Given the resurgence of Trek with the number of new shows in the last 5 years, I think the game will continue for the foreseeable future with a decent possibility of being sold to a new entity rather than shutting down.
The team was always small for game development standards, now after the layoff it has become even smaller. So I hope STT will continue, but should we get new features etc. they will come in snail pace.
I'm going to try and put a positive spin on this news, in the hopes that it means that fresh blood will eventually be brought in, allowing the game to be better managed.
Ever since TP/WRG took over the game, their management has been incredibly short-sighted, as every change or addition to the game has felt like they were directly or indirectly trying to nickel & dime the players. They seemed more worried about milking the cash cow in the short-term, instead of investing in the game in a way that would result in more sales from a loyal, dedicated player base in the long-term.
They seemed surprised every time a massive new addition to the game was ridiculed by the players, since it was obvious to us that everything wasn't being done for the game/players, but instead being done just to drive sales. Some were direct cash grabs (ie: introduction of 3rd campaign tier), while others were more indirect (ie: midweek achievement events to drain various in-game resources; retrievals introducing a whole new in-game economy with multiple new in-game currencies). We even had the reps complaining about the players hoarding resources - since that limits opportunity to drive sales of those resources - which was really more an indictment at how stale the game had become, as opposed to players circumventing the way the devs wish we were playing their game.
All the fixes we players have been clamoring for, from addressing fleet management concerns to long-time issues or requests (ie: in-game chat, enlarged graphics during ship battles, adding new missions to the galaxy map, etc...), have continually been bumped to the back burner. That shouldn't come as a shock, since there is no immediate way to monetize those changes. The ironic thing, which TP/WRG never seemed to grasp, is that listening to the players and making changes the players actually want, is exactly how to keep them engaged... and happy players are paying customers.
There's enough doom and gloom already, so perhaps this winds up being the catalyst for a shifting of priorities and TP/WRG actually taking the player perspective to heart going forward.
So perhaps this winds up being the catalyst for a shifting of priorities and TP/WRG actually taking the player perspective to heart going forward.
Hopefully. Otherwise I am enjoying Marvel Snap more and more anyway. I love Marvel nearly as much as Star Trek. It is a card collecting and card battle game. And many of the things that we do not like in here, are not present here. And it is very very fair for a mobile game:
You can play whenever you want, for as long as you want. No timers or other money grabbing stunts prevent that.
You don´t need to freeze or unfreeze cards. The cards will always stay in your unlimited inventory.
When you get a card you can level it up for graphical improvements or to climb higher in the collection level so can get new and better cards. But as soon as you get a card, it already has the best power/skills.
While, same as here, you could spend much zero spending is needed to be competive after a little while with just playing (and the right strategies).
The bug fixing in the latest patch was massive - and many more fixes are on the way fast.
The team is very transparent with their nerfing decisions and their reasons are sound.
There are not too many game modes right now, but already the way it is, Marvel Snap is highly entertaining.
I'm not assuming the worst just yet, but of course my wallet just sealed shut until I've been reassured.
Same, and I suspect we are not alone. At this point though I really fear the answer is already clear.
It is. The people that they let go, looking at the job titles in the first post, are not the people you let go if the game is going to continue. QA Lead in particular - that's an essential position.
In my 6.5 years in STT, the game has been declared dying/dead so many times that I’ve lost count. These layoffs are not a good sign, but I still need 693 citations to FF my entire 5* roster and I simply refuse to believe anything bad will happen before then. 🫣🤞
In my 6.5 years in STT, the game has been declared dying/dead so many times that I’ve lost count. These layoffs are not a good sign, but I still need 693 citations to FF my entire 5* roster and I simply refuse to believe anything bad will happen before then. 🫣🤞
This is at least the third round of layoffs (with probably hires in between) since the game has been in existence. I wouldn't stick a fork in it yet.
The people that they let go, looking at the job titles in the first post, are not the people you let go if the game is going to continue. QA Lead in particular - that's an essential position.
To be fair, the ratio of staff working mainly as QA engineers/testers/whatever in many companies is in the mid to low single digit percent range; even below 1% with an outsourced QA management and a distributed and moderate workload to other staff on site isn't unheard of.
