As Development of Episode 2 Begins, 'Rightsizing' Team Leads to Layoffs - Shroud of the Avatar - MMO

SBFord

As Development of Episode 2 Begins, 'Rightsizing' Team Leads to Layoffs - Shroud of the Avatar - MMORPG.com

Shroud of the Avatar News - Portalarium and Travian Games have sent word that development of the "next round of episodic content" has started. Episode 2 will feature expanded stories, new lands and feature sets. While development on Episode 2 is underway, a crew will be working on polishing current content. The PR also reveals that "staff rightsizing" is underway which will lead to some developers being laid off. No further explanation was given about how many employees have been let go.

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zigalucard

Hopefully they polish the animations and sound effects for combat, it's just so bland right now. The world itself can be fun to get lost in exploring, but the combat is really lacking. Definitely not a game for everyone though.

Scot

I think getting to episode 3 was a KS promise, not sure?

Chaserz

So they cut their employees 50% from 6 to 3?

Nilden

Well I counted 37 employed on their website.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=26862

Wellspring

“The best part is that players will get to help decide which features we work on for Episode 2 via our Stretch Goal Store!”

Best part for who? News of an expanding cash shops is always the worst part for me...

GeezerGamer

"Rightsizing" requires "Downsizing" when you have been practicing "Wrongsizing"

Pingu2012

Has anyone ever seen a company rightsize the team larger? The term just always seems like a weak attempt at PR...

Panther2103

Pingu2012 said:

Has anyone ever seen a company rightsize the team larger? The term just always seems like a weak attempt at PR...

I honestly haven't even heard that term until now. I've never seen a company add additional employees unless they have a new product or have something huge like PUBG or Fortnite. 

HobbitsWonTheWar

This is just spin. They sacked major staff. Including their community moderator cuz he had a terrible reputation for allowing harassment. No way they complete episode 2 with less staff and carryin $13m in debt they cant pay. They just coverin up for running telethons twice in a week an still not getting the cash they need. Y'all never seein the promised content. We still ain't got the episode 1 we promised.

As for tha stretch goals they werent funded previously when they had masses more backers still trusted them. They said they were terrible ideas made by someone who had left the company. I guess they are back again now. Portalarium only doin it now again because they can't go back to kickstarter after they burnt all tha bridges there. An they tried seedinvest and other desperate measures. Its all just lies to keep the last few whales blindly trustin an spendin. Stick a fork in Shroud tho cos its done.

HobbitsWonTheWar

Scot said:

I think getting to episode 3 was a KS promise, not sure?

5 episodes. An kickstarter rewards are supposed to be completed from the money they got then. Were never gettin them

DarkEvilHatred

Game is already going under and it isn't even finished. I don't even know why they bother with trying to finish it. It is complete shit and needs to be redone from the ground up. Go do another space flight for 10 million.. or is that why they have to downsize? He's going into space again soon... word of advice, when you get into space, STAY THERE.

mikeb0817

Die slow, Lord British, die slow.

Nilden

MightyUnclean

As I mentioned in a different post, the crazy thing is:  In the official forum thread about the layoffs, many of the players seem to believe that this is a good thing for SotA.  Just go to the official forums and read through the comments.  It's eye-opening about the blind faith some of the players have.

MadFrenchie

Rightsizing, that's a new one on me.

MadFrenchie

MisterZebub said:

*sigh* Might as well go totally batshit and just call it "FUNSIZING". You know, if you they aren't confident enough to explain what they're doing honestly and openly to the public, I have to wonder just how much they've been lying to themselves.

Dude, I hadn't thought about the massive loss to stand-up comedy that was Carlin's death in a while.  RIP.

Scot

HobbitsWonTheWar said:

Scot said:

I think getting to episode 3 was a KS promise, not sure?

5 episodes. An kickstarter rewards are supposed to be completed from the money they got then. Were never gettin them

Welcome to boards!

I wish it could be in better circumstances, but that's life. 

Kyleran

MightyUnclean said:

As I mentioned in a different post, the crazy thing is:  In the official forum thread about the layoffs, many of the players seem to believe that this is a good thing for SotA.  Just go to the official forums and read through the comments.  It's eye-opening about the blind faith some of the players have.

Reminds me of this scene from one of my favorite movies.

HobbitsWonTheWar

Scot said:

HobbitsWonTheWar said:

Scot said:

I think getting to episode 3 was a KS promise, not sure?

5 episodes. An kickstarter rewards are supposed to be completed from the money they got then. Were never gettin them

Welcome to boards!

I wish it could be in better circumstances, but that's life. 

Yeah me too. What makes me saddest is what its done to the feelings of ultima itself. Used to be we all was united in enjoyment of the game. Something identical that we all shared. Didnt have ta be smart or even british just all roleplayin as the same heroes following the same path. Shroud turned all that on its head. Divided us between roleplayers and people tryin ta make a quick buck off each other. We stopped playing computer games and were told to be play each other. Not what I wanted to do man.

Ya could see it comin for years. I still remember feelin bad when I saw competitions for decorating I couldnt enter cuz I couldnt afford most of the deco they were expected to show off. Never really cared for housing anyway but it made me feel like I was second class. Get enough of that in real life. I play fantasy games ta escape that. Thats what made lord of the rings so special. The little guy with the socially ugly hair was the real hero not the lords an ladies.

Media never really covered how much shroud abandoned its backers though. Even this article tries ta spin what is an obvious hail mary try to keep bankruptcy away a bit longer. Wouldnt matter if we actually owned the game. But we dont even have that. Just a license to use the servers. An the banks are gonna claim those pretty soon and then were all boned.

Chicken soup for tha soul is all well and good but ya need real chicken soup before that. Cant do much dreaming when youve nothing to eat. An in shroud the rich ate everything off every table an left everyone else to starve. Sackin staff dont put more food on the table. Its just tryin to make the last few crumbs last a bit longer.