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Transformers Universe: Several Members Let Go in Reorganization Move
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Jagex has announced that thirteen members of the Transformers Online team have been let go as development of a proprietary engine has been stopped. In addition, Eurogamer is reporting that Hasbro is encouraging Jagex to get TO out the door by year's end.
"We have always been committed to developing the highest quality games and services and are confident that this reduction will not adversely impact the game. "The vast majority of the Transformers studio will be unaffected by this move. On a positive note a significant portion of the talent potentially effected have already been reallocated to support the upcoming release of RuneScape 3 in HTML 5 and the RuneScape 3 on tablets project slated for the end of the year. Regrettably we have not been able to find suitable roles for 13 members of the team who will be leaving the studio later this month. "We will be revealing more details about the game on www.transformersuniverse.com shortly."
Read more at the link above.
Comments
I was pretty sure this was going to be bad but this "Hasbro is encouraging Jagex to get TO out the door by year's end." confirms it..
What a waste.
Well we can be sure this will be garbage.
If they are pushing...engine dev to be out by the end of 2013 with a full game?
It's going to be garbage. We all know it is. Say what you want about runescape. That damn thing just won't die. I would trust Jags wants on their game dev. They do actually give a damn about their work.
It's one of the reasons that while I never will play runescape (In this modern era) I will say this. They were super indy and small with a cheesey lil game and now look at em.
Go Jag go!
I never like hearing when people lose their jobs. "Not finding a suitable position" for 13 of them is their way of saying they didn't look hard enough. If they were originally on this project and have sufficient experience, they could have found something for them, especially if they are pushing to get this game out.
But, thats the business, I'm hopeful and almost certain they'll land on their feet.
What a waste of possibly great IP.
Giant robots + transforming = MMO Gold. One would think.
MMORPG Gamers/Developers need a reality check!
They should scrap this browser thing completely and make a full, proper MMO game, something similar to the recently announced Warhammer 40k, third person like in War/Fall of Cybertron, plenty of action, giant robots transforming, PvP and so on.
The IP is perfect for something like that.
whats with all the negativity, have a little faith, Runescape is an amazing project and if TO is half the game runescape is it will succeed.
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Except it's going to be nothing like Runescape, and Jagex has said that themselves.
"Transformers are about war; they're about action," Jagex chief creative director Alex Horton recently told Edge. "They don't carry gold, bake bread, catch fish, cut down trees. But for all they take away, they throw open so many more opportunities. Maybe there's more in a selection of characters and abilities, and the strategy in that, than there is [in] leveling a character endlessly and going through f--- loads of boss battles."
I'm a huge TF fan and have been following this game for awhile, a year or so. Started getting nervous when all the news/stuff they had to show at cons was a bot creator. Well now even THAT isn't in the game anymore...Instead you have premade characters with a little bio and role.
If you've ever played the WFC/FoC games, then this game is like that- Except it's a crappy browser version. They did away with the MMO concept as they've stated in many interviews and want to go for a MOBA style. It's now a lobby based system where you pick the game mode you want and just..go shoot things. When your bot dies you have to pick a different one or pay to rez the one you have, as it has a timer on it.
Many people on the beta forums were really upset about how they told us we would get an MMO and then they just changed it to this sad WFC/FoC clone. The mods replied and said to just give the new version a chance and to deal with it because we might like it. It's funny, I went back to check things the other day. Seems the only active part of the site is from those not in beta that know nothing about the changes that have been made. Most of the testers left due to no updates in months and this whole change from MMO to MOBA.
Very sorry to those let go, I wish them the best of luck!
Do Marketing/PR people think we are stupid?
Lets start with this:
"a significant portion of the talent potentially effected have already been reallocated to support the upcoming release of RuneScape 3 in HTML 5 and the RuneScape 3 on tablets project slated for the end of the year. Regrettably we have not been able to find suitable roles for 13 members of the team who will be leaving the studio later this month."
So we have 13 people who will lose their jobs and a significant portion more who have been moved to other games but...
"The vast majority of the Transformers studio will be unaffected by this move"
How can a development studio lose 25 to 35 staff and be "unaffected" by it?