To have one fully committed QA person in a small software development studio with less than 20 staff (but probably only a dozen or so) could be considered overkill anyway and it seems a relatively easy position to outsource/consolidate without a hugely negative impact. That's especially true in a scenario like TP's - a company which has purview over multiple distinct development teams and would like to reduce overhead in lean times.
The reality, though, is probably not as rosy. There are many challenges between investors looking for more significant returns (investors who may have gotten a skewed view of GaaS (Games as a Service) during the COVID years, which is when the game was sold to TP), an IP license that no doubt adds a significant part to the total cost of the operation, a seven year old mobile game with a (probably mostly) stable but comparatively small user base with a limited growth potential and the growing issues inherent in the continued development of an outdated code-base.
I'm too much of a realist for wishful thinking, but it would be nice if Timelines stayed around for a bit longer.
In my 6.5 years in STT, the game has been declared dying/dead so many times that I’ve lost count. These layoffs are not a good sign, but I still need 693 citations to FF my entire 5* roster and I simply refuse to believe anything bad will happen before then. 🫣🤞
This is at least the third round of layoffs (with probably hires in between) since the game has been in existence. I wouldn't stick a fork in it yet.
The lack of communication hardly supports your stance.
Ben keeps tabs on the chats, discords and forums. Hes fully aware of what we know and hes not chiming in saying “hey dont panic timelines will continue some way somehow”.
They put the precaps in to try and make a fast buck on the way out.
If you see the 22,000 dilithium for 24.99 (for the 4th time in 6 months) you know its completely over.
I would assume that not all linkedin profiles were updated yet. And it looks like the artist was laid off too. Then you have TP clearly stating that they are moving away from all this. It looks dire.
I'm not assuming the worst just yet, but of course my wallet just sealed shut until I've been reassured.
Same, and I suspect we are not alone. At this point though I really fear the answer is already clear.
It is. The people that they let go, looking at the job titles in the first post, are not the people you let go if the game is going to continue. QA Lead in particular - that's an essential position.
They had a QA Lead?!?!?
And still so much slipped through the cracks?!?!?
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
In my 6.5 years in STT, the game has been declared dying/dead so many times that I’ve lost count. These layoffs are not a good sign, but I still need 693 citations to FF my entire 5* roster and I simply refuse to believe anything bad will happen before then. 🫣🤞
This is at least the third round of layoffs (with probably hires in between) since the game has been in existence. I wouldn't stick a fork in it yet.
The lack of communication hardly supports your stance.
Ben keeps tabs on the chats, discords and forums. Hes fully aware of what we know and hes not chiming in saying “hey dont panic timelines will continue some way somehow”.
They put the precaps in to try and make a fast buck on the way out.
If you see the 22,000 dilithium for 24.99 (for the 4th time in 6 months) you know its completely over.
Somebody saying "We aren't going anywhere" is not always a guarantee they aren't going anywhere.....
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
In my 6.5 years in STT, the game has been declared dying/dead so many times that I’ve lost count. These layoffs are not a good sign, but I still need 693 citations to FF my entire 5* roster and I simply refuse to believe anything bad will happen before then. 🫣🤞
This is at least the third round of layoffs (with probably hires in between) since the game has been in existence. I wouldn't stick a fork in it yet.
The lack of communication hardly supports your stance.
Ben keeps tabs on the chats, discords and forums. Hes fully aware of what we know and hes not chiming in saying “hey dont panic timelines will continue some way somehow”.
They put the precaps in to try and make a fast buck on the way out.
If you see the 22,000 dilithium for 24.99 (for the 4th time in 6 months) you know its completely over.
Somebody saying "We aren't going anywhere" is not always a guarantee they aren't going anywhere.....
I agree. But, even with best case thoughts, i would assume that any prospective buyer wouldnt want the customer base (cash cow) losing faith in the game.
Given the resurgence of Trek with the number of new shows in the last 5 years, I think the game will continue for the foreseeable future with a decent possibility of being sold to a new entity rather than shutting down.
That hasn’t really translated to players of Trek games, unfortunately. The Prodigy game was DOA and the Lower Decks mobile game has barely 100-odd active players. Online is steady but hardly spectacular. Even in the late ‘90s Trek games didn’t do that well.
