Can't say how they will handle this specific event, but in the past they seem to only allow speculation if it sounds positive for the game. Or to put it another way, here is a meme. Hopefully they will chill a bit and let people express their concerns about a game they care about without trying to censor too heavily.
Speaking as more of a forum lurker over the years, heavy censorship seems to be the norm here. It's hard to follow threads when every other post reads "post edited by so and so mod" and posts and whole threads just seem to up and disappear. Not having a go at anyone doing their job, just sayin it's makes following conversations a right pain.
As much as I like the presence of voice actors, wouldn't it have made sense to cut costs there first?
Anyway, it's very unfortunate that STO and its playerbase are now basically paying the price for years of overreach.
If I'm not mistaken, developers had already been fired in the past after being transferred from STO to another one of Cryptic's less succesful games that hadn't even been fully released yet at the time.
Obviously I'm not familiar with all the financial data and facts that led to these business decisions, but it seems pretty clear to me now that they were bad decisions. We've been told for years that STO was one of their succesful games - they should have concentrated their investments and other scarce resources, including manpower, here then.
Less adventurism, more focussing on the formula that - according to official statements - worked well.
Hindsight is always 20/20 mate. We don't know that voice actors were a problem. Just guessin, Cryptic probably doesn't have anything to do with the decisions being made in the Embracer board room.
Folks losing their jobs is tough, hope the folks who were let go from here land on their feet.
Some of the things that have happened don't require hindsight to understand that they were bad decisions though.
If allocating some part of your workforce from one project/product to another results in you having to let go all those people when that product fails to become viable, then the risk was simply too big to begin with.
This is going to oversimplify things a bit perhaps, but say I have a product (STO) that is very profitable. Something like 100m costs, 140m revenue, 40m profit.
Then it shouldn't be necessary to fire anyone after the other product failed. Those people aren't suddenly going to cost more if you transfer them back to the STO team.
The fact that, apparently, it was necessary to say goodbye to these people entirely, suggests that problems were already bigger than admitted way before Embracer was even in the picture.
Hello I'm in a few discord chats and all are basically saying that DECA games will herold the end times of star trek online. Why do players think this?
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Hello I'm in a few discord chats and all are basically saying that DECA games will herold the end times of star trek online. Why do players think this?
From the PC Gamer article about the layoffs, DECA Games is a games-as-a-service publisher that operates as part of the Embracer Group, focusing primarily on mobile games.
Probably not the best custodian for an MMO of STO's nature. Also, many (perhaps even most) live service mobile games tend to get shut down within a couple of years once the initial interest from launch wears off, so they may be expecting STO be treated like just another mobile game.
Even if you don't buy into the 'doomed' talk, it's likely STO faces some lean times ahead.
Hello I'm in a few discord chats and all are basically saying that DECA games will herold the end times of star trek online. Why do players think this?
From the PC Gamer article about the layoffs, DECA Games is a games-as-a-service publisher that operates as part of the Embracer Group, focusing primarily on mobile games.
Probably not the best custodian for an MMO of STO's nature. Also, many (perhaps even most) live service mobile games tend to get shut down within a couple of years once the initial interest from launch wears off, so they may be expecting STO be treated like just another mobile game.
Even if you don't buy into the 'doomed' talk, it's likely STO faces some lean times ahead.
IMO there are 3 main types of reactions people can have to the latest news:
1: White Knight/Defender: "everything is fine" (burning house meme)
2: Doomsayer: "the end is nigh" / kiss STO goodbye
3: Objective: this doesn't look good, but it's not over till the (insert non-offensive term here) sings.
To me, there is no way to spin this as "fine". On the other hand, I also don't think the game is about to shut down or anything. The most likely outcome IMO is a slowdown in development until the future becomes more clear. We'll probably have lots of events (that just re-use already made content) as a way to keep people playing due to FOMO on some limited time reward, and we'll certainly continue to get lockbox releases since those are the life-blood of the game at this point.
What does it mean for star trek online being under DECA games?
It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
STO's team had already experienced cuts, leading it to be defined by many as a 'small' team. With these further cuts, there's probably going to be a severe content drought.
And most people who've been here since before the New Romulus expansion, know that we've already been past the parabola's apex for years now.
