It would be nice if there was an MMO that you bought, played for 60 hours, finished, then came back to for another 20 hours for a month ($15). I don't want to invest hundreds of hours, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy persistent characters, guilds and progression with my friends.

@(Unverified) I feel just like this every time I log into Global Agenda.

I spend 4-5 hours in the damned thing just beating my head against the progression wall and when I finally pound the rage quit button all I can think is "I want those hours back."

counter to that I can spend the exact same amount of time logged into section 8 and be nothing but content with how much time I spent on it.

@(Unverified)

Ah, yes... ‘skill’.

We have dismissed that claim.