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Restructuring at NCsoft continues to spark job losses and new development strategies at the MMO publisher.
The company has confirmed that it is to ‘solidify and streamline’ operations across its NCsoft West territories, which include its offices in America and Europe – meaning up to 90 jobs will be impacted.
Specifically, its base in Brighton, UK will switch to a completely sales and marketing focus, meaning the QA and localisation teams which managed NCsoft games for Europe will be closed.
While some have reported this as a closure for its European development teams, much of the staff at the Brighton studio were already made redundant last year when NCsoft restructured – a move which left just the aforementioned support and services teams in tact.
NCsoft says that now, however, its focus has changed again, with QA staff now based at each of its studios ‘providing support throughout the entire development process’.
That means over 50 jobs were cut in Brighton, with the further 40 across the rest of the organisation. At the same time, NCsoft said it might open some new development roles in the US.
The full statement from the company reads: "In order to solidify and streamline company operations across all NCsoft West territories, we are implementing some structural changes this week which will impact 70 to 90 employees. We are working with these employees to determine the best fit for approximately 80 alternate positions within the company.
"The European office is transitioning to have a stronger focus in marketing and sales, with many of the existing disciplines being consolidated in our studios on the US West Coast and our headquarters in Seattle. Additionally, we are transitioning to an embedded quality assurance (QA) model in which the QA staff works in our studios directly with the development teams, providing support throughout the entire development process.
"This finalizes the NCsoft West reorganization plan which began last September, and the resulting structure will better support the company’s direction."
