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Rumor: EA Job Cuts Hit Warhammer Online Dev

by Chris Faylor, Jan 19, 2009 2:50pm PST

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning developer Mythic Entertainment is the latest EA subsidiary to be hit in the company's latest cost-cutting efforts, Joystiq reports.

Citing anonymous sources, the site claims that all of Mythic's playtesters were let go, along with 21 customer service employees and half of its quality assurance team.

When reached for comment, studio owner Electronic Arts once again stated that no specifics on the latest round of cost-cutting measures would be provided until early February--the same response given to rumors that EA axed Pandemic Brisbane.

Electronic Arts had previously announced that it would cut roughly 10% of its global workforce by March 31, and close "at least" nine facilities. Skate and Need for Speed developer Black Box is among those slated for closure, with the studio's teams and "associated game franchises" moving to a nearby office in Burnaby, British Columbia.

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17 Threads | 43 Comments

#27

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By: tlover2 x Show Full Post

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Warhammers biggest problem is everyone plays wow and even if 1 person would like to play warhammer they usually want switch unless all his friends go play it and they wont go. MMO's are not fun. You have to make it fun and that comes from the people you play with. And if they don't switch typical either will you.

Jan 19, 2009 7:47pm PST

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Warhammers biggest problem is everyone plays wow and even if 1 person would like to play warhammer they u... : tlover2
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
- That's pretty much it. Coupled with the fact that you need people for pretty much anything that is worth... : Syrek
- The real problem with Warhammer is that its WOWHAMMER. Sorry GW fans, but blizzard got there first, and ... : ReiMomo

#20

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By: Josiahs_hand x Show Full Post

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There goes the MMO. I was going to buy it next month and try it. But this makes me more than just a little worried.

Jan 19, 2009 4:15pm PST

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There goes the MMO. I was going to buy it next month and try it. But this makes me more than just a littl... : Josiahs_hand
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 7 replies.
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  Yeah Ive been subbed since release and have been overall let down by the game. Things are looking bleak s... : limpossible
  - My gametime runs out when Dawn of war is released. Gunna be a tough decision which to play. : thewindcriesmary
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  Most people do not realize that these cuts will not affect the game play, or future developement/addons -... : Aerizy
  - Well, if they released such a bug-ridden game with a 'full quality assurance team,' then I'm not too hope... : Snake&Crane
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    This team has shown extreme lack of a QA department already, which caused me to quit a while ago. Having... : TheNiXXeD
    - So many people forget what a stinking, unfinished, pile of poo WoW was the first few months it was out. ... : ReiMomo

#40

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By: sreyes22 x Show Full Post

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Makes no sense.

EA is sooo blinded by shareholder investment and trimming the bottomline, that they're going to sacrifice vital components to the only competitor to WoW. GOOD JOB.

Jan 20, 2009 8:16am PST

Makes no sense. EA is sooo blinded by shareholder investment and trimming the bottomline, that they're... : sreyes22

#39

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By: axiomatic x Show Full Post

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One upper management salary equals about five to ten worker bees salary. I can assure you that there is a useless high salary upper manager that probably should have been let go before playtesters who ensure the crap code that was put out by dev's over the weekend is in fact crap code. This is only going to hurt the paying customers and of course the workers who were fired.

Jan 20, 2009 8:13am PST

One upper management salary equals about five to ten worker bees salary. I can assure you that there is a... : axiomatic

#8

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By: CoreContingency x Show Full Post

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"...all of Mythic's playtesters were let go"

Well that explains how some crazy game play changes are coming down the pipe, like the new zone control changes for 1.1.1 which mainly rely on who controls keeps and objectives in a zone and heavily favors the dominant faction on a server. Mind you, some servers can field 3 - 1 odds between factions, and on some really messed up servers, 5 -1 odds.