If it's going to get worse, 'doomsayers' aren't going to be all that surrealistic in their expectations.
And of course things are going to become more difficult with fewer people to do the work.
Cutting costs for one year by simply producing less is one thing. Firing experienced people and removing all of their knowledge from the team, is something you don't just undo, even if a better financial position in the future would allow for more hiring.
As much as I'm hoping I'm wrong here, it is by no means unreasonable to expect that this is the beginning of the end for STO. Unless some other investor would be willing to undo the current cuts. If STO was a profitable product, such a solution is certainly possible.
So there is some hope - but besides hope, a bit of good luck and a new owner are probably also going to be needed to save this game.
I was hoping someone could explain to me why a lot of the players on xbox at least are basically heralding the end times of star trek online with it going to DECA games?
ok so the only name i recognized was Al Rivera. any of the others on STO staff? Remember, Cryptic as what4, 5 other titles? seems to me that if I was directed to cut costs, I would keep the flagship titles, STO and Neverwinter, and sunset the rest.
now, if I were an employee at Cryptic, with everything that's going on, you bet i would be polishing my resume and changing linked in to say open to work/seeking work. especially if i had a family. Someone said that DECA is where games go to dies on Reddit. Perhaps. More likely they are moving games there that they intend to salvage. Will Cryptic Studios cease to exist? I would say probably. but look at how many companies have already owned the game.
the TL;DR to me is that we have 2 choices, wring our hands and cry about the future or play the game and enjoy it while it lasts.
One thing for sure is that if you stop playing, if the owners see a mass drop off , they probably WILL shutter the game
ok so the only name i recognized was Al Rivera. any of the others on STO staff? Remember, Cryptic as what4, 5 other titles? seems to me that if I was directed to cut costs, I would keep the flagship titles, STO and Neverwinter, and sunset the rest.
now, if I were an employee at Cryptic, with everything that's going on, you bet i would be polishing my resume and changing linked in to say open to work/seeking work. especially if i had a family. Someone said that DECA is where games go to dies on Reddit. Perhaps. More likely they are moving games there that they intend to salvage. Will Cryptic Studios cease to exist? I would say probably. but look at how many companies have already owned the game.
the TL;DR to me is that we have 2 choices, wring our hands and cry about the future or play the game and enjoy it while it lasts.
One thing for sure is that if you stop playing, if the owners see a mass drop off , they probably WILL shutter the game
I know Ian 'JamJamz' Richards has been with the team for a long time.
They're even firing people who are most directly involved with the game's main source of income: designing ships. I guess that makes 'doomsayers' the most objective people in Nagus's list.
I doubt Embracer would shut down STO, seeing as Volition kind of did that to themselves, Saints Row 5 was well within their grasp and they decided to throw it out for a crappy reboot, all Volition had to do was continue where 4 and GoH left off aka with the Playa, Jezebel, Gat and the rest of the Saints crew on their space ship specifically taking place in the ending where Gat finds a new planet, they could've also brought back dead characters like Josh Birk and Carlos with the Time Machine, but noooo, we had to get cheap knock offs to replace the OG Saints that Millenials like me enjoy and a lame desert filled with lamer Zoomer gangs, where is Genki or Nyte Blayde, where TF is Gat, the closeset thing the Saints had to an actual Millenial gang was the Deckers and that was in SR3,
Sorry for my rant, I'm just really passionate about Saints Row, I started the series with the 2nd game, I'm more of fan of the wackier stuff in 3 and 4, I however hated the reboot, it TRIBBLE on everthing I loved about the series and it's too Disneyified for my liking.
That said STO however respects it's source material and fans, so I can see Embracer keeping it up and running unlike Volition who did the opposite and shot themselves in the foot, (was SR5 too hard for you guys to make?).
I don't see STO going anywhere. Other hand, CO has been in maintenance mode for a long time now; I'll miss it when it's gone, but its loss wouldn't surprise me.
If they can do enough to keep the 'whales' interested and spending, then STO should be able to survive for a while yet even in maintenance mode under DECA.
What does it mean for star trek online being under DECA games?
It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
That is 100% not true.
