Scott Hartsman returns to Trion, takes CEO role

tad10

tad10

Elisha Dushku
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Krassus_sl said:
The rifts failed horribly, invasions were supposed to be landscape changing and innovative and ended up a flat gimmick.
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Rift was full of tired and/or gimmicky mechanics. It was obvious in beta, so I saw no need to play the game. I'm not a huge Hartsman fan. I gather he did good stuff on EQ2, but Rift did not/does not impress.
 
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Tidbit Scaledclaw_sl

shitlord
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tad10_sl said:
LOL. I wouldn't go that far, but yes I think Smed has made some pretty bad decisions on his watch but he keeps getting lucky, so I don't see him going anytime soon.
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I also think Smed has some secret pics or video of his bosses in Japan, thus he has leverage over them this is why he has not been fired.
 
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Gecko_sl

shitlord
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Tidbit Scaledclaw_sl said:
I also think Smed has some secret pics or video of his bosses in Japan, thus he has leverage over them this is why he has not been fired.
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Smed is to MMOs what Steve Ballmer is to software development.

Hartsman has already emailed 'the troops'.. From Gamesutra:Hartsman said: "We're going to rapidly be laying the groundwork for a new strategy at Trion -- one that's closer to the foundation of how we've had our wins so far, and then extending that base into the enduring success this company can, and will, be."
 
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ThunderCougarFalconBird_sl

shitlord
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Gecko_sl said:
Lars was the founder and did put some of his cash down to start the company. He also brought in Hartsman to be his tech/creative guy. Butler was a former EA executive, and part of me wonders how much of their crappy corporate mentality he brought to the table. If I had to guess, I'd say Hartsman was never sold on Defiance and that might have hastened his departure in a political fight with others. The fact Defiance somewhat tanked and they laid off most of their staff probably opened up the Board's eyes on things.

Bringing Scott back to Trion is a good thing, in my opinion. I hope he can build a nextgen MMO, but really he might be focused more on making Rift more profitable.
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You're probably right about the Defiance thing, but iirc Hartsman was in charge of producing Storm Legion, which flopped sales-wise, and was totally set against F2P which has done nothing but revitalize Rift. I think Scott is a good producer and businessman; he can make a game on time, on budget making the difficult decisions and people like to work for him. So I think he'll be a good fit as CEO. But I don't like some of his creative vision and hopefully he won't be totally in charge of that.
 
Mr Creed

Mr Creed

Too old for this shit
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So what are the odds that Hartsman saw considers the demand for an EQHD sufficiently big to make that game with a target audience of a mill subs (not f2p)? I'd guess pretty low, especially considering he retooled rift towards Wow clone instead trying to break new ground. I havent experienced his EQ2 stint but heard good things, however he seems like a guy that likes to play it safe.
 
Muligan

Muligan

Trakanon Raider
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Someone tell Hartsman to come by hear and we'll roundtable how to drive all other MMO's in the ground.... it's really not a difficult formula. haha

I honestly believe Scott is one of those guys that will listen but confident/smart enough to know when it's worth listening to...
 
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gogojira_sl

shitlord
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Trion San Diego lay offs. Hartsman definitely needs to bring some change because outside of Rift at launch, Trion seems to be a bust.

Source: http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=647519
 
Brahma

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
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Krassus_sl said:
For me as a tank it was a bad game and I realize im in a smaller %. Most of my guild and friends enjoyed the hell out of it and I did to some extent.

The things that really made it bad for me was multiclassing that was horribly done. As a tank we were pidgeon holed into primarily Pal / R / VK from Alpha --> RoS and who knows after that I quit by then. The raids were tested months before release and nothing was done to fix major issues reported. The nerfs to dungeons which I can agree overall was a good decision for the majority of people but for us rose glass wearing kids I preferred the challenge. It made winning actually feel like you accomplished something and the loot matter more (I love loot). The rifts failed horribly, invasions were supposed to be landscape changing and innovative and ended up a flat gimmick.
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You are correct on all this. Matter fact, this was why I quit playing. But I did enjoy myself up till that point.
 
tad10

tad10

Elisha Dushku
5,518
583
gogojira_sl said:
Trion San Diego lay offs. Hartsman definitely needs to bring some change because outside of Rift at launch, Trion seems to be a bust.

Source:http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=647519
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Too bad. Jerrithorn was working there, IIRC. I note that StoryBricks just tweeted to the laid off devs to apply for SB EQN jobs. Edit: As did Blizzard for their projects.

Edit: Looks like whole SD studio has been shuttered. Defiance/EoN going to be shutdown or moved?
 
Korrupt

Korrupt

Blackwing Lair Raider
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The twitter post with the names went down, I wonder who all it included that came from SoE.
 
iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
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Good for Mr. Hartsman.

But he's CEO now. He's moved on up and moved on out. Going forward Trion will probably be a less needlessly stressful place to work at and that might positively impact the quality of their work. Other than that I don't see how the news makes much practical difference to me as a potential consumer... the new boss doesn't suck.

Good on 'im.
 
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Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
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As of two months ago (maybe it was 4?), it wasn't even open internally. THey're dong all the translation stuff right now. Things may be more ahead than that though now.
 
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