Back in February, we reported on a wave of layoffs that struck NCsoft West, which saw 20% of its workforce handed their walking papers and the company’s CEO depart his position. At the time, a spokesperson for the company told us that “all titles will operate without interruption” and that games that were in development like Throne & Liberty would not be affected; that game would incidentally see yet another delay of its release from the first half of this year to this fall instead.
Since then, there hasn’t been too much news out of NCsoft’s western division until three identical postings showed up in the forums of Lineage II, Aion, and Blade & Soul, with each one introducing the formation of NCsoft West into NC America and offering a promise of additional comms going forward.
“NCSOFT West has recently undergone a significant internal restructuring, resulting in the formation of NC America, a newly unified entity dedicated to providing an enhanced gaming experience to all our players.
“Our goal is to improve engagement and support to levels beyond what we’ve achieved before. However, I want to acknowledge that the process of ramping up will take some time. We are committed to rebuilding and strengthening our connection with the community, and your patience and understanding will be greatly appreciated during this transition.”
It’s important to note that despite the announcements proclaiming “increased communication, regular updates, and a renewed focus on community engagement […] in the coming weeks and months,” this message is being shared by the exact same community manager Wissp, who is now effectively working triple duty.
Replies in the L2 and Aion threads can generally be considered highly skeptical, with most either brushing off the posts as empty words or claiming they’ve heard this song and dance before. If nothing else, we can certainly see NCsoft’s western publishing operations have truly scaled back.
