While Cryptic did have a high-level departure, they’ve also added a new designer, named Jesse Heinig, to the STO team.
Not a name I recognized, but based on some Googling and forum diving, he was a designer involved with the original Fallout games and worked on the Trek RPG for two years. Sounds like an excellent addition to the team.
STO Team Growing
Sweet. Always good news to hear that Cryptic is filling positions. I hope the new guy gets up to speed quick and has fun working on the game.
Sweet, always great to get more talent for STO!
I’m excited to hear this, too – growth and intelligently chosen new hirers are good things! I’ve also read on the forums that Cryptic_Gozer, the main man behind the the Task Force stories, might be returning to Cryptic, too.
I saw a forum post from Stahl that hinted at that. Gozer returning would be cool for two reasons: nice to have him back for Task Forces and it would reverse some of the perception that people are fleeing the team.
Correct on both accounts. Aside from/Inspite of the high-profile departures, I get the sense that STO is doing really well. I psyched for its future!
That news gives me a lot of optimism for STO. It must be doing pretty well.
Obviously the only people who know for sure won’t say, but my guess it that it’s doing okay. Not the blockbuster they were hoping for (but likely not expecting), not the same numbers it was doing at launch (what game does), but also not in danger of being cancelled.
Interesting article I ran across recently, seems to say that Cryptic is one of Atari’s most profitable holdings. http://www.industrygamers.com/news/atari-sees-a-65-percent-decline-in-net-revenue-for-fiscal-q1-2010/