by Jeff Woleslagle on Sep 19, 2007
The news that's hot on everyone's lips today is the huge lay offs at Perpetual.
To recap: Yesterday, Perpetual announced "staff changes," which is just a fancy way of saying they've made cuts. Thirty-five employees have been let go and the projected release date has been moved from Q1 of 2007 to Q3 of 2007.
The question is: What does this mean for Gods and Heroes?
Speculation is that the game is losing money hand over fist. It's been in development for a very long time and hasn't, as of now, seen a lot in the way of forward movement. They have started core testing after more than a year, but the game still isn't open beta ready. The projected release date of Q1 2007 was more than just a little ambitious.
Will the game survive to the projected release in Q3? Or will it get scrapped and go the way of so many high potential MMOs?
There's really no way to tell without a source on the inside. Since I am not that connected (don't I wish!!) I can't really say with anything approaching certianty.
However, my magic 8 ball says: Outlook not good.
This is clearly a huge set back for the game and this late in the development process, such a setback doesn't bode well for the completion of Gods and Heroes.
It's a hard thing to see a game with as much potential as this take such a blow. In an already saturated market, it would have been a rough go anyway. In my opinion, the potential income from the game won't be even remotely close to enough to keep the project alive. Chances are probably good that Perpetual will cut their losses and shelve Gods and Heroes for an indefinite period of time, or scrap it entirely.
They have other projects on the table with a good deal of potential, but thus far no progress has been made. With the slow progress of Gods and Heroes... It's fairly clear that they are hurting.
Here's hoping that cutting back the staff will buy them the time they need to finish Gods and Heroes and get it released. To all the artists who did such good work on the world of Gods and Heroes, thank you and good luck in all your future endeavours.