Major shake-up at Cubicle 7

macd21 · Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:58 am

It would be weird if they did say anything. The norm is for all parties to stay silent and move on. No matter what you say, people are going to be annoyed. As it is, people are annoyed, saying anything would just add fuel to the fire.

Orin J. · Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:56 am

macd21 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:58 am It would be weird if they did say anything. The norm is for all parties to stay silent and move on. No matter what you say, people are going to be annoyed. As it is, people are annoyed, saying anything would just add fuel to the fire.

a considerable amount of the writing, design development, overall project head and entire editorial staff just jumped ship. this is very beneath the norm, and in any other company would have had a same--day announcement explaining their decision and how it would affect the game going forward. usually a shakeup of staff this size signals either a total rework in-house or the project closing entirely and your argument doesn't seem to appreciate the scale of the work these three people were doing.

mormegil · Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:07 am

Guess time will tell. I am happy that I did not invest in the collectors of TEW.

macd21 · Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:41 am

Orin J. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:56 am
macd21 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:58 am It would be weird if they did say anything. The norm is for all parties to stay silent and move on. No matter what you say, people are going to be annoyed. As it is, people are annoyed, saying anything would just add fuel to the fire.
a considerable amount of the writing, design development, overall project head and entire editorial staff just jumped ship. this is very beneath the norm, and in any other company would have had a same--day announcement explaining their decision and how it would affect the game going forward. usually a shakeup of staff this size signals either a total rework in-house or the project closing entirely and your argument doesn't seem to appreciate the scale of the work these three people were doing.

I disagree. I think most companies would do the same thing C7 did - make a nigh-contentless announcement wishing their former staff well, and a business as usual reassurance. Explaining the reasons for the change is massively problematic, likely to be a PR nightmare and potentially leave them open to litigation by their former staff.

I’m quite aware of how much work they were doing. From a PR perspective, the response is the same - stay quiet and move on as quickly as possible.

Hteph · Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:03 am

Yeah, in the best case it is only ends in a delay of stuff, the worst case is .... well I find 4th useable with all the 2e stuff I have laying around.

FasterThanJesus · Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:24 am

Realistically we won't know what happened until the dust settles.

Pretty much anything could look worse:

Money/pay disputes = Cubicle7 are broke

Overworked = Cubicle7 have limited resources

Creative differences = they don't know what they're doing

Behind the scenes controversies = well let your imagination run wild

etc.

As someone who has invested in TEW, I think I should get something a little more substantial than what I have, but the laws of PR will say otherwise. I'm just about prepared to wait and see and what happens and will be interested if they ever do bother with another developer diary that has some explanation.

skerrigan · Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:19 pm

I have to admit Andy, Andy and Lindsay's departure is a massive shame and does suggest there's Something Rotten in Meath. That said Cubicle 7 need to be a bit more transparent with what's going on, in particular with release dates. They've got 12 books in the pipeline at least, 17-18 months left on their license and the WFRP captain and his crew have just been thrown into a lifeboat.

crazy_cat · Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:50 pm

skerrigan wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:19 pm I have to admit Andy, Andy and Lindsay's departure is a massive shame and does suggest there's Something Rotten in Meath. That said Cubicle 7 need to be a bit more transparent with what's going on, in particular with release dates. They've got 12 books in the pipeline at least, 17-18 months left on their license and the WFRP captain and his crew have just been thrown into a lifeboat.

This +1. And they're not very good at communications and updates at the best of times anyway.

Karanthir · Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:26 am

skerrigan wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:19 pm ... the WFRP captain and his crew have just been thrown into a lifeboat.

Let's be fair now, we don't know whether they were thrown into a lifeboat or chose to get into it.

mormegil · Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:43 am

And I am not expecting the license to change hands since the whole Warhammer line is on their hands.

Hyarion · Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:09 am

I'd settle for just an updated timeline for releases. With the shakeup, it would seem to be an appropriate time.

macd21 · Wed Sep 11, 2019 2:41 am

Hyarion wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:09 am I'd settle for just an updated timeline for releases. With the shakeup, it would seem to be an appropriate time.

I don’t think there’s anything to update. The announced releases were, I think, more or less done, and Andy’s still wrapping up those projects he was still working on. So the release schedule stands (as much as any C7 schedule stands!).

Rumor has it TEW is being held up by GW, but I think that’s pure speculation.

FasterThanJesus · Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:55 am

The claim from the last update was that EiS was due for PDF release next (soon), so we'll wait and see.

GW can't resist a bit of studio meddling, so it's probably true.

macd21 · Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:03 pm

Actually apparently there was a tweet a few weeks ago in which they said they expected to have the pdf out sometime in September, and were just working on some extra maps to add to it. So

FasterThanJesus · Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:28 am

macd21 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:03 pm Actually apparently there was a tweet a few weeks ago in which they said they expected to have the pdf out sometime in September, and were just working on some extra maps to add to it. So

I've just seen the latest dev diary (wow, we have two now!) which confirms that. No other interesting information, just some art excerpts.

I never got an email notifying me that another dev diary was published, I just spotted it on drive thru RPG.

Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:32 am

FasterThanJesus wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:28 am I never got an email notifying me that another dev diary was published, I just spotted it on drive thru RPG.

Same. This doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in other people picking up the ball for Andy Law.

Hteph · Tue Sep 17, 2019 2:54 am

Chuck wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:32 am
Same. This doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in other people picking up the ball for Andy Law.

Replacing people and continuing operations isn't a instant thing, and it seems whole lead group of this team went away with short notice ... I expect things to be funky for quite a while.

Some stuff have their momentum up and perhaps we will see something next week or so ... but after that ... I'm keeping my expectations on a short leach.

Cubicle 7 so far fails to instill me confidence that we will see the end of the TEW this time either ... perhaps it is cursed?

Totsuzenheni Yukimi · Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:26 am

If we don't get TEWC this time around either then i will put forward a motion that we encourage Graeme et al to see if GW will let them crowdfund a TEWC directors bumper edition.

Hteph · Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:38 pm

totsuzenheni wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:26 am If we don't TEWC this time around either then i will put forward a motion that we encourage Graeme et al to see if GW will let them crowdfund a TEWC directors bumper edition.

I may be a tad bit too negative here, but i can't see GW ever even consider that. Tho my small dealings with GW are ancient now and perhaps GW have left the bunker they used to live in an joined the humanity...

Orin J. · Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:03 pm

Hteph wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:38 pm
totsuzenheni wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:26 am If we don't TEWC this time around either then i will put forward a motion that we encourage Graeme et al to see if GW will let them crowdfund a TEWC directors bumper edition.
I may be a tad bit too negative here, but i can't see GW ever even consider that. Tho my small dealings with GW are ancient now and perhaps GW have left the bunker they used to live in an joined the humanity...

no you're right, if C7's bid tanks games workshop isn't likely to let greame crowdfund just TEW. they want someone to pick up the whole system so they're not getting put on the hook by fans anymore than usual. from everything i've heard they've probably got enough of it finished that it'll go through before the game runs out of capital, although i'd honestly have left that campaign in the past and worked on some new engrossing stuff. not that there's much point talking about it now.