In an announcement made today, Chief Executive Officer of Icarus Studios, Inc., James Hettinger, announced a restructure of the company resources and staffing, effective immediately. The changes come on the heels of the six-month anniversary of Fallen Earth, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game co-developed with FALLEN EARTH, LLC.
"While this is a challenging step for us," said Hettinger, "the steps were taken to maintain the growth, continued development and profitability of Fallen Earth."
As a result of today's reorganization and in an effort to maintain development, the combined companies will support core members of staff for ongoing customer service and continued development of Fallen Earth and company projects.
Team leads are continuing production and development on Fallen Earth Blood Sports Patch 1.4, scheduled for release on May 7. Community support and scheduled events, such as Slots Night (scheduled for tonight, April 30), will continue as announced.
Forum thread, mostly people talking about how this will affect the game they play in their leisure time. Very few seem to realise this means 80% of Icarus' employee's lost their livelihood today.
Bleeeeh :-(
ReplyDeleteEarlier today on mmorpg.com, a seemingly random post appeared stating the company had folded, I took that with a pinch of salt, a few hours later the official press release was posted. The Escapist is now stating they believe the official post is hiding the fact that the company has in fact folded.
ReplyDeleteProblem being that MMO players won't invest their time (more importantly than their money) in something that has an unlikely future. It really is a great shame.
This all sounds very familiar for me. The dual company setup with Icarus the studio and FALLEN EARTH LLC the company that does everything else and can be folded without anyone being held accountable. Kinda like Khaeon and Spellborn NV.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like they're trying a start-through. Merging rather than folding. Possibly shafting an investor or two in the process. Hopefully the ones that were most displeased about not getting a profit on their investment yet. They got their return on investment already or the whole party would have been sold to SOE by now.
However you spin it though, a lot of people lost their jobs today.
Yep :(
ReplyDeleteWell, if it makes you feel better, both of you (Nahkti and Pilatus) have some comfort gifts awaiting you in your respective mailboxes when you come into the game, courtesy of Olwyn who just turned 18.
ReplyDeleteNo, not really, but thanks :)
ReplyDeleteGrts and thnx Olywn!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it pans out better than its currently looking.
Thoughts are with the poor souls that lost their jobs, hope they get some solace from the joy they bought to the players.