117 replies to this topic

[Checklist]

I hope I can finish customizing my pets before the site dies. That's really all that would be nice but I won't think it's the end of the world. I think it's normal for things like this to happen. Jumpstart probably has plans they are not going to openly discuss because of how the community would react. There were a lot of unnecessary jobs to be honest and I am not surprised they did such a thing. There are a lot of areas in the site that are nice but not important to the overall function. I wonder what they are planning on doing next.

[Branlaur]

At least it was only the concept creators that were laid off. We don't really need much more stuff yet. Just need to fix the broken things. Hopefully they hire more programmers or spend money to make the servers better first then rehire the concept creators

[Runic]

Just some quick info for everyone to be aware of:

 

JS is NOT filling those positions. Downsizing means shrinking staff, not replacing them. This occurs when a company is restructuring, or about to go out of business.

 

I think it was reported somewhere that JS themselves are not doing so hot financially either. I think within the same post where it was discovered JS did not pay much for Neo, other than contracts and benefits.

 

As for the careers on JS website, those have been sitting there for quite some time now, well before the massive layoff. And those job postings are not related to Neopets. It is more likely related to working on app games and using that Unity feature.

Edited by Runic, 08 March 2015 - 06:32 PM.

[Ka1]

Seem to make sense to wait for the contracts to end

Wonder how long they last.

But they would not have released new games if that is the case...

 

Hope there is some silver lining somewhere for neo

 

But since when JN was official news?

JN is a fan site with no relations to TNT/JS

so the information they have is the same as us

although the info on JN is reliable enough to cross refer.

[Prisca]

Just some quick info for everyone to be aware of:

 

JS is NOT filling those positions. Downsizing means shrinking staff, not replacing them. This occurs when a company is restructuring, or about to go out of business.

 

I think it was reported somewhere that JS themselves are not doing so hot financially either. I think within the same post where it was discovered JS did not pay much for Neo, other than contracts and benefits.

 

links? sources? 

[KaibaSama]

Why would jumpstart buy/acquire another company when they're about to go out of business? It does't make much sense. The only thing I can think of is that they think they can brand the characters and stuff and sell them, with things like plushies and such. I doubt anything that's neo related will sell as well as they think. Face it, the user base has shrunk considerably since selling real life neo items was profitable. 

[Prisca]

Its so mysterious, so much mystery, so many many questions... its so puzzling. Will neopets die? or is Jumpstart gearing up to give us all the biggest surprise of our lives? 

 

Who will it be? when will it happen? What does it all mean?! 

 

Find out... eventually i guess. lol

 

*insert all of the memes/gifs*

[Swar]

Why would jumpstart buy/acquire another company when they're about to go out of business? It does't make much sense. The only thing I can think of is that they think they can brand the characters and stuff and sell them, with things like plushies and such. I doubt anything that's neo related will sell as well as they think. Face it, the user base has shrunk considerably since selling real life neo items was profitable. 

 

I read a comment on JN talking about this. They said that JS might use the characters, the elements, to do apps and merch. Neo's values are much more than money from NC/ads and stuff. There's a lot to do with the elements from the site. The Ghoul Catchers app, for example, has no back story. Anyone could play that game, even without knowing what neopets is. It was something along these lines.

 

Does it make sense? It made when I read the original comment lol

[boobface]

Does it make sense? It made when I read the original comment lol

 

It does make sense, ghoul catchers might be the first of many apps to come

 

anyone else wondering whats going to happen to comastars picks in the games room? I mean, shes not around anymore lol

[Branlaur]

Wait so JS is confirmed to be downsizing because they can't afford them or is it somethign else

[Branlaur]

Maybe JumpStart admin prayed to the Neopets gods, and the gods were displeased at the current staff, so it was only natural to appease the Neopets gods by getting rid of them.

LOOOL hopefully. And maybe the Neopets gods will come to the JS admin and have divine intervention to tell them who to hire that'll fix this site XD

[Bora]

JS sees the mobile and app base as way more profitable, since that's where everyone else in the (small) games industry makes (tons of) money. That means putting everything about the site itself on the backburner. Either the old TNT staff didn't like that, or JS would rather have their own people do apps since it's a pretty new platform for Neopets. Either way, JS lays off people to move forward with their plans for shifting to apps. Nearly entirely to apps.

 

At least probably; I could be totally wrong. But that's the most sense I can make out of everything.

