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NetDevil lays off large portion of its staff [Updated]

Krystalle Voecks — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Jumpgate Evolution, MMO industry, News items, Rumors, LEGO Universe, Family

When it comes to game development, it's somewhat common to see a layoff or realignment of development team members shortly after the release of a title. However, it appears that NetDevil's most recent round of layoffs came as a complete surprise to its employees. After all, the company's most recent release, LEGO Universe, is well past that initial post-launch phase, having gone live back in October 2010, and both Jumpgate Evolution and Fortune Online are (at least supposedly) under development currently at the studio. There are jobs posted on the hiring page, as well.

However, it appears that the developer, owned by Gazillion Entertainment, is on shaky ground as of this morning, according to rumors. The truly horrible thing about this isn't that some developers were laid off -- it's how the affected employees found out. It appears that some of the NetDevil employees were notified that they were going to be laid off via Facebook postings before they were officially contacted by the company, according to a blog posting by Toby Cochran, who worked as a character/creature animator on LEGO Universe. Apparently an image showing a tombstone with the inscription "NetDevil R.I.P. Oct 1997-Feb 2011" started making the rounds on social networking sites shortly thereafter, indicating a far bleaker picture than just that of layoffs.

We've reached out to NetDevil and Gazillion Entertainment for comment on the rumors and what, if anything, it will mean for the development of Jumpgate Evolution and Fortune Online. We'll be sure to update this post as soon as we have further information. In the meantime, we hope that all the talented, hard-working NetDevil employees who were affected are able to land fabulous new well-paying spots elsewhere, continuing to do what they love.

[Update: We received the following statement from NetDevil: "The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games," said David Brevik, President and COO. "We're proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future."]

NetDevil lays off large portion of its staff [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trion picks up ex-NCsoft employees for new MMO

Shawn Schuster — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles

The hiring of customer support personnel doesn't usually make the news, but when you consider Trion World Network's latest service side hires, it might be a different story. Of course we all know Trion as the studio in charge of the SCI FI channel's new MMO project. Some recent hires include ex-Blizzard developer and Carbine Studios founder Kevin Beardslee, and the tradition continues with Thor Biafore as Customer Support Manager, Jack Wood as In-game Support Manager, and Erik DeBill as Senior Platform Billing Lead.

Wood and DeBill both come from NCsoft, with experience on more than a dozen MMOs between them, while Biafore previously served as the Global Director of Customer Service for Blizzard. Could Trion be competing with 38 Studios for the largest all-star cast? We'll just have to wait and see as both companies have yet to officially announce details on their current MMO projects.

Trion picks up ex-NCsoft employees for new MMO originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cheyenne Mountain responds to rumors of no pay for employees

Shawn Schuster — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Business models, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles, Stargate Worlds, Rumors

As the story spread across the blogosphere yesterday concerning the website http://days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com, we at Massively remained interested, yet apprehensive on something that was little more than an anonymous url. Yet today we're happy to report on an actual response to the rumor and speculation.

Kevin Balentine, senior Marketing Manager at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment released an official explanation of the rumors: "At Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, we have always been upfront with the media and our fans that we are a start up. Like many start ups, we face the same cash-flow issues that all pre-revenue companies face. We have maintained a core of dedicated investors, but the new economic realities are forcing us to seek out additional sources of funding and that's what we're doing. We continue to move forward on the Stargate Worlds project. We recently completed a successful phase of closed beta testing and we will start a second phase early in 2009. We invite all of your readers to come to our site, check out our fantastic community and sign up for our beta."

Continue reading Cheyenne Mountain responds to rumors of no pay for employees

Cheyenne Mountain responds to rumors of no pay for employees originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linden Lab honored as top democratic workplace

Shawn Schuster — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Second Life, Academic, Virtual worlds

The face of business is changing daily. Long past are the days of the ego-driven business model, as organizational democracy rises up through the ashes of the last five years in business. So WorldBlu, Inc., an Atlanta-based business specializing in organizational democracy and freedom-centered leadership, recently compiled an unranked list of the "Top 25 Most Democratic Workplaces". Among those on this list is Second Life's Linden Lab.

It is reported that employees of Linden Lab are encouraged to choose their own work based on company objectives, which can be changed weekly. In addition, employees can show appreciation for each other by "sending love" through their Love Machine software application. Important company data is openly shared among all employees throughout the company in real-time, allowing a more open environment for sharing ideas and concepts.

Linden Lab honored as top democratic workplace originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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