Global headcount to be reduced by about 20 per cent
Eve Online developer CCP is to make more than 100 jobs redundant, the company has confirmed.
In a statement, CCP claimed it was spreading its resources too thin and had to contract its global headcount by “about 20 per cent”.
CCP had an international workforce of about 600 staff before the layoff operation began.
The downsizing will most severely affect staff at CCP’s Atlanta studio in the US.
“But select positions in our Reykjavik, Iceland office will also be affected,” CCP added.
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“As we re-examine our outward relations, we are also taking time to re-evaluate our internal goals. In doing so, we have come to the conclusion that we are attempting too many things for a company our size.
“Rather than allowing this to persist, we have made the decision to sharpen our focus. Sadly, this means reducing our staff.
"We estimate that around twenty per cent of global positions will be affected by this process. These will be predominantly in our Atlanta, GA office, although select positions in our Reykjavik, Iceland office will be affected.”
Currently, the company is developing Eve Online expansions as well as World of Darkness and the PS3 game Dust 514.
CCP said that, while it will remain focused on updating Eve and launching Dust, the World of Darkness project will now be undertaken by "a significantly reduced team”.
Creative teams in Atlanta will also refocus on launching Dust 514, which is due for release next year.
“We are very sad to lose some of our talented and dedicated colleagues to this necessary process. Naturally we are making every effort within our means to help them find alternative employment. Decisions like these are difficult for all those involved and extraordinarily sad for all of those whose lives are affected.”
CCP has also admitted that its so-called 'golden goose', Eve Online, has suffered from a drop in user numbers.
This appears to be related to the uproar regarding virtual item policies, and CCP is currently offering significant subscription discounts to users who have quit the game.
But the company insists Eve Online is in “good health”.
“Our subscriber numbers are higher today than they were a year ago,” the company said.
“However, over the past two months, our subscribers have gone down from their peak this summer. We attribute this to our own mistakes and poor communications with our players. We are correcting that now.”
No surprises here,
Thats what happens when you get thousands of subscribers quit the game due to bad design choices.
So Hilmar made his grovelling apology days before knowing he was going to slash 100 jobs.
What a lovely guy.
An d I was wondering why most of their jobs listings went away in last month or so, I guess hiring when you're firing does not send a good message.
i hope we will be able to keep a lot of these game developers in atlanta...there are still a few studios in town that are hiring
Sometimes I don't know what's worse...to be let go or to be kept around knowing the large task that's ahead of you in order to make up for the lost resources. Not to mention low morales within the company due to events like these.
Hilmar should add himself to the layoff list.
i am not aware bout specifics, but in general you can't avoid bad design choices. the whole point is how you address them after you receive feedback from your focus groupQA team.
It is sad to hear that so many people are being laid off! But sometimes it is inevitable, and even necessary for the survival of the entire project. All the best to those affected by this events.
They are talented people and i hope they will find something good very soon! If not, they can always try to make an awesome iOS game with some of their ex colleagues! I know that is what I would do today! :D
Just to add my opinion to the backlash that seems to be hitting CCP at the moment...
I worked at CCP in Newcastle for a year before starting up Pitbull and, I have to say, they were one of the best companies I'd worked for. They treat the staff well, give Christmas bonuses, don't expect people to work crazy amounts of overtime, don't put unrealistic schedules onto people, and, yeah, are really friendly as well. It was an honour to work with them.
Hillmar, too, seems to be getting a lot of flak here... and I think it's all going a bit far. An internal document was leaked which, oh my god, showed that CCP had plans for increasing profits. Shit, they shouldn't be doing that!
Apple sell their hardware for hundreds of pounds over real market value and, yet, are only met with praise. CCP look to see a bit of in-game content - and they're hated for it.
The people that have been let go from CCP, while sad, I don't personally connect this with the recent events... sure, the timing is extremely coincidental... but I suspect the bigger picture is that World of Darkness isn't working out as well as hoped... so CCP are looking to concentrate on their success, Eve, and their hopeful side-success, Dust 514.
Hope it all works out well for them.
To be blunt, CCP's own customers have put together scenarios over time which sofar have been proven to be vastly more accurate in predicting CCP's actions, inactions and failings over time than anything CCP has ever come up with themselves.
Remarkable in some ways, unsettling in many other ways.
Personally, I find it unsettling however that CCP is demonstrably taking no steps at all to identify and engage on the causes of the current situation and its consequences. There has been ample information on events, affairs as well as actions and decisions by various people at CCP detrimental to the course of the company and the managing of its products. Yet none of these people is affected in any way or form by these hard measures.
None of them. CCP removes the bulk of their first instrument of gathering information from its customers, yet maintains the position and person of Torfi as creative director who is directly responsible for many of the detrimental decisions over the past four years. Worse, responsible for encouraging a mindset where efforts are in service of personal goals and not the customer.
It just makes no sense. What company is so stubborn to shelter those who demonstrably harm it.
While it is nice seeing Hilmar eat humble pie, I have doubts about the company 'seeing the light' after this. They've done the whole big 'we're so sorry' thing before, and it's resulted in a company that makes a small rebound, and then goes back to being as egotistical as it was before. And as Greg says, they're not losing the staff that really screwed the pooch on these things, for years.
And that's understandable - the bad decision makers over there, the koolaid drinkers, are also the best connected, they've been blowing smoke and kissing ass the longest. People who saw the flaws are marginalized, let go, or shushed. The reason all the good advice Hilmar mentions in his apology blog was ignored, and likely will continue to be, is that these are people who really don't want to hear any bad news, and the upper management surrounded itself with a layer of people who sung the praises of the company ,till the bottom line finally caught up with them, and are now embedded deep in the company culture of yes men.
And that's nothing new, what so ever. It happens to a lot of companies, and especially companies that are run by personality, rather than by hard numbers - especially so when a company lies to itself about believing it is run on numbers, the way CCP does.
Anyway, I see a rocky road ahead for CCP. DUST 514 will not live up to the promises made for it (how could it? It's being done by an all new team in an all new studio, and it's trying to compete with the BF franchise), which will cause further convulsions and 'soul searching'. Possibly, what will result is a slimmer, EVE-focused company, but likely there will be more iniatives and nonsense. You can see the glints of it even within the apology letter - Hilmar is still singing the praises of Incarna and the virtual good stores, promising better, right after admitting to their failures and the fact that they are unconnected with the core game.
