WildStar suffers major round of layoffs

    
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But robots.

Update: WildStar has allegedly suffered a massive round of layoffs as part of a “reorganization”; some sources suggest as many as 60 70 people may have been laid off from Carbine today. The update is at the bottom of the post.

WildStar’s CRB Hotspur is apparently no longer working for Carbine, according to Twitter. He was WildStar’s technical and systems designer.

https://twitter.com/CRB_Hotspur/status/708368875549626369

We have not yet been able to confirm whether his departure is part of a larger wave of layoffs. Confirmed. We welcome more information from former employees. Multiplayer Systems Lead Brett Scheinert left last week.

In even more sobering WildStar news, former Carbine Product Director Mike Donatelli told twitter followers that he’d been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer:

Donatelli seemingly ceded his role to Chad Moore in February. We wish all the best to him and his family.

Source: Twitter, twitter via Reddit. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
And now the rumors begin. Former WildStar Community Manager Rey suggested over 60 70 people might be “affected”:

NCsoft’s Omeed Dariani announced a “reorganization” on the official site, saying the cancellation of the Chinese launch necessitated layoffs and promising that Carbine remains “committed” to the game.

Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updating WildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.

Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, we’ve had to reduce staff. These cuts are directly tied to WildStar’s 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.

These kinds of decisions are exceptionally difficult. The talented and passionate professionals who are impacted by these cuts have been valuable team members and respected colleagues. We wish everyone well for the future and will be providing severance and employment search assistance.

As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future.

Update: Polygon claims unnamed sources who claim the game is due to sunset.

However, reports Polygon has received from sources close to the studio paint a grimmer picture. While NCSoft’s statement didn’t provide exact numbers, we were told that more than 70 people have been let go from Carbine, as much as 40 percent of the studio’s total workforce. Furthermore, sources tell us it was made clear to remaining employees that they should expect additional layoffs in the coming months. “Those remaining only have a couple months left before Wildstar ‘coasts into the sunset,'” one source told us. All of the sources we spoke with asked to remain anonymous.

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