Turbine hit with another round of layoffs.

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Originally Posted by TheCrossbow

The thing is I am not sure if we have an accurate accounting of who specifically works on LOTRO (only) and who contributes to all of the games Turbine runs. As far as the statement, it seems all of Turbine was hit, not just one department.

As for how LOTRO will fare as a result, I don't think we will see those results immediately.

We can only hope that those who remain are worth being kept.

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If 1/3rd of the company being laid off isn't enough evidence of WBs intentions for this game for you then I'm not sure anything short of a full staff list with project designations for the last 7 years is ever going to satisfy you.

They have a new game launching, a secret project and three older games in the portfolio, make a guess as to which teams are going get smacked with the sledgehammer - go on, extrapolate from the data - I know you can do it :rolleyes:

Is there a verified list of which LotRO developers, producers, etc. were affected, and what role they had?

I'm so sorry to hear this! I hope you all find your way in time to the next jobs! I'm feeling your pain and wish you all the luck in the world! :(
Let's hope fortunate times are coming up after this grim news :(

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Originally Posted by LethalLethality

Is there a verified list of which LotRO developers, producers, etc. were affected, and what role they had?

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Information is still coming in, but I would consider Fredelas tweets an excellent and reliable start. We'll never get a complete list here, it'd be too depressing.

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Originally Posted by mcflyvii

I haven't read everyone's comments in this thread but a whole lot of you are under the false assumption that the Dev team assigned to LOTRO is affected. They very well may be or they may not be. Nothing in the article can allow you to make such an assumption. It only says Turbine is laying people off across the company. Turbine has a lot of other games you know. Until I read something that specifically says the team on LOTRO is being downsized, articles like this mean nothing to me.

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***trumpets blowing***

And in ride the 'black' knights to save the day.

The mind boggles... "There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See"

Yes, there are dedicated LOTRO Devs that have been laid off.

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Originally Posted by LethalLethality

Is there a verified list of which LotRO developers, producers, etc. were affected, and what role they had?

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No, there is nothing verified from Turbine beyond confirming layoffs occurred. And the only verifiable info from Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment (their press release yesterday) is vague, gives no numbers, names no specific games or departments. But we do have tweets from a few recently-former Turbine team members saying goodbye, and there are also some other sites reporting additonal info (that is far from verified). You have to decide for yourself which info you find credible and which you do not.

For myself, it seems credible that Turbine lost somewhere in the range of 65 to 90 staff in the past few weeks (many permanent, some temporary)...and that the bulk of those lost were in fields most directly tied to development of new content in LOTRO and DDO. And a few names mentioned seem to me credible, like Amlug and the Producer whose name I had not seen before, both of whom tweeted goodbyes.

Beyond that, I treat further detail and extrapolation as either (1) speculative, or (2) trolling. Would love a Turbine team situation report, but looks like we're not getting one of those any time soon.

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Originally Posted by Angadan

No, there is nothing verified from Turbine on the layoffs as a whole. And the only verification from Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment is vague, doesn't even give any numbers. But we do have tweets from a few recently-former Turbine team members saying goodbye, and some other sites that are far from verified. You have to decide for yourself which info you find credible and which you do not.

For myself, it seems credible that Turbine lost somewhere in the range of 65 to 90 staff in the past few weeks (many permanent, some temporary)...and that the bulk of those lost were in fields most directly tied to development of new content in LOTRO and DDO. And a few names mentioned seem to me credible, like Amlug and the Producer whose name I had not seen before, both of whom tweeted goodbyes.

Beyond that, I treat further detail and extrapolation as either (1) speculative, or (2) trolling. Would love a Turbine team situation report, but looks like we're not getting one of those any time soon.

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Yeah, thanks. I wasn't sure if anyone was compiling a list from tweets of Turbine employees who are active on Twitter and said something or not. To be honest, I don't really know any of the LotRO devs by name or what they do. And I have no idea how to navigate twitter, so I wouldn't know where to start.

Yes, a few dedicated LotRO devs were affected, but it seems by and large the biggest group laid off was the QA staff and related dev members.

Heck, http://www.turbine.com/en/careers even shows the QA Manager position available. I wonder if Jay Piette is still there in a new role or was affected as well.

Does that mean Turbine finally acknowledged the horrendous amounts of bugs that made everyone upset the past two expansions? (like big battles being half-way broken for over a month after it launched). hard to tell from our perspective.

The only thing that worries me is that a fresh team of QAs will take months if not years to get up to speed about their games. If that is what WB Games meant by addressing market forces, or by outsourcing QA to some other firm/parent company, then we will see. This could simply be a way to clean house on DDO and LOTRO and build a new staff for the next decade of Turbine with a new purpose / view on how to ensure quality in their products, Infinite Crisis, etc, which even I, a Turbine/LOTRO fan, would appreciate.

The QA stuff came from a link I found, but won't share here in the forums.

Thanks due for the work put in by those laid off, and a heartfelt good luck in the search for your next placement, been there, done that, it sucks. Your legacy is the world as it stands now and of that I think you can be proud.