Whatever these recent events will actually mean for STO remains to be seen, but (that situation) is absolutely not dependent upon some PR spin statement from the company. All companies try to make situations sound better than they really are, so all PR type statements should be seriously questioned. And beyond the normal PR spin, sometimes they aren't even allowed to talk about something bad that may be coming because it could hurt company stocks.
So again, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters what we see for ourselves in the coming months/years.
That said, my speculation is this: we will see a slowdown in development of new content until things become more certain for Cryptic. We will see lots of event re-runs to try to keep people engaged due to FOMO, and of course we will see lockboxes because that is all that keeps the game alive. Beyond that, I have a feeling we won't see very much new content, unless it was already in the works and mostly finished before the layoffs hit.
> @leemwatson said:
> It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
A lot of players I've spoken to are all like "it's the end times for star trek online"
And those players don't actually know anything. That said, things obviously aren't great at Cryptic right now with a lot of recent layoffs. It's certainly a bad sign, and anyone that says otherwise is fooling themselves.
But to be clear, there is a difference between what I just said and saying STO is doomed. We have no indication STO is going anywhere in the short term, although I do think things will slow down for a bit (see last post above).
What does it mean for star trek online being under DECA games?
It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
That is 100% not true.
Whatever these recent events will actually mean for STO remains to be seen, but (that situation) is absolutely not dependent upon some PR spin statement from the company. All companies try to make situations sound better than they really are, so all PR type statements should be seriously questioned. And beyond the normal PR spin, sometimes they aren't even allowed to talk about something bad that may be coming because it could hurt company stocks.
So again, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters what we see for ourselves in the coming months/years.
That said, my speculation is this: we will see a slowdown in development of new content until things become more certain for Cryptic. We will see lots of event re-runs to try to keep people engaged due to FOMO, and of course we will see lockboxes because that is all that keeps the game alive. Beyond that, I have a feeling we won't see very much new content, unless it was already in the works and mostly finished before the layoffs hit.
So in other words the same thing that has been happening in sto for years
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
What does it mean for star trek online being under DECA games?
It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
That is 100% not true.
Whatever these recent events will actually mean for STO remains to be seen, but (that situation) is absolutely not dependent upon some PR spin statement from the company. All companies try to make situations sound better than they really are, so all PR type statements should be seriously questioned. And beyond the normal PR spin, sometimes they aren't even allowed to talk about something bad that may be coming because it could hurt company stocks.
So again, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters what we see for ourselves in the coming months/years.
That said, my speculation is this: we will see a slowdown in development of new content until things become more certain for Cryptic. We will see lots of event re-runs to try to keep people engaged due to FOMO, and of course we will see lockboxes because that is all that keeps the game alive. Beyond that, I have a feeling we won't see very much new content, unless it was already in the works and mostly finished before the layoffs hit.
So in other words the same thing that has been happening in sto for years
Except less new content than that. And yes, less than the current small amount is...unfortunate.
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Comments
Some of the things that have happened don't require hindsight to understand that they were bad decisions though.
If allocating some part of your workforce from one project/product to another results in you having to let go all those people when that product fails to become viable, then the risk was simply too big to begin with.
This is going to oversimplify things a bit perhaps, but say I have a product (STO) that is very profitable. Something like 100m costs, 140m revenue, 40m profit.
Then it shouldn't be necessary to fire anyone after the other product failed. Those people aren't suddenly going to cost more if you transfer them back to the STO team.
The fact that, apparently, it was necessary to say goodbye to these people entirely, suggests that problems were already bigger than admitted way before Embracer was even in the picture.
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Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
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From the PC Gamer article about the layoffs, DECA Games is a games-as-a-service publisher that operates as part of the Embracer Group, focusing primarily on mobile games.
Probably not the best custodian for an MMO of STO's nature. Also, many (perhaps even most) live service mobile games tend to get shut down within a couple of years once the initial interest from launch wears off, so they may be expecting STO be treated like just another mobile game.
Even if you don't buy into the 'doomed' talk, it's likely STO faces some lean times ahead.
IMO there are 3 main types of reactions people can have to the latest news:
1: White Knight/Defender: "everything is fine" (burning house meme)
2: Doomsayer: "the end is nigh" / kiss STO goodbye
3: Objective: this doesn't look good, but it's not over till the (insert non-offensive term here) sings.
