Scott Hartsman Resignation

I just saw on the RIFT forums in a part 1 of state of the game note that Scott Hartsman has announced his resignation.

Part 2 is set for tomorrow.

I'm really sorry to see him go.  He's been good stuff.

This is a surprise. I guess he felt that he had done his job well enough that it was time to move on to bigger and better projects. Considering Scott came from EQ2 and was a player of the Everquest series, would he make a return for Everquest Next maybe? His enthusiasm in the two year lead up to Rift was infectious and he should be immensely proud of his achievement for leading that team. I wish him all the best.

Ive seen this coming for a while. Youll see a wave of others departing soon. A whole lot of people updating their linkedins at trion the past 2 weeks. I think they may be prepairing to go free to play.

Is Rift doing that poorly? I stopped playing but when I left it seemed to be gaining momentum. SL had just come out and the servers were packed.

My guess if they do go free to play it be like other games free get a minimum and has to pay for extra goodies while those who had subed get the goodies in their sub price. just my two cents worth.

They did fine when they had just RIFT on ther plate, but it seems that since they've branched out to other projects (End of Nations and Defiance) that they've ... lost something. Not with their game design, but on the business back-end. Its possible that the refusal to jump on the F2P bandwagon, in a timely fashion, assisted in negatively affecting their financial situation, but I wonder if there's something else. Is Trion Worlds a privately owned company, or are they publicly traded? It really doesn't matter, I'm just curious if they're hemorrhaging cash, based on what's happened in the past year or so. RIFT is a great game, I also liked End of Nations, even though I am not a RTS player. They have a lot riding on Defiance, but I've noticed that the current TV commercials for the series are not including any mention of the game, like they used to... o.O

Well, for one thing, as stated in the post, it seems that Scott hasn't been making the shots for a while now. Trion definitely got broadsided by having to completely take over EoN. A shared project suddenly became a 100% in-house project, so I'm sure financially they are hurting. They need to lower their overhead in order to remain profitable and keep their projects up and going. If you cannot generate more money, you need to find a way to spend less. As for people leaving, SL launched and is over. I imagine there was quite a lot of people brought on solely to work on Storm Legion, and now that it is out, there is no need for those people. I don't see Rift going F2P. Trion is one of the only companies to keep a sub model going strong, almost every other game that has come out after Rift has ended up going F2P or B2P. Going F2P will cause Trion to lose a large portion of their player base, and cause a large influx of players that the general Rift community, if it remains, will not be happy with and will cause even more players to leave. It troubles me that every time a MMO company goes thru normal gaming company changes, it immediately causes the F2P speculation. While it may happen, I really hope it does not, because at that point I don't know what game I would end up playing.

"As for people leaving, SL launched and is over. I imagine there was quite a lot of people brought on solely to work on Storm Legion, and now that it is out, there is no need for those people." Who would be left to work on the next expansion then?

Just like with SL, they will most likely bring people in, or re-hire those they used before. We do not know what kind of contracts people had with Trion. I know that when I was working in the industry, my contract was either time based (3 - 6 months), or it was based on whatever title I was working on. When that title was released, I got laid off. I then went to work somewhere else on another title. Its pretty standard in the gaming industry. When it comes to coders, 3d modelers, QA, and so on, you do not need to necessarily have the same people on board. Anyone that can use the software and hardware can get the job done. Art directors, concept artists and the like are the ones that come up with all the ideas, mechanics and visuals. The coders and modelers simply follow the design and make it real in game. Scott leaving could be something as simple as he got a better offer elsewhere, or there was a difference of opinion between him and the rest of the team. We are not privy to that information. It is troubling to see so many "veterans" of the development team leave, but once again, we have no idea the circumstances behind it. Maybe they had contracts that Trion decided not to renew (contract negotiations usually involve pay raises), maybe someone higher up did not like the job they were doing. Maybe they decided to consolidate positions and give out more responsibility to those they kept. We just don't know. As much as I would like to think everyone at Trion Worlds is focused more on making an awesome game for us, the fact of the matter is they are out to make money. They take pride in what they make, they want to make an enjoyable game for us, but at the end of the day, if they are not bringing in revenue, the game gets shut down. So in order to recoup money from acquiring EoN, production costs of Defiance, and ongoing Rift costs, they need to do what it takes to ensure they are still making money, and as I said, if you cannot increase revenue, you lower overhead. While I am disappointed by the most recent state of the game, I am glad to see there was no mention of going to a freemium, F2P, or B2P model. That would be a very bad move by Trion at this point. Rift is the only thing that can bring in stable revenue, even with population rising and falling.

» Edited on: 2013-01-23 23:02:10

Yea, same for me, I was always on contract with Microsoft. I did manage to skirt limitations, but after the temp worker lawsuit of 2001... well, its not very consistent work. I'd put it on par with construction, as far as a "well-paying, but unreliable" source of income. Also, the news that came out today about Trion taking on Archeage for the West is huge news. I don't know if any of this has anything to do with that, but it flips around what I said in my previous comment, above.

» Edited on: 2013-01-24 14:52:42

Trion is taking on Archeage for the west? I will have to get back on my Archeage sites.

The news regarding both Scott and Archeage is puzzling to say the least. I was under a loose assumption that Trion was just trying to do too many things at once with Rift, EoN and Defiance which may have been the underlying cause of layoffs and resignations. With EoN struggling and Defiance being such a risky project, Rift is the one solid anchor that they have. These thoughts have been turned upsidedown with the Archeage project announcement and makes me even more confused as to what is going on over there. Time will tell I suppose.

Yeah just seems to me that Trion is moving in different directions and Scott maybe didn't agree with were its headed. I think F2P is in Rifts future and now with Archeage coming on board lead to Scott leaving.

The fact Trion just announced they will be producing ArcheAge in the west makes me a bit more comfortable in how the company is doing. Taking on a new project like that is not something that a company does if it is going "down the drain." I stick to my guns in the belief Rift will not be headed towards F2P. No one but Trion knows for sure.

» Edited on: 2013-01-24 16:37:34

Properly done, F2P is a cash cow. Turbine proved this with DDO, then with LOTRO, and set the precedence that other struggling companies should have followed, ASAP. Subscription sustains a game, but does not increase its profits, those come from expansion sales. Profits from original box sales tank almost immediately after release, often you'll see original product being sold for 1/4 the cost after just half a year. EA stubbornly stuck to their "no F2P" guns with DAOC and Warhammer, then had to cave in with SWTOR. Now that game is not only doing better, its about to release its first expansion. Unlike a lot of negative comments you'll read, regarding why most players pray for F2P... I support F2P because its keeps good games going, by allowing the companies behind them to make money, and invest that money back into their game and improve them, rather than just sustaining a skeleton staff that can't find any capital venture willing to risk in an expansion. Now I'm not saying that all F2P = $$$WIN$$$, because some companies do actually manage to mess it up and go under. But you have to wonder if there's not a larger financial mismanagement story behind a lot of those failures.

» Edited on: 2013-01-24 23:05:54

I am really excited that Trion has Archeage. I was playing Archeage regardless, but this news makes it even more appealing. Also the announcement that the game is being released in Aussie and NZ allays my fear of EA Redzone bs.