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Latest Dungeon Runners News Updates and Reviews Updated daily
Dungeon Runners : David Reid sets the record straight on NC West: Part 2By: Adrian Bott
Sep 24, 2008 03:30:00 PM News Item: 5418
Filed under: Interviews, MMO industry Massively: Great. So it's actually more towards NC West as sort of a general umbrella under which these specific studios can have their own names, and really carve out their own places within the company?
David Reid: Absolutely. Think about it this way: the reorganization and the establishment of NC West is more of an acknowledgement that we as a company can be doing better on the publishing side, in terms of taking these great products that these veteran leadership studios have been able to crank out, and turn them into much bigger phenomena. Right?
I mean, we've had great success with City of Heroes, we've had great success with Guild Wars, but we think it can be bigger. What we're not doing is changing the studio organization, other than the studios all now report in to Jeff Strain, who has moved on from the day to day management of ArenaNet - Michael O'Brien is now the studio head there, and is leading the Guild Wars 2 team and other projects there - but Jeff serves as a manager across the studio organization.
"... we've had great success with City of Heroes, we've had great success with Guild Wars, but we think it can be bigger."
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And in parallel, what I get to do for Jeff and those studios is make sure that we do the best we can to deliver triple-A world class launches across our Western territories, and make sure that the marketing, the sales, the customer support - all the elements that great developers look to great publishers to do - are being done here. There's going to be some common platforms and things on the technology side, and a common team that helps serve the business, but nothing really changes on the product development side.
Massively: Okay. So you're saying nothing much is going to change on the product development side, but to that end it seems like as part of the NC West conglomeration, there are some folks moving around. There's a little more... we guess you could say refinement in what people are doing in a couple of these different studios. Could you talk generally about what we're seeing, as far as people moving on to new positions, people moving on from Austin to Seattle, those sorts of things?
David Reid: I should say one thing: that the decision about moving out NC West in the way we're doing it is, while there's no real change happening at the studio level, there is this ratification of 'NCsoft is going to be in the triple-A MMO space day in and day out', right?
We've done some interesting things and had some success with smaller titles, things like Dungeon Runners and Exteel are doing well for us, but the company by and large is the company that Lineage built, and this reorganization is a ratification of getting back to that business and going all-in on the Lineages, Guild Wars, Aions, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasas, Blade and Souls, those sorts of games are what NCsoft is going to be doing day in, day out here in the West.
Now, there's a specific question you asked there about how does this impact certain people. We are planning to - we're in the process of now porting the internal people that we would like to relocate to Seattle, and have offered a healthy number of folks a relocation up to Seattle to be part of what is principally a publishing headquarters. And so that's where the bulk of the North American and global leadership for marketing, for sales, for PR, aspects like that, we're thinking will be headquartered in Seattle.
Seattle for us was the logical place to go because of the relationship with Seoul, and Seattle just happens to be the place where you get the best number of non-stop flights to Seoul and to our West Coast studios, and to our UK office, out of Seattle versus any other city on the West Coast. And so we are also relocating what is now our Eastern games studio, the folks that are our North American and European producer team, for bringing games like Aion and Lineage and Blade and Soul into the Western market. Those folks are moving to Seattle, as well as the publishing headquarters.
 Comments
Dungeon Runners : David Reid sets the record straight on NC West: Part 3By: Adrian Bott
Sep 24, 2008 03:30:00 PM News Item: 5417
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeon Runners, Interviews, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Consoles Dungeon Runners
Massively: Now when you're talking about stepping more in the direction of the triple-A titles, that sort of implies that you're getting away from some of the smaller games that you guys have been working on in the past. We know that the Dungeon Runners team is experiencing some changes - can you talk specifically about that game, and what's going to be happening with those folks?
David Reid: Even before the NC West announcement, the Dungeon Runners team went through some changes. You're probably referring to the announcement of the reduction we had of about 21 people, several weeks before the announcement of NC West, and Dungeon Runners was part of that. And that was about the fact that - yes, we like Dungeon Runners as a service, but there was a decision not to port that product on to other platforms but to keep the game intact as it is right now on the PC platform.