To me, there is no way to spin this as "fine". On the other hand, I also don't think the game is about to shut down or anything. The most likely outcome IMO is a slowdown in development until the future becomes more clear. We'll probably have lots of events (that just re-use already made content) as a way to keep people playing due to FOMO on some limited time reward, and we'll certainly continue to get lockbox releases since those are the life-blood of the game at this point.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
> It means absolutely nothing until something is put out by Cryptic/DECA or Embracer.
A lot of players I've spoken to are all like "it's the end times for star trek online"
Even new lockbox ships might be dependent on how much of a creative team remains.
STO's team had already experienced cuts, leading it to be defined by many as a 'small' team. With these further cuts, there's probably going to be a severe content drought.
And most people who've been here since before the New Romulus expansion, know that we've already been past the parabola's apex for years now.
If it's going to get worse, 'doomsayers' aren't going to be all that surrealistic in their expectations.
Cutting costs for one year by simply producing less is one thing. Firing experienced people and removing all of their knowledge from the team, is something you don't just undo, even if a better financial position in the future would allow for more hiring.
As much as I'm hoping I'm wrong here, it is by no means unreasonable to expect that this is the beginning of the end for STO. Unless some other investor would be willing to undo the current cuts. If STO was a profitable product, such a solution is certainly possible.
So there is some hope - but besides hope, a bit of good luck and a new owner are probably also going to be needed to save this game.
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1271651/embracer-group-closed-volition-studios
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
ok so the only name i recognized was Al Rivera. any of the others on STO staff? Remember, Cryptic as what4, 5 other titles? seems to me that if I was directed to cut costs, I would keep the flagship titles, STO and Neverwinter, and sunset the rest.
now, if I were an employee at Cryptic, with everything that's going on, you bet i would be polishing my resume and changing linked in to say open to work/seeking work. especially if i had a family. Someone said that DECA is where games go to dies on Reddit. Perhaps. More likely they are moving games there that they intend to salvage. Will Cryptic Studios cease to exist? I would say probably. but look at how many companies have already owned the game.
the TL;DR to me is that we have 2 choices, wring our hands and cry about the future or play the game and enjoy it while it lasts.
One thing for sure is that if you stop playing, if the owners see a mass drop off , they probably WILL shutter the game
I know Ian 'JamJamz' Richards has been with the team for a long time.
They're even firing people who are most directly involved with the game's main source of income: designing ships. I guess that makes 'doomsayers' the most objective people in Nagus's list.
Sorry for my rant, I'm just really passionate about Saints Row, I started the series with the 2nd game, I'm more of fan of the wackier stuff in 3 and 4, I however hated the reboot, it TRIBBLE on everthing I loved about the series and it's too Disneyified for my liking.
That said STO however respects it's source material and fans, so I can see Embracer keeping it up and running unlike Volition who did the opposite and shot themselves in the foot, (was SR5 too hard for you guys to make?).
That is 100% not true.
Whatever these recent events will actually mean for STO remains to be seen, but (that situation) is absolutely not dependent upon some PR spin statement from the company. All companies try to make situations sound better than they really are, so all PR type statements should be seriously questioned. And beyond the normal PR spin, sometimes they aren't even allowed to talk about something bad that may be coming because it could hurt company stocks.
So again, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters what we see for ourselves in the coming months/years.
That said, my speculation is this: we will see a slowdown in development of new content until things become more certain for Cryptic. We will see lots of event re-runs to try to keep people engaged due to FOMO, and of course we will see lockboxes because that is all that keeps the game alive. Beyond that, I have a feeling we won't see very much new content, unless it was already in the works and mostly finished before the layoffs hit.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
And those players don't actually know anything. That said, things obviously aren't great at Cryptic right now with a lot of recent layoffs. It's certainly a bad sign, and anyone that says otherwise is fooling themselves.
But to be clear, there is a difference between what I just said and saying STO is doomed. We have no indication STO is going anywhere in the short term, although I do think things will slow down for a bit (see last post above).
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
So in other words the same thing that has been happening in sto for years
Except less new content than that. And yes, less than the current small amount is...unfortunate.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
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The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008