Comments on: Tony Hilliam: Rumours of Auran’s Demise “Greatly Exaggerated”

By: John

John — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:46:33 +0000

"Smells like Damage Control? Why would they keep the full staff running at 100% of development costs for anything longer then 6 weeks post release?
Are they making Fury expansion or Fury 2? No, for obvious reasons, so for now they don't need all that staff."

Actually, theres a expansion comming out(or massive content update), probably wont change much however, but the point is, the game flopped, THATS the reason they are laying off staff, you can bet WOW, Guildwars, or anything remotely popular didn't need to lay of staff and try to fill the spots cheaper in china...

Think about it for a sec, do you think if your game was a MASSIVE success you would stop there? Maybe if you were an idiot, everyone else keeps rolling with the punches, keeps pumpin sequels because they know the public will buy (and hopefully enjoy) it, and they can continue to do so until the game or IP expires.

But because Fury was garbage, they don't have those options, they are forced to cut corners, outsource to china, and masquerade around like a proudly Australian company with kangaroo stickers and all, but end of the day, everyone knows there just dodgy.

Whats even funnier I think Auran even get Government funded assistance, sad state of affairs.

By: Khaaaaaan!

Khaaaaaan! — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:31:17 +0000

It is standard practice to ramp down the number of people you have on a project. It is not standard practice to sack everyone.

Doesn't matter what Hiller says, I know from people who work there, most of them don't have jobs at Auran. Tantalus will rescue maybe 20 and another 20 at least are looking elsewhere.

By: Evilmonkey

Evilmonkey — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:18:30 +0000

“They’re going to de-suck the game? yeah like that’ll happen. Great to see they’re sending OZ dollars overseas as well, pricks.” – Australians need to support there home grown stuff, or this happens! Why not make some useful suggestions on how they can make Fury not “suck” rather then post comments like this that just make Aurans job of selling the game harder!

By: Tenet

Tenet — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:15:17 +0000

Smells like Damage Control? Why would they keep the full staff running at 100% of development costs for anything longer then 6 weeks post release?
Are they making Fury expansion or Fury 2? No, for obvious reasons, so for now they don't need all that staff.

Compare this to GuildWars, ANet had great early success then cut the team in two: half working on the free content drop, and half on the first expansion. How much staff remained working on the original game? Same number that Fury will have, most likely.

I'm NOT convinced that this isn't standard practice, because it makes sense financially.
Should Fury start climbing out EVE style and they need an expansion, they will start hiring again.

By: Ninja Catfish

Ninja Catfish — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:38:11 +0000

I mainly find it funny because the topic title is a reference to Rise Against.
All of a sudden I have slightly more approval.

It will be interesting to see how Fury fares in a while, after then initial release phase, and how the company will fare afterwards.

By: Silk

Silk — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:00:37 +0000

"Regarding China, during the past two years we successfully used several outsourcing companies and will be looking to China to create much of the new content that we will release in future updates."

Hang on a minute. Fury has the "Made in Australia" logo on the back of it!

By: barry

barry — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:54:48 +0000

They’re going to de-suck the game? yeah like that’ll happen. Great to see they’re sending OZ dollars overseas as well, pricks.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:00:15 +0000

"These are people who are incredibly passionate about the game and work until 4 in the morning to ensure they get things done"

This quote here just seems so wrong, especially in this post EA-spouse world and stories of other developers trying to install more normal working hours.

By: john

john — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:51:27 +0000

smells like damage control