Things not looking too hot for UO...

[WarderDragon]

I checked UO Stratics, and it looks like they are laying off a lot of the developers (again) as they move the studio (again) from California to Virginia, in an effort to 'downsize' and reduce expanding costs. Its not just UO it seems like, they are also making cuts to the Mythic team. Yaay for EA! More stupid sports games, and fuck up their only attempts to get any sort of recognition in the growing MMO community.

[Miiralaeuntryr]

I'd love to know when Games Workshop says no to Warhammer then. Daaamn it was bad for Mythic to sell out to EA.

I've come to the conclusion that EA just hates all Fantasy MMOs. The Sims is ok tho and gets LOTS of attention.

[WarderDragon]

Owing to sagging profits and and a less-than-firm grip on their once invulnerable spot at top of the third party heap, Electronic Arts is looking to make some changes in their corporate structure, starting with Mythic and their Redwood Shores studio. An internal email from a trustworthy source who wishes to remain anonymous reveals that John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, has tasked every studio and company within the monolithic publisher with getting their rising costs in line with revenue, which in plain English means layoffs.
The email from Mythic VP Rob Denton was sent to all employees of Mythic and details some of the plans to reduce costs by cutting jobs as well as some actions already taken. Headcount will be managed through "attrition, performance management, stricter hiring guidelines and layoffs". Over the next two months, the Ultima Online team will be moving from EA Redwood Shores to Mythic's Fairfax, VA studio to streamline operations. Meanwhile, a number of employees at both studios have already been let go as of earlier today, with more to follow as EA tightens its belt in the coming months.

Yeah, I have to agree. They seriously aren't even going to try to make an effort in the MMO community, but I seriously doubt that Games Workshop is going to pull the plug on EA, as much as I would like to think otherwise. *Shrugs* It just further affirms that I need to go to Age of Conan rather than Warhammer Online.

...Age of Conan has boobies anyways. Warhammer just has Orcs. Stinky Orcs. Orcs that are spawned from spores. And bald women. Lots of bald women.

[WarderDragon]

...then again, on further inspection, after sifting through all the doomsayers comments and the "Goodbye UO" threads that happen every few months, I found some comments that do seem a little bright.

It sounds like they are basically handing over the main reigns and the lead developers to work directly under Mythic Studios, and have people like Mark Jacobs and Paul Barnett take a whack at it. That could be a good thing, or a bad thing, but Mark Jacobs apparently posted basically saying "Don't worry you guys, this isn't what it looks like." Not very reassuring, but who knows.

Then, apparently Richard Garriot has been showing up at some of the UO Town Hall meets and has been meeting with some of the producers. Its just a theory, but there might be some talks going on that we don't know about. He always said he was going to buy back the rights to the Ultima Series, but he acknowledged that EA was probably doing to drag the series through the mud before returning the assets to him.

[WarderDragon]

"Do we really no longer have a QA team?"

There is a rumor going around to this effect, and it's simply not true. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting right next to some of them. (Some of them are on the other side of the country, although That will soon change

With the team's move, there are going to be a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation, and a lot of doom and gloom. Please, take everything you hear with a grain of salt, and don't be too quick to predict the death of UO. People have been doing it for just about ten years now, and it's still kickin'.

"Is [insert your favorite dev here] going to be moving?"

This is a decision each person is going to be making over the next several weeks. There won't be any official announcement until everything has shaken out and everyone is comfortable with their plans. Moving across the country is a big decision, and I don't want anyone to feel pressured, or under a microscope.

[Miiralaeuntryr]

Didn't garriot have some connection to Virginia with is gaming companies and work?

[WarderDragon]

Honestly, I had no idea that there were any gaming companies in Virginia in the first place, so I really dunno. I wouldn't be suprised though, because NCSoft is getting to be a large company and Destination Games are pretty much tied to them in alot of ways.

He is more or less tied to Austin. It has always seemed to me that most of the gaming companies were either located in Miami, Honolulu, Austin, San Diego, and Redwood Shores (San Francisco). *Shrugs*