Guild Wars Game Services Won’t Be Affected
Guild Wars developer ArenaNet will be laying off employees in light of the cancellation of unannounced projects, the company has confirmed. Game services for Guild Wars and its sequel, however, will apparently not be affected.
Upon being reached out for comment, ArenaNet confirmed the layoffs, saying they are part of a larger organizational restructuring within NCSoft West, the company who owns ArenaNet. The statement is as follows:
“We can confirm that due to the cancellation of unannounced projects, ArenaNet will make staff reductions. This is part of a larger organizational restructuring within NCSOFT in the west, but the Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 game services will not be affected, nor is any upcoming game content cancelled.”
The news about big layoffs happening at the studio has been circulating for quite some time. In a report by Kotaku yesterday, the CEO of NCSoft West Songyee Yoon allegedly emailed employees addressing the news. “Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,” she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success.”
Yoon adds that the plan is to “cut costs across the organization,” restructure and even merge the ArenaNet and NCSoft West publishing divisions. “The restructuring, cost-cutting, and strategic realignments are all being done to secure our tomorrow and to provide the foundation that will allow us to grow and acquire,” she wrote.
Cost-cutting measures have already occurred in the past at NCSoft. Last September, Wildstar developer Carbine Studios was shut down, and earlier this year the mobile studio Iron Tiger announced plans to reduce staff numbers as well. NCSoft also reported a year-over-year decline in PC revenue.
Sources say that two meetings had occurred yesterday with ArenaNet management, and while much is still unclear, the company will be giving out a two-month severance to those losing their jobs as well as certain bonuses based on tenure.
The last release from ArenaNet was the Guild Wars 2 expansion, Path of Fire, in September 2017.
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