Bummer. I’ve been playing since 2017…I’m not as active as I once was going for the gold every week but I still let it rip when it’s a gold I really want like Kira a couple weeks ago.
I hope the game goes on, it would be weird without it, and I feel bad for all those impacted by the layoffs.
Given the resurgence of Trek with the number of new shows in the last 5 years, I think the game will continue for the foreseeable future with a decent possibility of being sold to a new entity rather than shutting down.
That hasn’t really translated to players of Trek games, unfortunately. The Prodigy game was DOA and the Lower Decks mobile game has barely 100-odd active players. Online is steady but hardly spectacular. Even in the late ‘90s Trek games didn’t do that well.
It’s a tough sell for another company.
Wow! That's amazing, considering that every Trekker but me loves Lower Decks.
Lower Decks EWWWW...
÷Dr. Claire Finn - Admiral of the Battleship Yamato & Founder of both the Battleship Yamato & ISS Yamato
Given the resurgence of Trek with the number of new shows in the last 5 years, I think the game will continue for the foreseeable future with a decent possibility of being sold to a new entity rather than shutting down.
That hasn’t really translated to players of Trek games, unfortunately. The Prodigy game was DOA and the Lower Decks mobile game has barely 100-odd active players. Online is steady but hardly spectacular. Even in the late ‘90s Trek games didn’t do that well.
It’s a tough sell for another company.
Wow! That's amazing, considering that every Trekker but me loves Lower Decks.
Lower Decks EWWWW...
Half {at least} of the problem is likely "This game is not compatible with your {brand new} device"......
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
Damage controle is almost too late by now, but it would still be nice to hear something from the horses own mouth, otherwise the things we see and rumours alone will definetely kill off STT
@Captain Idol , I think you should still hold your regularly scheduled Timelines Talks. It's the one thing that's kept me interested in the game this far, and I would love to hear what you, Auto, Stars, and everyone else is feeling on this topic.
Damage controle is almost too late by now, but it would still be nice to hear something from the horses own mouth, otherwise the things we see and rumours alone will definetely kill off STT
Im sure this is a scenario much like bangate, where ben will work with tilting point legal staff to carefully craft an announcement to hopefully shield them from any fallout.
Too bad about all the lies, broken commitments, ignorance and obliviousness of wrg. This game could have easily gone another 7 years with the right leadership.
Damage controle is almost too late by now, but it would still be nice to hear something from the horses own mouth, otherwise the things we see and rumours alone will definetely kill off STT
Im sure this is a scenario much like bangate, where ben will work with tilting point legal staff to carefully craft an announcement to hopefully shield them from any fallout.
Too bad about all the lies, broken commitments, ignorance and obliviousness of wrg. This game could have easily gone another 7 years with the right leadership.
Comments
I just rechecked for an exact number.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/tilting-point-buys-star-trek-timelines-from-disruptor-beam
The team was always small for game development standards, now after the layoff it has become even smaller. So I hope STT will continue, but should we get new features etc. they will come in snail pace.
Ever since TP/WRG took over the game, their management has been incredibly short-sighted, as every change or addition to the game has felt like they were directly or indirectly trying to nickel & dime the players. They seemed more worried about milking the cash cow in the short-term, instead of investing in the game in a way that would result in more sales from a loyal, dedicated player base in the long-term.
They seemed surprised every time a massive new addition to the game was ridiculed by the players, since it was obvious to us that everything wasn't being done for the game/players, but instead being done just to drive sales. Some were direct cash grabs (ie: introduction of 3rd campaign tier), while others were more indirect (ie: midweek achievement events to drain various in-game resources; retrievals introducing a whole new in-game economy with multiple new in-game currencies). We even had the reps complaining about the players hoarding resources - since that limits opportunity to drive sales of those resources - which was really more an indictment at how stale the game had become, as opposed to players circumventing the way the devs wish we were playing their game.
