Rumors Surrounding NCsoft Austin HQ

Massively and Joystiq reported yesterday about rumors indicating that "NCsoft home offices may be considering closing the Austin studio". So far, these rumors have been refuted by a couple of NCsoft staff over at the PlanetTR forums [1][2].

Massively asserted that their attempted calls to NCsoft representatives were not answered, and that their "trustworthy third party" sources indicated several possible scenarios for Tabula Rasa and Dungeon Runners IPs:

A well-placed source with the company reported the studio's position to Joystiq, confirming similar information provided to Massively by a trustworthy third party. According to our sources, any or all of the following may be in the works:

* NCsoft Austin will be closed, with work on Tabula Rasa to be moved to the West coast. Dungeon Runners is apparently to be closed. Los Angeles is home to the development-in-the-dark Carbine Studios effort, while the San Francisco area is home to the City of Heroes development team. Seattle, of course, plays host to Arena.net and Joystiq reports that's where TR will be headed.
* This shakeup is only affecting Austin; the City of Heroes and Guild Wars teams are unaffected, as are the teams based out of the Korean offices.
* Future collaborations between NCsoft and the Garriott brothers will be very limited in scope, a sign of the frustrations between the Korean executives and the sibling-lead NCsoft North American office.
* Tabula Rasa may see closure by this time next year, if the team fails to turn the tide of subscribers and expectations.

Warcry will further investigate these claims and bring you the definite truth once more information will become available.

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This story has been a hot topic over at PlanetTR since one of the users posted it yesterday. Many NCsoft staff members have responded to the thread, and all of them have stated these rumors are completely false, and in fact they are actually hiring more QA team members [1]. Now, the root of the problem here is that Tabula Rasa has been judged, and is still being judged today, by their release.

I am an avid Tabula Rasa player, so label me as a "fanboy" if you must, but this negative coverage, in my opinion, has gone on far too long. The Tabula Rasa development team has put in countless hours of time into revamping, improving, and adding to their title, and this game has improved vastly since the beta and early launch days. There have been countless balance issues addressed, more content has been added, and all the while the development team has been listening to their players, to the point where they have even removed certain changes due to feedback. Tabula Rasa's development and public relations teams are by far one of the kindest bunch of people I have ever met, and despite this they seem to receive a lot of negative press due to some early game impressions, which are now far obsolete opinions.

I would encourage everyone out there who is looking for something different, new, and fresh to give Tabula Rasa a try, despite what the critics say. Form your own opinion, don't take someone else's word as gospel.

Also, a big thanks to WarCry for actually taking both sides of the story into account, not just taking some rumor as fact. This is the reason I pick you guys first as my MMO news provider.

Thanks Cyxult,

Rumors are just that, until an official press release either denies or asserts the news. I'm confident, and hopeful, that NCsoft will have a more formal answer to these claims very soon.

As a refugee of Auto Assault, I completely understand your position and legible concerns, and I hope that TR and DR avoid the same fate we suffered.

NCSoft just released their 2008 2Q report. Here's the line everyone here will be most interested in:

Quote:
Tabula Rasa sales recorded 2 billion won, an increase of 7% from the previous quarter.
That's approximately 1.93400 million U.S. dollars (Google Calculator FTW). I doubt NCSoft will stop a game that's making money and increasing its membership. Also, 7% is one hell of a increase for what many consider a niche game.

One a side note, the only other game that is showing an quarterly increase is sales is CoX!