Rumor: NCsoft to shutter Austin studio, reassign Tabula Rasa to Guild Wars dev
by Randy Nelson 
{ Aug 12th 2008 at 6:30PM }
Future development of Tabula Rasa will reportedly be handed over to Seattle-based Guild Wars creator Arena.net, with Massively reporting that the title may meet a similar fate as Dungeon Runners if it "fails to turn the tide of subscribers and expectations." It has also learned that any future collaboration between NCsoft and Tabula Rasa principals Richard and Robert Garriot will be "limited in scope," due to a souring of relations with the Korean management team over their title's lackluster performance.
With regard to City of Heroes, a source at NCsoft's Bay Area studio confirmed with us that its development staff will be completely unaffected by the events transpiring in Austin, saying that the title's status is "sound." Further to this, the source echoed Massively's report that only the Austin studio is being affected, with remaining development proceeding normally in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Korea.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phinehas @ Aug 12th 2008 6:38PM
Wow. Midway and now NCsoft. Hope you guys land on your feet.
*psst* Give Edge a look. We're hiring.
Dell @ Aug 12th 2008 7:01PM
Man, it's the year of the layoffs it seems...
Haggard @ Aug 12th 2008 7:34PM
Mostly for the MMO industry though. With the success of WoW, everybody thought they could start up a profit making machine. Sad fact is that because so many started up, the consumer base was diluted.
And with more MMOs in the pipeline, I expect this will only get worse.
Quinn @ Aug 12th 2008 7:23PM
http://www.planettr.com/forums/showpost.php?p=105990&postcount=5
http://www.planettr.com/forums/showpost.php?p=106005&postcount=16
One wonders at the veracity and vetting of the sources involved in this and the other similar seemingly false article at massively.
Kyrra @ Aug 12th 2008 7:57PM
Thanks for the info. +1
StuScotsLazyEye @ Aug 12th 2008 8:22PM
Excellent work. Give this man some hearts!!!
Jimmyjimjim @ Aug 12th 2008 8:11PM
Ouch. I know someone there, hope he'll be OK.
Quinn @ Aug 12th 2008 8:00PM
NcSoft reps in NcSoft austin say this rumor is flatly false and that the Dev team is actually growing.
lifeinthefridge @ Aug 12th 2008 8:13PM
O god please no, Tabula Rasa may be basically have been a failure,but because of this don't bring GW and upcoming GW2 down. I could honestly not see ArenaNet working on any other game besides Guild Wars especially one they have not created themselves.
Even if NcSoft goes under I doubt Arena Net/Guild Wars would go with it. They have proven themselves to be successful with a quality MMO, despite the immense popularity of WOW. Another publisher would just pick them up.
Quinn @ Aug 12th 2008 8:53PM
It isn't a failure, its in growth (steady and positive growth) and the next few deployments coming have some very nice elder game content on deck and already recently included. As well as insight from the war college they recently held at NcSoft Austin office (flying players there from around the world to meet with a 60+ dev team staff), the denial of this and the other article at massively (both which if you notice "conveniently" cite each other as their sources) by both Devs at austin and NcSoft community managers.
RG himself even took on Jesus Chavez at ComicCon http://www.rgtr.com/news/latest_news/this_weeks_friday_night_fight_is_going_to_be_a_knockouthtml.html in support of a since beta community run event in TR. In no other game I've ever played has the Dev as proactive and responsive as the TR Dev team in Austin.
Rumour mongering isn't journalism.
wraith808 @ Aug 13th 2008 11:08AM
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!
ianp711 @ Aug 14th 2008 4:40AM
What I find ironic is that I remember reading a couple of times Richard Garriot talking $hit about Arena.net's business model and not seeing how it fits into NCSOFT.
Sad, Garriot, you need to eat your words...
(what's even sadder, I used to be a big Garriot/Ultima fan from back in the days)