All the fixes we players have been clamoring for, from addressing fleet management concerns to long-time issues or requests (ie: in-game chat, enlarged graphics during ship battles, adding new missions to the galaxy map, etc...), have continually been bumped to the back burner. That shouldn't come as a shock, since there is no immediate way to monetize those changes. The ironic thing, which TP/WRG never seemed to grasp, is that listening to the players and making changes the players actually want, is exactly how to keep them engaged... and happy players are paying customers.
There's enough doom and gloom already, so perhaps this winds up being the catalyst for a shifting of priorities and TP/WRG actually taking the player perspective to heart going forward.
Hopefully. Otherwise I am enjoying Marvel Snap more and more anyway. I love Marvel nearly as much as Star Trek. It is a card collecting and card battle game. And many of the things that we do not like in here, are not present here. And it is very very fair for a mobile game:
You can play whenever you want, for as long as you want. No timers or other money grabbing stunts prevent that.
You don´t need to freeze or unfreeze cards. The cards will always stay in your unlimited inventory.
When you get a card you can level it up for graphical improvements or to climb higher in the collection level so can get new and better cards. But as soon as you get a card, it already has the best power/skills.
While, same as here, you could spend much zero spending is needed to be competive after a little while with just playing (and the right strategies).
The bug fixing in the latest patch was massive - and many more fixes are on the way fast.
The team is very transparent with their nerfing decisions and their reasons are sound.
There are not too many game modes right now, but already the way it is, Marvel Snap is highly entertaining.
14% is overall number , not the number at WRG.
Pretty obvious(thx to the reddit comments of the laid off ex employees)
that way more than just 14% of all WRG stuff has been released.
Looks more like 70-80% to me imho.
Do you mean LinkedIn?
It is. The people that they let go, looking at the job titles in the first post, are not the people you let go if the game is going to continue. QA Lead in particular - that's an essential position.
This is at least the third round of layoffs (with probably hires in between) since the game has been in existence. I wouldn't stick a fork in it yet.
To have one fully committed QA person in a small software development studio with less than 20 staff (but probably only a dozen or so) could be considered overkill anyway and it seems a relatively easy position to outsource/consolidate without a hugely negative impact. That's especially true in a scenario like TP's - a company which has purview over multiple distinct development teams and would like to reduce overhead in lean times.
The reality, though, is probably not as rosy. There are many challenges between investors looking for more significant returns (investors who may have gotten a skewed view of GaaS (Games as a Service) during the COVID years, which is when the game was sold to TP), an IP license that no doubt adds a significant part to the total cost of the operation, a seven year old mobile game with a (probably mostly) stable but comparatively small user base with a limited growth potential and the growing issues inherent in the continued development of an outdated code-base.
I'm too much of a realist for wishful thinking, but it would be nice if Timelines stayed around for a bit longer.
The lack of communication hardly supports your stance.
Ben keeps tabs on the chats, discords and forums. Hes fully aware of what we know and hes not chiming in saying “hey dont panic timelines will continue some way somehow”.
They put the precaps in to try and make a fast buck on the way out.
If you see the 22,000 dilithium for 24.99 (for the 4th time in 6 months) you know its completely over.
They had a QA Lead?!?!?
And still so much slipped through the cracks?!?!?
Somebody saying "We aren't going anywhere" is not always a guarantee they aren't going anywhere.....
I agree. But, even with best case thoughts, i would assume that any prospective buyer wouldnt want the customer base (cash cow) losing faith in the game.
We shall see. But its probably over.
That hasn’t really translated to players of Trek games, unfortunately. The Prodigy game was DOA and the Lower Decks mobile game has barely 100-odd active players. Online is steady but hardly spectacular. Even in the late ‘90s Trek games didn’t do that well.
It’s a tough sell for another company.
I hope the game goes on, it would be weird without it, and I feel bad for all those impacted by the layoffs.
hello@tiltingpoint.com
Wow! That's amazing, considering that every Trekker but me loves Lower Decks.
Lower Decks EWWWW...
Half {at least} of the problem is likely "This game is not compatible with your {brand new} device"......
Im sure this is a scenario much like bangate, where ben will work with tilting point legal staff to carefully craft an announcement to hopefully shield them from any fallout.
Too bad about all the lies, broken commitments, ignorance and obliviousness of wrg. This game could have easily gone another 7 years with the right leadership.
Always an optimist