21 replies to this topic

[themoob]

No, I don't want a job (I have no IT-related skills)

This is a genuine concern I have. Don't get me wrong, Piranha Games are great. But let's be honest, Mechwarrior Online is HUGELY ambitious, with promises of constant new mechs, maps and game modes, the upcoming Clan content (who knows how they'll do it) and Community Warfare which is going to have the developers heavily involved in. Then there's all the technical stuff that I don't really understand.

Do Piranha Games really have the staff numbers and budget to pull off all of this? Constantly releasing new content whilst creating Community Warfare and moderating it seems like a huge task, but Piranha Games only has a small staff (65 according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia....i/Piranha_Games). And while we have nothing to really compare MWO to since it's quite unique, the only developers with vaguely related games (just for comparison) have wayyy more staff. Wargaming.net (World of Tanks, vaguely similar free-to-play model) has 800 employees or so according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia....i/Wargaming.net, whilst CCP (Eve, the only game I could think of with a vaguely similar community warfare-esque thing going on) has 600 employees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCP_Games.

To be honest I don't have the greatest understanding of the gaming industry, but it seems a little odd to me. What do you all think?

Edited by themoob, 08 October 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[Kunae]

Moderating is primarily handled by the publisher, IGP.

[Belorion]

They are hiring.

http://piranhagames.com/Careers.html

[themoob]

Belorion, on 08 October 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

They are hiring.

http://piranhagames.com/Careers.html

Yeah I already thought to check that, but 3 + 65 = 68... still not a very big number

[Nefaro]

My biggest hope is that the persistent clan war thing gets implemented in the future.

I've largely tried to avoid getting too hyped about it thus far, but that resistance may be crumbling now as the game approaches open beta.

Edited by Nefaro, 08 October 2012 - 01:43 PM.

[rgreat]

These 800 people from wargaming not really doing much.

[Joe3142]

Yeah, Piranah with its 65 or so staff do alot more

I guess it could be more effective to have more staff, easier to organize and stuff...

And that tank game seems as if it has been made by 2 people, if that.

Edited by Joe3142, 08 October 2012 - 02:22 PM.

[Adrienne Vorton]

rgreat, on 08 October 2012 - 01:45 PM, said:

These 800 people from wargaming not really doing much.

well except for stomping one game after another out of the ground, while the previous could need some work ... latest clue i read about : wargaming.net does an RTS/ TCG mix, and looks a "little bit" like MW:T (xept for the rts) from the concepts...world of tanks generals or so...

sry for OT

Joe3142, on 08 October 2012 - 01:50 PM, said:

Yeah, Piranah with its 65 or so staff do alot more

thats why i´m here to stay

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 08 October 2012 - 01:52 PM.

[Vassago Rain]

I don't know.
Supposed to be at least 40 people. Probably some outscouring to India, too.

A giant team isn't necessary if your concept isn't giant in scope. This is more like the first Doom, than it is something like Tera.

[Nacon]

themoob, on 08 October 2012 - 01:25 PM, said:

Wargaming.net (World of Tanks, vaguely similar free-to-play model) has 800 employees or so according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia....i/Wargaming.net, whilst CCP (Eve, the only game I could think of with a vaguely similar community warfare-esque thing going on) has 600 employees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCP_Games.

To be honest I don't have the greatest understanding of the gaming industry, but it seems a little odd to me. What do you all think?

For someone with game development background as myself, (ok, a minor one anyway)... 40 - 80 is a good number of staff for one game that they're trying to work on in long term. Wargaming.net has 800+ because they're working on more than 4 games currently, counting World of Tanks.

CCP has so many because they have their own R&D team, PS3 game (Dust 514), another new game (Worlds of Darkness), a card/table game (Ancillary) and of course their main dish, Eve.

They're doing this at the same time, to get more work done.


PGI is fine, they have normal and healthy number of staffs, even though they are hiring.

[Atayu]

Wargaming now has that many people but they grew allot when WOT went release. Then there staff grew at a huge rate for there WOWP, and WOBS projects hit. Those 800 employs are not working on 1 game.

[Monsoon]

They'll never be big enough until they open a office in Toronto...I'm sure I could find something to do there.

[RumRunner151]

They have done an amazing amount in a relatively short amount of time. I am going to leave staffing level worries to them. They seem to know what they are doing.

[Zanathan]

Being in the software development area, throwing more money and staff at a project doesn't equate to a better and faster product that is produced. A smaller close knit team works better then a benemoth that has additional overheads with management and processes to ensure the separate teams don't step on each others foots.

I can say I get more done and better in the smaller companies I've work for in the past compared to where I am now. Also the costs here are ridiculous - especially when we start considering outsourcing to get things done 'faster'.

[xX_Nero_Xx]

well atleast the dev here take time out to let us know something, and talk to us.wargamming aka wot dont give a **** about anyone or anything to do with its players other than pay me to get gold ammo to win.

[JediPanther]

I think they are doing fine so far. I'm sure they'll hire when they need to.

[Banshee Bullet]

Zanathan, on 08 October 2012 - 02:59 PM, said:

throwing more money and staff at a project doesn't equate to a better and faster product that is produced. A smaller close knit team works better then a benemoth that has additional overheads with management and processes to ensure the separate teams don't step on each others foots.

nail on the head, imo

[Dirty Kraut]

And....more staff = more TPS reports

[CG Chicken Kn]

Sorry I can't do my TPS reports right now, I have a meeting with the Bobs.

[themoob]

Yeah a lot of what was said in here makes a lot of sense. I of course had no real understanding of any of it, I was merely curious. Thanks for the responses everyone, this was a surprisingly sensible and informative thread.