 

EDIT: Sadly, in either case, that means the site, updates, new content, maintenance--becomes inactive, perhaps not dead, but inactive.

Edited by Bora, 08 March 2015 - 08:01 PM.

[Branlaur]

EDIT: Sadly, in either case, that means the site, updates, new content, maintenance--becomes inactive, perhaps not dead, but inactive.

TBH all I want for neopets is it to just be active and working. Don't really care if there's not much new content

[Helix]

I've heard about Viola and Mr Insane months ago, I remember looking up Viola's lookup and she hasn't been online for 2+ months

 

I'm not entirely sure how I'm feeling about this, a part is scared Neo will close for good and another is hoping to see a brand new Neo (though it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon) 

[pancakeface]

Oh my !&*%*$&$# god. I just realized that I owned a Jump Start game when I was younger. I was reading their about us when it sunk in, here I've been for ages hearing everyone throw the name around and it didn't even register.

 

Seriously though, I went through the careers and I don't qualify for any. I guess 

[Branlaur]

Oh my !&*%*$&$# god. I just realized that I owned a Jump Start game when I was younger. I was reading their about us when it sunk in, here I've been for ages hearing everyone throw the name around and it didn't even register.

 

Seriously though, I went through the careers and I don't qualify for any. I guess 

A lot of us have probably owned some Jump Start game when we were younger. A lot of us thought that JS would make Neo into like a solely kid site, and a lot of us were surprised that they said they bought Neo because of its older audience.

[BirdistheWord]

I'm skeptical, but definitely curious as to how this will turn out.......unless there was some clarification somewhere...I find it odd that a company would go out of its way to cater to an age group not remotely related to their products. I think by 'older crowd' they meant 13-17 age group (older by their standards) and that of course means mobile app games more or less - along the lines of those games that required payment for you to move on to the next level.... I don't think they'll be catering to their loyal fan base like everyone was hoping for; and they will lose in the end - as they try to suck all the premium fees up without giving anything in return >            Donna and Adam should just wait until JS goes bankrupt, buy back neopets for a nickel, and start all over again.... ...instead of trying to make Moogles?Mogles? Moglees? work - as if that's ever going to take off.

 

Perhaps JS is smarter than all that......but judging by their lack of communication so far...not looking great for them.

 

 

Like the user above, I also read somewhere (not sure where) that JS was already going under before they purchased neopets (for way cheaper than it was worth, but in exchange for contracts, in terms of average user time spent on neo ) - hoping this information is wrong as they would have to be completely brain dead to think that neopets would save them...

Edited by BirdistheWord, 09 March 2015 - 01:09 AM.

[Branlaur]

Still hoping that when they meant older user base they meant like the 20+ year old people that were on the site when they were kids.

[iKate]

Still hoping that when they meant older user base they meant like the 20+ year old people that were on the site when they were kids.

Probably not, their other games also aren't made for 20+ year old ppl

[Oktober]

Probably not, their other games also aren't made for 20+ year old ppl

 

Pokémon isn't made for 20+ year old either. 

[redlion]

I find it interesting that they've decided to do this almost exactly a year after acquisition. (When did they buy it last year? March 17? 18?) Maybe they were planning this for a long time.

Perhaps the merger/acquisition contract specified that all existing staff would keep their jobs for at least a year.

[iKate]

Pokémon isn't made for 20+ year old either.

Yes I know but I meant because of that, it isnt likely that they meant 20+. Also I don't think a lot of 20+ year old people play their other games.

Edited by iKate, 09 March 2015 - 01:25 AM.

[Branlaur]

Probably not, their other games also aren't made for 20+ year old ppl

I know, probably not true but still hoping it's true.

[redlion]

Pokémon isn't made for 20+ year old either.

Well, I think a good deal of the 20+ year olds who play pokemon played it when they were young too. The franchise has been around for a while now. Nevertheless your point is well made.

A good deal of the playerbase of neopets is older than 20+, but I think a lot of the existing old timers (including most of the retired members here) joined as children or teenagers and grew up with the site.

The appeal of neopets is 90% nostalgia, 5% novelty, 3% safe socialization, and 2% fun.

[Branlaur]

Pokémon isn't made for 20+ year old either. 

Good point. A lot of things aren't made for the age range that they actually are used by. Generally those are things that lasted a long time because people come back due to nostalgia rather than new people