Turbine has been hit with another round of layoffs. It is unknown how many have been affected by these layoffs or from which team(s) they originated.
Our sister site DDO Players received the following statement from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment:
“Turbine is transitioning into a free-to-play, mobile development studio, and as a result we are eliminating some positions. The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons online games will continue to operate as they do now. Re-focusing and reducing the studio size was a difficult decision for the company, and we are grateful to all of the Turbine staff for their considerable contributions.”
Former LOTRO Community Manager Rick “Sapience” Heaton sent out the following Tweets in response to the recent layoffs:
https://twitter.com/rickheaton/status/751117582619533312
https://twitter.com/rickheaton/status/751122393528139776
Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the recent layoffs.
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Turbine has suffered layoffs in 2012, twice in 2014 and now in 2016.
The end could be nigh.
I feel bad for those effected by the layoffs. They are like family. I hope all land on their feet with great opportunities.
Looks like Frelorn, LOTRO Community Manager, may be one of the layoffs, https://twitter.com/Frelorn/status/751134927278800896
Looks like the new LOTRO Community Manager is the same as the the DDO CM, Cordovan
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7630379#post7630379