SacrificialLamb

 

As you all have heard we got fired because Eidos didn't make as much of a profit as they hoped, to be able to buy another Ferrari in another color for each of their greedy executives.

So we, the people who do most of the work and who really needed the job had to make room so the lazy millionaires who rarely show up at work because they are busy tanning on a beach somewhere on Hawaii, had a sacrificial lamb to slaughter. Now of course everything is solved.....?

No. Eidos and the people with high paid jobs who 'couldn't care less about this silly game' (real quote from a small unofficial meeting about Tomb Raider by one of them) are the problem and everyone knows this. Even they themselves know it. But how can they fire themselves or the ones they are close to....? This is just show for shareholders and them trying to save their own lazy butts.

Yes, I am ****ed off. We were forced to sign a paper which basically says we can't talk about it ir get sued for a lot of money...well, come and find me Eidos!

Ask away and as long as it doesn't endanger the job of someone else, I will answer.

SacrificialLamb

 

Thanks Rydell. I can't say what my job was sorry because it would narrow things for Eidos. Though I have very interesting things to say about the DLC if someone asks the right question, I can't just say it like that.

SacrificialLamb

 

When you get fired by a company, you don't exactly get a medal pinned on your suit. It will haunt you everytime you apply for a job in that sector because it is mentioned. And if you got fired for reasons which had nothing to do with you but with others not doing things.....?

But I will tell my kid(s) (if I have one?) that life is tough, thanks for the tip.

SacrificialLamb

 

Thanks all for the compassion, appreciated.

I will answer the questions in one post or I would have to quote so much, sorry!

A few asked if the DLC was part of the game itself. Ask anyone who is part of it and if they are honest they will tell you around 40% of the DLC was meant to be in the game itself, originally. But it was decided later on to take out those parts because they were expecting most sales on the 360 and the DLC the way it looked at the time was looking to be a bit 'thin'. So we were asked to cut some parts out to be used in the DLC. Now this doesn't mean that they will be in the DLC in the exact same manner as they would have been in if they had been used in Underworld. I have to stress that. It is adjusted. So if you would see it in the DLC you don't necessarily think, hey this was taken out of Underworld. But it is. It took away a bit of the 'epic' thing of Underworld.

However the poor sales for the 360 was a bit of a shock and the 360 exclusive now everyone knows was a huge mistake. Guess what, the guys who made that mistake are still working at Eidos. And Eidos will lose lots of money on it when they release it. Hence the stalling.

Rivendell, some of us are huge fans of Legacy of Kain but no money means no game. Defiance didn't have a closed end for a reason. There were some stuff done around defiance which could result in a game but again, the high paid folks had a say in that and as we can see, they make amazing choices!

grayfox360, Crystal never made plans to remake Angel of darkness but we did study the games of Core. And that of course influences what we do to an extent and Angel of Darkness I think had some impact on the Underworld.

SacrificialLamb

 

Some asked about Eidos forcing us in some ways. Well we work for them, they pay us so of course they can demand and that is no problem!

But me and others think they made some very bad decisions which resulted in us looking like we had caused it. The DLC being a huge mistake in many ways because it also affected the quality of Underworld. They thought they could earn more this way....they actually lost/will lose more money because of it and also lost more credibility and it is a huge frustration topic at Eidos. Do you really believe we like making a mini-game so only the minority can play it because they own the hardware for it? Most of us hated it, no other words to describe it but hate.

Now, we have made mistakes too, I will be the first to admit, regarding certain technical challenges which we underestimated, resulting in some bugs-glitches and the like ...however, eventhough challenging, those could have been fixed if we were given more time. Of course that is not acceptable for a company who has to show figures in a certain period. Especially because they did give us more time already, all credit due. That was our biggest mistake in this and also unacceptable. The reviews were correct about it, end of.

And also, the ones who made the mistakes, a few also work for Crystal without saying too much, still have the job(s). So it's not all Eidos, although a majority of the problem is there. So we both must take the blame...then get rid if the people who made the mistakles....however, the problem is still there, even after firing us who had nothing to do with those wrong decisions.

SacrificialLamb

 

None of us who got fired will starve or something, however it obviously will affect all our families. Some are not furious like me but very depressed and that is not healthy. I know tomorrow I will probably regret what I typed here but at the moment, I am sane, I am clear minded, I feel I have been mistreated very badly so there it is.

The DLC is a strange case for sure, this defined the whole Underworld experience the moment it was told to us. It is officially not canceled, but it is being stalled at the moment. And is it only 360 exclusive now? Well, officially yes....

A few mentioned Toby...he's a nice guy, no doubt, all the best to him. He is one of the big guys with more influence than me and the others who got fired, what can I say?

A few also started calling some employees here liars. They do not lie...they do not know or they use their words carefully. What I said won't contradict what they say (I don't know what they said exactly) but it will look like a contradiction. I said parts of the DLC was part of Underworld, BUT altered.

Moon-Safari, we enjoyed Tomb Raider a lot because of the dynamics of the game itself. So much to do every day with such an enthusiastic team! Many are old Tomb Raider fans too, don't forget. We wanted to make the best game possible with the tools we had. Unfortunately the business wants limitations and that sometimes did kill the moment, however without that there would be no game in the first place. I will miss everything.

Eddie Haskell, yes there was much debate about everything. What we did wanted to ditch was the slow controls of the Core games and I think we succeeded in that, making it more modern. And I understand many fans of the old games dislike it but we had to modernize. We are all very aware of what fans in general think, but we can't change all because of it. What was untouchable was the theme of Tomb Raider in general, but we were expected to modernize it and make it more flashy and in your face.

I think I covered most of the questions of the first half of this thread as far as I can without endangering me or anyone. Thanks again for the support, some of the others who are fired are also reading so this is not just for me! Depending how I feel tomorrow I will post again maybe, if not apologies for everything but I needed to get it off my chest. Take care all, this is not the end of Lara, no way don't worry.