There were a number of other projects that had not been announced that were part of that, and they too were what we'll call lighter and smaller MMO fare, rather than triple-A types of products. Beyond that, Dungeon Runners is as healthy as it's ever been, and is still a vibrant part of the NCsoft portfolio. It's just that it's a different sort of business, and one that is a very successful kind of business overall, it's just not where NCsoft is going to continue investing its product development publishing resources, going forward.
Massively: So it would be fair to say that people who enjoy Dungeon Runners shouldn't expect it to go anywhere, but as far as a ton of new content in the future... that would probably not be the direction that the company would be going in for that product?
David Reid: I'd clarify that answer just a bit. We were thinking seriously about 'should we bring Dungeon Runners to other, alternative platforms?' And that's what a large amount of that team was working on, and other parts of NCsoft. That decision has been: no, we're not going to. I wouldn't read into that anything about the amount of content that the Dungeon Runners team is going to be making on a regular basis. That will continue to go forward.
Console Ports
Massively: You mentioned porting to other platforms a couple of times now. We think it's a little more than a year ago at this point that you announced you had that agreement with Sony to think about doing some stuff for the PS3. We haven't really seen that so far. Is that part of this announcement, sort of refocusing NC West on getting some of Ncsoft's more stable games over to the Playstation 3?
David Reid: Yeah... I can tell you that we do think console development is an incredibly important part of our future. We do think that, you know, you look at companies like... NCsoft today is a PC only company, and we've seen what's happened with some of these formerly PC only (or predominantly PC) companies who have successfully brought their properties to the console.
As a gamer myself, I take a lot of inspiration from what the Tom Clancy series did for UbiSoft, or what Morrowind as a shifted Xbox and PC title did for Bethesda. And we believe that there is a transition like that that NCsoft can have, by taking some of its triple-A properties, and making a great triple-A MMO that works on the console.
"As a gamer myself, I take a lot of inspiration from what the Tom Clancy series did for UbiSoft, or what Morrowind as a shifted Xbox and PC title did for Bethesda."
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So yeah, it is true. You can't do everything all the time, and at some level we recognise that the best prize for NCsoft to be focused on is the triple-A space, and that's on the PC platform and on the console platform. But beyond that, I don't have an announcement that I can make for you at this time!
Massively: Not a problem. We just wanted to clarify, because it seems like a natural progression from where you guys are talking about with triple-A titles being your focus.
David Reid: We passionately agree. Absolutely.
Massively: We really appreciate you guys' time. We know that the readers have been... we guess the best word is confused, because as we said, it sort of came out of nowhere. And we're glad we had the chance to talk!
David Reid: You bet! Well, at the end of the day, I hope that for folks who are fans of these giant triple-A games, these big investments in the MMO space with high production quality, there should be no confusion: this is good news for that game. We are going to get back to doing this all day, every day, in a world class way. The lighter side of the business, the free-to-plays and things like that, those are great businesses, but there will be other companies who will be delivering that form. It won't be NCsoft so much, going forward.
Read what David Reid had to say on Tabula Rasa and Guild Wars. Comments
Dungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners announces guilds and player blogsBy: Shawn Schuster
Sep 24, 2008 10:00:00 AM News Item: 5423
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeon Runners, Game mechanics, Patches  Dungeon Runners has just released its newest patch which introduces players to some exciting new features to this free-to-play NCsoft title. Build 147 (Chunk 4) has added posses to the game, which act much like a guild in other games. It's basically described as a persistent group of friends in-game who have their own entry on the social window and their own chat channels. Although this build will officially add this feature to the game, it won't be active for another week or so.
