Reports are surfacing today that a number of people have lost their jobs at NCSoft-owned Carbine Studios, developer of the free-to-play MMORPG WildStar.
This isn't the first time for Carbine, which saw layoffs of an estimated 60+ people in late 2014 as part of a restructuring effort by parent company NCSoft. Roughly a year later, the subscription-based WildStar went free-to-play.
It's yet unclear how many positions were cut in this most recent round of layoffs, though Gamasutra has contacted NCSoft representatives for further details on the matter. What is clear, however, is that the cuts are tied (at least in part) to NCSoft scrapping plans to launch a Chinese version of WildStar.
In a post on the WildStar forums today, NCSoft representative Omeed Dariani gave the following explanation:
"Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updating WildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.
Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, we’ve had to reduce staff. These cuts are directly tied to WildStar’s evolution from a product in development to a live title, to the cancellation of work to bring WildStar to China, and to the overall performance of WildStar since launch in 2014.
These kinds of decisions are exceptionally difficult. The talented and passionate professionals who are impacted by these cuts have been valuable team members and respected colleagues. We wish everyone well for the future and will be providing severance and employment search assistance.
As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future."
As always, if you or someone you know has been affected by these cuts, you can email Gamasutra to tell your story confidentially.