I will preempt this post saying you NEED some tinfoil on your head to read this but also maybe just maybe you don’t.
What would you think if I said CCP Games will be no more in 3 years? Would you call me a madman, crazy, theory crafting loon?
I hope I am proven wrong but I want to explain why I think it might be the case.
If we look at the track record of CCP we can all agree that Soon(tm) is more then a bit literal. In the past we’ve been used to deadlines being stretch and some elements not being delivered at all (WiS). As a gamer that IS interested in the meta game, the CSM summit minutes being X months late with no updates from CCP was a poor display of organisational skills. The CSM board did their best to keep the community as up to date as possible (I guess that’s part of the job)
More recently we can look at the SOMERblink fiasco. outrage from every blogger and community site in new eden asking themselves “where is my shiny shit?” and again disappointing communication from CCP on an official basis. I say official because various staff did make comments on Facebook and Twitter.
CCP have been a lot better on the communication and that is a great thing to see. I cant help but think its too little too late.
We then look at CCP Games as a company. In the last 12 months Twitter has seen sign offs from Executive Producer, Head of Security, Lead Game designer and Community Manager. not to mention the numerous other staff including the 50+ who were involved with WoD in Atlanta. Alarm bells definately went off for me as these resignations started rolling in. Not only were these great employees but, as someone who has played Eve for a long time, these were people I spoke too, people I knew.
CCP Unifex posted the below on Twitter
Is there a silver lining to this cloud? I’m struggling to find one if I’m going to be honest.
I decided to look at glassdoor.co.uk for more information. Glass Door allows people to rate the company they work for. with a 3/5 rating from 47 reviews and 51% of employees willing to recommend CCP to a friend it doesn’t look good. I then spotted this piece of information. 43% approve of CEO Hilmar. Is this the root cause? Is there a leadership problem?
Most of the reviews suggest a management issue. Losing Head of this and Lead that is a pretty alarming if you ask me.
So to wrap up, I would absolutely love to be wrong on my 3 year prediction. Eve is a great game but its in a very competitive market. right now its not on my ‘recently played’ list. With Fanfest around the corner this is a great opportunity to Overshadow the problems with Glam and sparkles but CCP Games need to track back into their groove and make Eve Online Epic once more. All I can do now is wait for Fanfest 2014 and hope.
Addition – Seeing this on twitter this morning also made me want to get my thoughts out ASAP.
– Wiggles