This build also adds a brand new player blog system that tracks events via RSS. These events include login, logout, level up, quest completion, deaths, pvp match results and more. This certainly isn't the end of the new additions though as we get treated to a new dungeon, a wishing well feature, bug fixes, upgrades and even a free trial period for the Bling Gnome. Check out the complete patch notes for more details on this mega-patch. Comments
Dungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners is safe, says NCsoftBy: Shawn Schuster
Sep 18, 2008 06:30:00 PM News Item: 5318
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeon Runners, Business models, MMO industry, Rumors
Despite earlier reports that NCsoft's Dungeon Runners was on its way out, in line with the company's recent plans to concentrate on larger triple-A MMO titles, we now hear that the free-to-play cult favorite is not going anywhere just yet. David Reid, NCsoft's VP of Marketing explained that the company will continue to focus on the larger titles, but Dungeon Runners is indeed safe. He does point out though that it's unlikely that the smaller titles will receive the same support and attention they've always had.
Plus, as is the case with so many other MMO publishers and developers these days, NCsoft is expected to pursue its relationship with Sony to bring MMOs to the PS3. "We have a good relationship with Sony and we're excited about it, but there are a lot of good platforms out there," Reid explained. Comments
Dungeon Runners : Top Ten Free-to-Play GamesBy: Ralsu
Sep 11, 2008 11:35:57 PM News Item: 5158
Back After a Week off
Danny "Ralsu" Gourley makes his return with the Top Ten Free-to-Play
Games. This time, he ponders the fate of Dungeon Runners,
discusses his adventures in Archlord, and even
agrees with a review by Cody "Micajah" Bye:
I don't always agree with Managing Editor Cody "Micajah"
Bye's take on a game, but I cannot add anything to his
review of Archlord.
While the translation has gotten better in the seventeen months since
Cody reviewed the game, the graphics have aged a little. And the grind
has remained the same.
- Read this week's Top Ten
Free-to-Play Games
- Then tell us your own top ten
Comments
Dungeon Runners : NC West: NCsoft to focus on more hardcore, triple-A online gamesBy: Charles D.
Sep 10, 2008 04:45:22 PM News Item: 5068
 It looks like NCsoft will be literally taking the kid gloves off in terms of its focus in the MMO genre. In an interview conducted by Kotaku with NC West president of publishing David Reid, he mentioned that they will be redoubling their efforts on large, triple-A MMO titles from now on.
The new mindset explained by Reid coincides with the company's recent shift in management teams and restructuring. He was quoted having said:
This transition is really about ratifying a completely dedicated business to the triple-A titles. We would consider ourselves in the class of five-ish companies in the world that can be successful in this market. We are a leader here and we are doubling down in those efforts.
He also added that: "If you are successful in this business, you are fabulously successful". As such, he mentioned that NCsoft will be moving away from some of its "lighter" titles such as Dungeon Runners, although he refused to comment whether this meant the end of the light-hearted, free-to-play MMO game.
Reid cited their plans on making a deal with Sony to create several online games for the PlayStation 3. He also gave a nod in the direction of Electronic Arts, a once PC-exclusive game publisher which successfully made its transition as a multi-platform company.
Operations are still going smoothly as of now, and Reid explained that their move to Seattle will only make things more efficient by allowing the company to work more closely with publishers in the West Coast.
Related articles:
- NCsoft lays off 21 employees in Austin offices
- Dungeon Runners update: New content in the next heave revealed
 Comments
Dungeon Runners : Turbine opens dynamic forum sigs for LotRO playersBy: Shawn Schuster
Sep 09, 2008 05:00:00 PM News Item: 5049
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Culture, Forums, Game mechanics, Guilds, Crafting, Professions, Races
The integration from game client to browser-based media is becoming more popular and accessible these days, so Turbine decided to implement a recent update to their Lord of the Rings Online account-linked forum sigs for all players. Any LotRO player can now generate a graphical signature with information about any of their characters over level five. This is for characters on any server, PvE and PvMP characters included.
