43 replies to this topic

[KrakenAZ]

It's really unfortunate that Anet's fate is tied to NCSoft.  NCSoft's community image has been on the poor side for years, but with their recent treatment of CoH, things went from bad to people outright hating the company.  I've seen people badmouthing the company that don't even play their games.  The Korean Times just posted an article that includes an interview with Mercedes Lackey (well known fantasy novelist and CoH fan), and it is clear that NCSoft has pretty much irrevocably become one of the black hats of the gaming industry:

http://koreatimes.co...602_126197.html

Also, the glassdoor.com reviews for NCSoft are terrible.  While it can be argued that it's often the disgruntled that are more likely to post to such sites, NCSoft's entry is one of the worst I've seen:

http://www.glassdoor...iews-E23242.htm

[soxx]

Companies reorganize themselves all the time, for better or worse.  NCsoft will probably "reorganize" again when Blade & Soul and/or Wildstar are released.  Put your tinfoil hats away.

[Illein]

TenderFoot, on 05 December 2012 - 04:42 PM, said:

If you're talking about my one of my post well you missed the joke, pity.

Wasn't.

[tatsuo]

Nexon now is a largest NCsoft shareholder, so it has some power inside NCsoft and it does not look good.

[blindude]

So where should we expect the gw2 fall to start??Rumors say it will be around 21 of this month..

[Volkon]

This is a result of City of Heroes closing down, not related to ANet or GW2.

Relax.

[Meliai]

KrakenAZ, on 05 December 2012 - 05:05 PM, said:

It's really unfortunate that Anet's fate is tied to NCSoft.  NCSoft's community image has been on the poor side for years, but with their recent treatment of CoH, things went from bad to people outright hating the company.  I've seen people badmouthing the company that don't even play their games.  The Korean Times just posted an article that includes an interview with Mercedes Lackey (well known fantasy novelist and CoH fan), and it is clear that NCSoft has pretty much irrevocably become one of the black hats of the gaming industry:

http://koreatimes.co...602_126197.html

Also, the glassdoor.com reviews for NCSoft are terrible.  While it can be argued that it's often the disgruntled that are more likely to post to such sites, NCSoft's entry is one of the worst I've seen:

http://www.glassdoor...iews-E23242.htm

Those glassdoor reviews are eyeopening and in many ways unsurprising, considering how frustrated players have been with NCsoft games other than Guild Wars 2.  Supposedly Anet operates separately, but if their revenue were to drop significantly it's possible even they would start to have more frequent layoffs as well.  Regardless of the source of the reviews, bad management and bad communication will always be troublesome for employees of any business.  From what they are saying, it sounds like they are trying to downsize the western offices to a bare minimum and just focus on the Korean market since their development and business strategies aren't working so well here.  That doesn't necessarily mean Anet is going to disappear along with those offices though.  On a brighter note it could mean that they are leaving more decisions up to Anet, but if there is any truth to those reviews, then they'll want a huge share of whatever Anet is earning and likely won't leave the financial management solely up to the west.  Remember Anet also lost some talented former GW1 devs and employees over the last year or so and I wouldn't be surprised if they left to pursue a less creatively stifling environment.

[Princess Fatora]

Quote

Companies reorganize themselves all the time, for better or worse.  NCsoft will probably "reorganize" again when Blade & Soul and/or Wildstar are released.  Put your tinfoil hats away.

You clearly have no clue whatsoever about businesses. Companies do not actually do this all the time. Companies do this when they *have* to.

NCsofts stocks are tanking and are steadily getting worse. They are doing everything they can to reverse this trend. Denying this would make YOU the tinfoil hat, because what I just said is pretty much basic company 101. Pretty much all decisions that NCsoft is doing right now have only one goal: Get their image back on track. Not the consumer image, of course (that one is tanking as well, none of the non-F2P game companies have that crappy an image, and that's saying something), I'm talking about the one to investors.

That is why they restructure. That is why they are doing several things across their entire portfolio to get positive press *among investors*.
Arenanet is likely just one company that is getting pressured into generating positive press.


This isn't even unusual. This happens every single time a company is taking as badly as NCsoft right now. They have to do this. Not because of Nexon, it's just because the other stock holders will demand it as well. Only an extreme tinfoil hatter would deny the existance of basic business strategies.

[Juanele]

https://forum-en.gui...irst#post931008

Quote

While we are indeed a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation (read NCsoft HQ), we are also our own entity. ArenaNet has not been affected by the NCwest realignment. And indeed, we are hiring: http://www.arena.net/jobs/

Edited by Juanele, 05 December 2012 - 10:20 PM.

[Al Shamari]

As it's been stated in this thread, but needs to be stated again, Arenanet is a separate entity from NCSoft and while NCSoft is laying employees off, Arenanet is hiring. Although NCSoft can and will influence some of the decisions made by Arenanet, I don't think this will take any place in this. City of Heros is closing down, thus the company is adjusting some of its Western offices.

Also, as Fatora said, NCSoft is taking some huge hits in terms of their public stock right now. The shareholders demand adjustments be made, simple as that. I don't think this is some Nexon coup d'eta, so lets put our conspiracy theories away.

It should also be stated that according to some of those Glassdoor reviews, we can probably expect the Western NCSoft offices (Europe and America) to close over time, because of lack of knowledge of Western markets on NCSoft's behalf. They just aren't doing the right things.

The question I have is, should Arenanet part ways with NCSoft in the near future and find a new publisher?

Edited by Al Shamari, 05 December 2012 - 10:46 PM.

[TenderFoot]

Al Shamari, on 05 December 2012 - 10:46 PM, said:

The question I have is, should Arenanet part ways with NCSoft in the near future and find a new publisher?

Depends if Anet can buy all their shares back from NCSoft if they have enough money

[Al Shamari]

TenderFoot, on 05 December 2012 - 11:17 PM, said:

Depends if Anet can buy all their shares back from NCSoft if they have enough money

This is true. Personally, I would think it would be possible seeing as they've massively expanded since the time NCSoft bought those shares. Then again, I'm not a business major, nor an economist and therefore don't really have a clue.

Edited by Al Shamari, 06 December 2012 - 12:10 AM.

[Dokem]

Anet Activision?

[Krazzar]

Al Shamari, on 06 December 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

This is true. Personally, I would think it would be possible seeing as they've massively expanded since the time NCSoft bought those shares. Then again, I'm not a business major, nor an economist and therefore don't really have a clue.

Anet is tiny compared to NCSoft, especially since Nexon became involved.  On top of that core IP Anet uses belongs to NCSoft (such as the engine for GW1 and GW2), so licensing, if NCSoft even agreed to licence, would be a major ongoing cost. After recently launching a huge project the vast majority of any profits would be rolled back to the project to keep operating.

On the topic; am I the only one that recieved the City of Heroes email and knew exactly what this was about? I mean, did anyone think they would really keep a studio open and keep paying them for a game that doesn't exist any longer?