Discussion Thread: ArenaNet News of 21 February 2019 [Merged]

The gaming industry makes me sad. ANet employees deserve more than this.

Read the full article here: https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

@"Paolino.8320" said:The gaming industry makes me sad. ANet employees deserve more than this.

Read the full article here: https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

mobile gaming has become a very big market. and almost all people in the world are carrying mobile phones anywhere.

it's almost certain that desktop gaming is becoming legacy gaming already (you have to be confined in a room and have a dedicated internet connection). but you have to think that full gaming experience from a desktop is very far from a mobile phone.

So sad to see this happen to another NA developer, it's fast becoming a curse to be successful enough you're gobbled up by the uncaring mega corps run by bean counters. My sympathies to all of those affected by this and wish you luck in any future endeavors.

From what I gathered, ANets current business model has a lot of overhead with 400 employees.

This isn’t necessarily anything new for a company. It’s business as usual and you’ll see “fluff” jobs gone and I think this gives ANet a push for another expansion sooner than later.

Before people start to worry for the future of GW2, game companies hire and release employees on a constant basis. The public just rarely hears about them so the public doesn’t know how “normal” this process is. This could be just another “normal” round of layoffs. Hopefully.

My condolesences to everybody who gets laid off, though. It’s always terrible getting laid off, especially in the game industry where it can be hard to find another game company near where you live. :(

Oof i wonder if that will push a similar communication effort with what the Hots team a blizzard did when their dev team got nuked.

Seems tho Mike made ot known that its comming and didnt w8 until the q earning call to make it public.

If true, that's horrible news for everyone at the offices.

I just hope for there sakes it's not and that NCSoft realizes that the market really isn't in mobile products. But it's probably far too late for that given the general state of the games industry.

@alcopaul.2156 said:

@"Paolino.8320" said:The gaming industry makes me sad. ANet employees deserve more than this.

Read the full article here:

https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

Sounds like big business. I still play Master of Magic if that carries any weight for PC gaming. I have, I think, one game that I'm heavily invested in on my phone. I have no idea how much longer I'll be playing that one game.

As long as developers seek out new game design and maximization of the hardware at their disposal, PC gaming will remain a viable platform, with the usual Legacy Hardware/Drivers sitting on the backburner.

Gotta be honest, 400 people working in one small indie studio (memes aside) company doesn't sound very good.

Recently saw a video where somebody said that maybe 200 people worked on the Elder Scrolls games, then as their employees increased the quality of their games drastically decreased. I'd imagine if you have that many people it is just bound to happen. Communication works better in smaller groups.

Either way, this is super sad. I hope this won't cause any further delays.

@Aediph.2873 said:

@alcopaul.2156 said:

@"Paolino.8320" said:The gaming industry makes me sad. ANet employees deserve more than this.

Read the full article here:

https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

That last part, anet hasnt touched on this in half a decade. As the article says, no releases for 2018 and 19.

@phokus.8934 said:From what I gathered, ANets current business model has a lot of overhead with 400 employees.

This isn’t necessarily anything new for a company. It’s business as usual and you’ll see “fluff” jobs gone and I think this gives ANet a push for another expansion sooner than later.

I think the way things worked so far at anet is prob them taking as much time with the expansion to ensure some quality and quantity bars are met.

Pushing a third expansion out when the previous 2 were already lacking doesnt feel like the smartest move.

That's terrible news. I keep wondering if ArenaNet would not have been better off if they never sold themselves to NCSOFT.On the other side, NCSOFT prove to be a reliable owner for the studio for many, many years. Both with Guild Wars as with Guild Wars 2. Let's hope they continue to be.

I guess we all need to go buy some gems....

Well, this certainly does not bode well for the future. Not for the employees, nor for the game.

I'm so sorry, ANet folks :( I have been consistently impressed with all of you (with one notable exception) and Danikat is right, this has to be playing havoc with your morale. Please remember that you do matter, that your hard work has been appreciated, and that your experiences at ANet are very solid ones for a resume. Fingers crossed for all of you.

If Anet really needs more money to keep going, would it help if they removed turning gold into gems?

How would you feel if they did that?

@Jura.2170 said:If Anet really needs more money to keep going, would it help if they removed turning gold into gems?

How would you feel if they did that?

I don't know. I more than often turned gems into gold, and this mechanic could be in jeopardy when the other side of this trade gets removed.

Well that sucks.

On the other hand, this is Kotaku, the Buzzfeed of games journalism, so who knows.

Really sad to hear that, but that's how business work. I hope this doesn't affect the game too much and is not the beginning of the end. Also, I hope everyone being affected by this can find another job and move on!

@Masculus.4817 said:seems like they lack the resources to invest in a turnaround

If they had said from the start that Gem Store items could only be bought with real money, maybe they would have had a lot more?

@Aediph.2873 said:

@alcopaul.2156 said:

@"Paolino.8320" said:The gaming industry makes me sad. ANet employees deserve more than this.

Read the full article here:

https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

yeah. one famous rapper back home in our country which streams on facebook plays a mobile game (in his pc tho). so i can imagine his influence on lots of his fans who are also playing the game. and the region being the mobile capital of the world, yeah, this is probably why NCSoft decided on this.

i think A.NET will still do fine. and hopefully only less people will be cut and will be highly recommended by the company to other companies so they will still have jobs (coz they just did it for cost cutting purposes). what A.NET needs to do is to maintain the retaining factor to play the game for its loyal fanbase by releasing gamechanger/exciting updates. the art department is excelling. it's just the story must be compelling and must make you feel like your soul actually exists in your character(s) so upon completing a living story episode, it will reverberate to your emotions and feel happy at the end of the day. and by this, the playerbase can write rave reviews by themselves (on reddit or their blogs), post a screen shot/video cap so (an) onlooker(s) will think "damn, the art is epic, i think im gonna try this game."

My condolences to everyone at Arenanet. This be trying times in the industry. :/

@TheQuickFox.3826 said:That's terrible news. I keep wondering if ArenaNet would not have been better off if they never sold themselves to NCSOFT.On the other side, NCSOFT prove to be a reliable owner for the studio for many, many years. Both with Guild Wars as with Guild Wars 2. Let's hope they continue to be.

Anet belonged to NcSoft since before Guild Wars 1 launched. I'm pretty sure they couldn't have made any games without the investment. It's been like 12 years now.

I'm quite sorry and a bit sad to hear this, ArenaNet. I really like your games and you seem to be wonderful people.

I'm owning two accounts with all the expansions and probably purchased more gems than what is good. But if there is anything more that we can do as community, like buying a share of the company or be part of a buyout, let us know. I know this community has done some amazing things for each other in the past and I think I can say without hesitation that we stand behind your games and your studio.

Good luck in these uncertain times. You can count on us for years to come.

I'm shocked! And more than saddened. My condolences to anyone at ArenaNet this affects.Do remember many of us have appreciated your work for years, and wish you the very best.:disappointed: :cry: