NCsoft Brighton more trouble?

This is one of those times when I wish something I heard was a complete fabrication.....I would have preferred to have egg all over my face on this....

To everyone in Brighton effected by this, may your capes never dull in colour and fray at the edges and may you never get a ladder in your tights.

All the luck to you folks.

Indeed. It's sad to think that this is peoples livelihoods - and jobs are like rockinghorse droppings at the moment

Good luck to those affected.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

That is terrible news ><
Here's hoping it's either the axing they did awhile back, or not true.

Makes me a sad kitty to see this.

Given that NC West were so quiet about the NYCC and yet everyone else including Cryptic were there, it looks as tho somebody's trying to kill off our favourite game

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Just noticed Kerensky's made comment about it on his Facebook too...

I doubt it Scarlet, They would not of invested so heavily in the IP if they had any intention of letting the franchise slide into obscurity.

This is just the global economic downturn and NC West looking at their figures and consolidating back to their native shores.

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What? This?

Is anyone actually surprised by such a move?

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I guess its just me then who thinks this is a move for the better

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Just noticed Kerensky's made comment about it on his Facebook too...

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Bizarrely during the week when GR made his "I'm going to look back at this thread at the end of the year and laugh" post Ks devious references and what ended up happening there was the first thing that popped into my mind. It's like its tempting Fate or something.

On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

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Given that NC West were so quiet about the NYCC and yet everyone else including Cryptic were there, it looks as tho somebody's trying to kill off our favourite game

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Not even thinking about it, COX has a very good following maybe not as good as we would like it european side but in the states its still massive.

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What? This?

Is anyone actually surprised by such a move?

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I guess its just me then who thinks this is a move for the better

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I'm not that concerned either way. I quite like the US boards,

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On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

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I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

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I guess its just me then who thinks this is a move for the better

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*Psst, Seventy people lost their jobs this morning - probably not the best time to be calling it a good thing.

(I know Its meant as your well-intentioned opinion for the potential future good of the franchise. *the aboves not meant in a slapping-down kinda way*).

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On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

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Its all good, if we get hosted in the US we will have less lag.

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I guess its just me then who thinks this is a move for the better

[/ QUOTE ]

*Psst, Seventy people lost their jobs this morning - probably not the best time to be calling it a good thing.

(I know Its meant as your well-intentioned opinion for the potential future good of the franchise. *the aboves not meant in a slapping-down kinda way*).

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So i lost my job but i look at it as a move for the best as it means i can move on to better things, 2 million strangers have lost there jobs in the uk now i dont know them from adam its just all part of whats going on for everyone at the moment.

The forum/game will now move on for the better, id rather still have my game and some kind of forum than not and if removing the very small EU section that is left has to go to keep it then so be it.

The game will move on as will those who lost there jobs

the lack of empathy on these boards is sometimes shocking. please spare a thought for the people involved in what are very trying times

Yeah, thats the 'positive thinking angle' I thought you intended Shockwave.

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On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was going to comment on the merger thing but FFM said it best and anyway the US have much better server hosting.

We know our current servers are old and well past their sell-by date...

No more lag and mapserver DC's would be one benefit

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the lack of empathy on these boards is sometimes shocking. please spare a thought for the people involved in what are very trying times

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Sorry mate, i just cant bring myself to start crying in my beer over someone i didnt know from a bar of soap losing a job.

If someone dies thats one thing, job losses happen daily.

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On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its all good, if we get hosted in the US we will have less lag.

[/ QUOTE ]

You will maybe, but I wont and I'm willing to bet that a lot other European players won't either. Or it would be the first game in over 10 years of gaming that would give me a better connection to the US than to mainland Europe.

Anyway, it's always sad to see people losing their jobs. Where I work they just axed 150 of the 500 jobs (not mine fortunatly) and we're closing down for a period of 2 months.

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You will maybe, but I wont and I'm willing to bet that a lot other European players won't either.

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I think more will benefit than wont.

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[ QUOTE ]
On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was going to comment on the merger thing but FFM said it best and anyway the US have much better server hosting.

We know our current servers are old and well past their sell-by date...

No more lag and mapserver DC's would be one benefit

[/ QUOTE ]

The UK servers are newer than the US servers.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

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[ QUOTE ]
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On the bright side, if this is true we are a step nearer a server merge with any luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still think a server merge is unlikely. However, a server TRANSFER; that's likely after all this. They really cannot run 4 EU servers with just a couple of people left in the office. People who, lets be honest here, are likely only going to have short term jobs as they wind the office down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was going to comment on the merger thing but FFM said it best and anyway the US have much better server hosting.

We know our current servers are old and well past their sell-by date...

No more lag and mapserver DC's would be one benefit

[/ QUOTE ]

The UK servers are newer than the US servers.

[/ QUOTE ]

No they aren't. The US ones got upgraded, last year I think. The EU (not UK) ones are the same they've always been.

Yes the UK servers are just as good as the new US ones - Its been widely acknowledged that the problems are not your computers nor the servers but the European Infrastructure inbetween.

Time to look at what may happen objectively. What's actually happening here?

Damage control, that's what. NC West are clearly cutting their losses to protect their core business. This is a sensible thing to do, no matter how unfortunate it may be for employees in the EU operation.

Here's what I think may happen in the coming months.

With only a couple of staff left at NC Brighton, this is clearly an unsustainable number to maintain EU servers for CoH. Therefore, a database move is highly likely.

We will not be given a choice of where we go, they will just transfer us wholesale to a couple of the emptier US servers. The 4 EU servers will go completely.

We MIGHT then be granted free server transfer tokens, so that we can move our chars to servers of ours choice within the US, but this is by no means a given.

Localised language support will be discontinued.

No consideration will be given to duplicate character names or global names. We will just be given rename tokens as a cure all.

Some people will decide to leave over losing names, others will leave over losing localised language support. NC West will accept this as part of the loss cutting operation.

The above, whilst harsh to us EU players, is likely the cheapest route for NC to take because clearly, the EU market has become unsustainable. NC West are a profit making company, and they will do what they must to protect their profits. If we're a drain on that, we go bye bye.