This is very similar to browser-based character information available in other games, but of course there are some limitations currently. The portrait displayed in the sig is a general representation of race and gender only, so at the moment, it's not highly customizable. Also, there's a known issue regarding officer and member ranks not displaying correctly. It seems like this could be a step in the right direction towards getting more detailed character or kinship information in a web-based format, much like we have already in World of Warcraft, Dungeon Runners and more. Comments
Dungeon Runners : Official word from NCsoft on the Austin studio layoffsBy: Adrian Bott
Aug 13, 2008 07:30:00 PM News Item: 4321
Filed under: Dungeon Runners, MMO industry, Tabula Rasa  We had already sourced information that confirmed layoffs from NCsoft Austin, but formal notification has now gone out of the loss of 21 jobs. David Swofford, Director of Public Relations for NCsoft North America, has provided the following information:
We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development. Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time.
Although exact details were not given, we can confirm that 13 out of the 18 Dungeon Runners staff have lost their jobs, following a post by Producer / Lead Programmer Stephen Nichols at the Dungeon Runners forums. Stephen has said that the Dungeon Runners team are 'in shock' at the news.Continue reading Official word from NCsoft on the Austin studio layoffs Comments
Dungeon Runners : NCsoft Austin sheds staffBy: Tateru Nino
Aug 13, 2008 03:30:00 PM News Item: 4256
Filed under: City of Heroes, City of Villains, Dungeon Runners, MMO industry, News items, Tabula Rasa  Rumors abound across the manifold tubes of the Internet over just what is (or is not) presently going on at NCsoft Austin. NCsoft's Austin office is presently home to Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners, at least one unannounced fantasy MMO, and noticeably fewer developers than last week.
We have some confirmed departures, including staff from Dungeon Runners such as April 'CuppaJo' Burba, and Crickette -- The much-loved April Burba, you may recall was the newly minted Associate Producer for Dungeon Runners, having recently transferred from the Tabula Rasa team. That comes courtesy of Jester of w00tstudios.net, a well known DJ and broadcaster on the MMO scene, via the CoX forums.
Continue reading NCsoft Austin sheds staff Comments
More Dungeon Runners News
(Click to read)
Aug 12, 2008 05:15:00 PMDungeon Runners : Rumor: NCsoft Austin, Dungeon Runners to be shut down
Jul 18, 2008 07:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners now accepts Paypal
Jul 15, 2008 08:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners gets some G4TV love
Jul 15, 2008 01:56:00 PMDungeon Runners : NCsoft Europe Community Day at the Games Convention 2008
Jul 13, 2008 09:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : NCsoft's upcoming summer tour around the Globe
Jul 05, 2008 04:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : ArenaNet to host 2nd annual PAX afterparty
Jun 29, 2008 08:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners retail box now available through Amazon
Jun 18, 2008 07:30:00 AMDungeon Runners : The Bling Gnome in action!
Jun 18, 2008 07:00:00 AMDungeon Runners : Massively's Dungeon Runner/Bling Gnome giveaway
Jun 15, 2008 03:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners announces an EU server
May 25, 2008 10:00:00 AMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners' newest build: It's easy as 123
May 22, 2008 10:00:00 AMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners' retail box unveiled
May 19, 2008 04:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners Chunk 3 goes live!
May 15, 2008 03:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners new build and push for retail box sales
May 14, 2008 01:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : NCsoft Audio Director reveals his old-school secrets
May 01, 2008 05:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners heaves its next patch into testing
Apr 23, 2008 02:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : One Shots: Sending Chill Bill to his death
Apr 23, 2008 01:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : Dungeon Runners needs your ideas
Apr 08, 2008 04:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Bling Gnome coming with Dungeon Runners retail box
Feb 21, 2008 08:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : The top 5 free MMOs
Jan 18, 2008 06:00:00 PMDungeon Runners : Our chat with NCsoft's new president
Dec 12, 2007 04:30:00 PMDungeon Runners : As the Worlds Turn: Land of the Free
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