NCsoft firing people in Austin again, Tabula Rasa to blame this time
NCsoft is downsizing in Austin yet again, due to the fact that Tabula Rasa is a financial disaster:
The company's chief financial officer Lee Jae-ho said last week that it was inevitable to reduce staff levels at the Texas subsidiary as the ``Tabula Rasa'' game has proven to be a financial disaster. Lee, however, said the project's leaders will keep their positions.
The damage control plan was announced after the company saw only 5 billion won of revenue from the game, which is believed to have cost the firm more than 100 billion won, one of the most distressing investments in the history of the Korean game industry. NCsoft's stock price plummeted to 38,600 won on Monday, the lowest in its history.
Ouch. I had high hopes for the game. Sadly, it was released too early, mainly because the Koreans forced it out the door to finally see a return on investment. Good move, guys.
The last time large-scale firings occurred at NCsoft Austin it was due to Auto Assault failing miserably. I guarantee you no more Sci-Fi themed MMOs will be coming from NCsoft. Ever. They will milk Lineage II gameplay and art for new projects from now until StarCraft 2 comes out.
This should make for some interesting GDC talk.