Ultima Online shake-up: incoming developer layoffs, team restructuring and relocation imminent
Ultima Online recently celebrated its 10 year birthday and even launched a shiny new expansion titled Kingdom Reborn that received mixed reviews. The celebration is soon to end with heads rolling as many Ultima Online developers will be pushed into the unemployment line after John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, sent out a Dear John letter -- tasking every studio and company under EA's conglomeration to make the necessary cutbacks to adjust resources accordingly against rising costs. (EA corporate raid gathering: "Fools, prepare the chopping block!")
Chris Rabideau, Ultima Online Producer, posted on the Ultima Online Herald that the Ultima Online team will be moving from its current station located at EA's headquarters outside of San Francisco , CA to EA Mythic's studios located in Fairfax , VA. Rabideau claims that development on the game will continue as planned and the move will have very little impact in the short term on the game and community . Nowhere in his letter to the community does he acknowledge any lay-offs, but an anonymous source has come forward claiming he is and is clearly devastated. (I can not confirm or deny this source).
"There is nothing to lose for me to post this and I admit I feel bitter, so why not let you know the truth?
Alot of the UO team was laid off today including me and all of QA.
We were escorted out of the building and not even allowed to email our goodbye email to everyone else. They even had managers watching us the whole time like we had done something wrong.
Most of the engineers are already working on Warhammer.
Most of the rest of the UO team is not going to Virginia . Only one person is moving fore sure and maybe one or two more are considering it too. That’s it. Almost all of the famous devs are not going.
Almost everyone on the list posted earlier by someone is not going to Virginia for sure.
Early December is when everyone who does not move to Virginia is laid off too.
I hope that something I did for UO is something that you found fun. We really did try to do our best.
Maybe I will see you all in another not EA game soon!"
Business as usual, but you know it's that stinky EA business. While it's plausible Ultima Online will benefit from this move later down the road; thanks to more resources available under one roof, all the UO and DAOC devs doing quality assurance on Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, that sort of thing. One thing is certain and that is you can't replace a dedicated developer who worked on the project for years and poured everything they had and expect the same results from their replacement or non-replacement in some cases. I guess we can expect a skeleton crew for UO from here on out.