As to any pond life gloating, shouting "we told you so", spreading FUD or otherwise making any capital for their "position" (whatever it is) out of this - grow up, seriously. These are real people facing real problems, "the game", whose "fault" it is, or whether it was correctly forecast are utterly irrelevant and in these circumstances such discussions are crass in the extreme. Instead of compiling lists of the departed, speculating on whys and wherefores and scoring forum PVP points,why not give these people some time and privacy and let them start to rebuild their lives?

Very sorry to hear this and I wish you all the best of luck in finding work. IMHO the things you've done here have made the world a better place. A special thanks to Rock for your work in fixing the Captain, you'll be missed. Good luck to you all.

My thanks and respect to those affected. Your work was beautiful and interesting, and much appreciated. I wish you well finding another position that stretches your creativity.

Namarie!

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Originally Posted by Edlenn

Very sorry to hear this and I wish you all the best of luck in finding work. IMHO the things you've done here have made the world a better place. A special thanks to Rock for your work in fixing the Captain, you'll be missed. Good luck to you all.

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Ya, Rockx's plans for captain were wonderful, and he is the team member I will miss the most. I hope turbine doesn't take a "out of sight, out of mind" perspective on their dev's plans and can glean that we really liked many of the directions Rockx was heading in with his planning.

I notice the vault-keeper in the MD crafting area is named Amlug - is that a new homage? The vault-keeper in Three-Farrow is still called "Vault-keeper"... I had started wandering around looking for monuments to the fallen, but perhaps I'm on the wrong foot.

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Originally Posted by Tuco

I notice the vault-keeper in the MD crafting area is named Amlug - is that a new homage? The vault-keeper in Three-Farrow is still called "Vault-keeper"... I had started wandering around looking for monuments to the fallen, but perhaps I'm on the wrong foot.

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It was actually a bug that that vault keeper shares the same mob-assets as the one in the recently revamped E&G tavern (when it first happened I mentioned it to him directly, and he thanked me and put it on the list to get fixed). I hope it never gets changed.

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Originally Posted by Tuco

I notice the vault-keeper in the MD crafting area is named Amlug - is that a new homage? The vault-keeper in Three-Farrow is still called "Vault-keeper"... I had started wandering around looking for monuments to the fallen, but perhaps I'm on the wrong foot.

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I don't think they can just change things like that without doing an update

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Originally Posted by Asheron86

I don't think they can just change things like that without doing an update

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I seem to recall having to download a bunch of files a couple days ago...could it have been....SATAN? er an update?

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Originally Posted by Dotlbeme

I seem to recall having to download a bunch of files a couple days ago...could it have been....SATAN? er an update?

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That was update 12.3. It came out on Monday.

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Originally Posted by Yula_the_Mighty

That was update 12.3. It came out on Monday.

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Heh, Yula, sarcasm seems entirely lost on you. I think Dotlbeme knew that was 12.3. He was using sarcasm to make the point that there HAS been an update recently which might have introduced the change Tuco noted.

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Originally Posted by Angadan

Heh, Yula, sarcasm seems entirely lost on you. I think Dotlbeme knew that was 12.3. He was using sarcasm to make the point that there HAS been an update recently which might have introduced the change Tuco noted.

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This was changed with Update 12 I believe. Definately not 12.3. I'd have to look really far back in my twitter feed for the conversation with Amlug for an exact date.

I went through this in 2007, when the huge corporation who had bought our small company moved its responsibilities up to their main headquarters (after repeatedly lying to us for two years about keeping us open if we were profitable). Two years out, a very saavy fellow in processing told me he thought that was what was going to happen and he was right. It wasn't a layoff per se-they made job offers to everyone to move, and they fully expected to get 20% of us. They even bussed people up there to check it out. But the most valuable, long-term employees were lowballed to the point of insult-the area we were re-locating to had cost-of-living that was 20% higher than where we were, and most of the older folks were offered a 5% raise. I was actually offered a 33% raise, which was kind of flattering, but it was never an option for me, since my husband's job was what was paying the bills.

They got 5% of the employees and now the division no longer exists. My company was just another piece of the competition they'd bought up and absorbed.

So my heart goes out to everyone who was laid off. I've not been playing the game very long, so I don't know about your individual contributions like some others here do, but I already have over 1000 enjoyable hours thanks to your dedicated work. I hope you all find new employment soon.

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Originally Posted by Elragar

go on, extrapolate from the data - I know you can do it :rolleyes:

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Extrapolate? Precious?

Not much to add except my sympathies go out to those affected and their families too.

Best wishes and fond appreciation to +Amlug, +ZombieColumbus, +Mithlin and especially +Vastin.

You guys all did great stuff.

"Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."

This is a sad day indeed! My prayers are with you all (and your families). Thank you for all the hard work you have put in to make this game so amazing!!

Sapience,

Since the Producers Letter thread is locked guess I'll ask here.

Can we get a statement on if, and if so to what degree is expected, the recent layoffs will impact the near term road map?

U13 was expected in late March, is that still a realistic time? What about U14 which would be expected around June?

If the names we are seeing are correct, it seems that layoffs have gone across Depts. What will this do to the continued Class/Mob adjustments, Housing Update, Area Revamps, the Secret, Mail Upgrade etc?

We are often reminded that resources are a large factor in time-frames and priority, with this loss in Developer resources it's hard to imagine plans are not being altered. Can we look forward to an updated Producers Letter?



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Condolences to those now seeking work and best of luck.