According to a report from Polygon, as much as 40% of the staff at Carbine Studios, the development team behind Wildstar, have been let go.
The MMO was until recently supported by monthly subscriptions but switched to a free-to-play model in hopes that more users would be driven to the game. Apparently this did not work, as over 70 people were laid off by publisher NCSoft, with remaining employees warned to expect more lay-offs to come. An anonymous source even ominously told Polygon:
“Those remaining only have a couple months left before Wildstar ‘coasts into the sunset.'”
The announcement regarding the lay-offs was made today over at the official Wildstar forums, where “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″ were cited for the game’s failure to live up to expectations. However in his forum post, the NCSoft director of communications and social media also said the company remains committed to the game and plans to continue to support Wildstar with content and updates. He also confirms that Wildstar will no longer be coming to China.
Back in October we spoke with Carbine Studios’ Chad Moore about the game’s move to free-to-play and the team’s dedication to avoid the pay-to-win model. The conversation seemed to suggest that the developers were focusing on using aesthetic and cosmetic items sold through the store to sustain the game, saying:
“Our philosophy for our MTX shop was that we would only sell cosmetic and convenience items, nothing that would give a paying player any kind of competitive advantage over players who don’t want to pay.”
He added,
“We have a great team in charge of the game’s economy that has been monitoring trends since launch last year. The team will continue keeping a close eye on the economy post free-to-play, observing trends and making sure things are working smoothly for all types of players.”
Despite their efforts, the strategy was apparently not sustainable.
As Wildstar continues to release new content for NA and EU audience, we will continue to provide updates on this story. Be sure to keep an eye on Wildstar with the Gameranx site tag.