Jan 19, 2009 3:24pm PST

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"...all of Mythic's playtesters were let go" Well that explains how some crazy game play changes are c... : CoreContingency
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- They need to further consolidate servers because I'm on one where we (Destro) outnumbers Order by at leas... : Snake&Crane

#32

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By: minime2010 x Show Full Post

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WAR rule's i have 2 level 40's now and unlike wow i am having so much fun with them rvr/pvp for the win ... ps will not go back the playing wow

Jan 20, 2009 6:15am PST

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WAR rule's i have 2 level 40's now and unlike wow i am having so much fun with them rvr/pvp for the win .... : minime2010
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- I won't go back to WoW either, but are you really having so much fun playing round robin with BOs and Kee... : Snake&Crane

#35

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By: solarphinn x Show Full Post

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If there's anything WAR needed, it was to cut the playtesters and QA.

Yeah.

Jan 20, 2009 7:54am PST

If there's anything WAR needed, it was to cut the playtesters and QA. Yeah. : solarphinn

#1

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By: Visceral Monkey x Show Full Post

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"that all of Mythic's playtesters were let go,"

DOH.

Jan 19, 2009 2:57pm PST

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"that all of Mythic's playtesters were let go," DOH. : Visceral Monkey
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
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  This article sums everything up. It' a brief history of EA. I think many of you will see the irony and ho... : rthefley
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    Also EA's history of handling MMOs just continues. I've always despised EA for what they did to MMOs and ... : Lukiopimp
    - EA is still better than SOE when it comes to MMO's. SWG and Pirates had such a great potential until SOE ... : Aerizy

#19

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By: Digital-Hero x Show Full Post

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This game lost me after my first month, I went back to WoW.

Jan 19, 2009 4:15pm PST

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This game lost me after my first month, I went back to WoW. : Digital-Hero
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Same story here. It has some really good things (e.g. public quests, the book that tracks everything you ... : Zipper114

#24

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By: Dr_Cube x Show Full Post

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This sounds like a vote of no confidence on EA's part. Perhaps the game isn't bringing in and keeping as many subscribers as they thought they would?

Jan 19, 2009 5:18pm PST

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This sounds like a vote of no confidence on EA's part. Perhaps the game isn't bringing in and keeping as ... : Dr_Cube
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Its sad that so many MMOs are considered failing unless they hold a candle to the Juggernaut that is WoW.... : tidic

#22

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By: Twin--Sword x Show Full Post

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What playtesters there was only people invited in to the closed beta/open best to even test the game there never has or was playtesters and you can see that form playing the game.

Its still a good mmo shame most people don't bother to get to T4 where it become's good and quit at the lower level's where its not as good as late game that been said its PVE side sucks badly due to the AI and poor loot systerm.

Jan 19, 2009 4:22pm PST

What playtesters there was only people invited in to the closed beta/open best to even test the game ther... : Twin--Sword

#2

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By: Splinebastard x Show Full Post

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Kicking out half of the quality assurance team. That just about says everything about EA.

Jan 19, 2009 3:06pm PST

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Kicking out half of the quality assurance team. That just about says everything about EA. : Splinebastard
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 9 replies.

#9

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By: tecow x Show Full Post

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Looks like they fired 23 people.

Jan 19, 2009 3:26pm PST

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Looks like they fired 23 people. : tecow
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- lol... so true :) : BornKiler
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  I see what you did there. : Ellissd
  - I went back to fully understand, and then I chuckled. : pturvz

#12

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By: Taggart x Show Full Post

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such bullshit, damn ea, feel for ta mythic.....tis all such bullshit

Jan 19, 2009 3:40pm PST

such bullshit, damn ea, feel for ta mythic.....tis all such bullshit : Taggart

#7

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By: jonin x Show Full Post

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ouch

Jan 19, 2009 3:22pm PST

ouch : jonin

#4

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By: AgentPothead x Show Full Post

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You only need to playtest if you expect people to actually play the game. I'm pretty sure that's EA's logic.

Jan 19, 2009 3:13pm PST

You only need to playtest if you expect people to actually play the game. I'm pretty sure that's EA's log... : AgentPothead

#3

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By: the archvile x Show Full Post

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I'm curious if this is pressure to use EA corporate staff instead of people who have been at Mythic since before the acquisition in June 2006. Nothing quite like the main office of a mega-conglom-o wanting to save some money, and seeing "redundancies" where there are actually people who are intimately familiar with the product they support.

Jan 19, 2009 3:13pm PST

I'm curious if this is pressure to use EA corporate staff instead of people who have been at Mythic since... : the archvile

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