Another little discussion that's come to my mind. Was surfing through the net the other day and found this very old link. 10 extra tid-bits of our beloved Persha studio in Kyiv that we didn't know. What caught my attention though is the staff size for this one studio. At the time this article was posted 200 employees was supposedly working on various titles and not just WOWP. So I would assume the actual staff working on WOWP may have been smaller. And it clearly outlines the different departments where these 200 employees are being sent to work in. What isn't clear though is how many was at the time working on WOWP.
Then I had another look at this page, latest update 2016, it officially states 550 currently employed in the studio at the time. Whether this figure have arisen since then or declined now at 2018 there's really no source other than word of mouth. Unless someone can find an article stating the fact.
Also had a comparison look at other more popular and successful development groups that is world renowned for their successes like CDprojectred (witcher series), Epic Games (fortnite), EA Dice (Battlefield series), and even WOT HQ Minsk. With ~800, 700, 640 & 4000+ employees respectively. Out of those development groups only 2 have updated their employee figures in 2018.
Bottom line:
Man power for wowp is questionable. Whether or not it factors into the development successes into this title we really don't know as there has been very little detail of what actually goes on inside the studio. You basically need to be a QA or higher for WG to get that kind of connection. Or the fact that having more people might influence in better efficiencies or reaching development goals and improving development processes with more "brainstorming" individuals. If the studio in Kyiv is small, exactly how small? Is the question that comes to mind. And are they sufficiently given enough resources for said development goals ie 2.0.5 or 2.0.6. I imagine corporate higher ups have a lot in control when it comes down to these decisions because moniez...amiright?
The pattern that I keep seeing with this title and this dev group is update intervals of 3-6 months for major content updates. Ofcourse this is an MMO but a rather fast-paced arcadic type of MMO that requires constant additions in content to keep the flow going in a positive direction. A very long interval of updates being released in that one year cycle with large gaps of "stagnation" has been the culprit that prevent's the success of WOWP. And.. there's also the obvious pattern of un-polished updates riddle with bugs and incomplete content (ie 2.0.5). This update certainly wouldn't be the first. It's just an example. A very good one at that.
Lack of communication between devs <-> community has lead to poor relations between players for many years and imo had they been more open about this it could maybe explain why this title keeps "going around in circles" in the same patterns.
What I would like to know is what is the current estimate employee size as of 2018 for persha? And are they handling the current development goals with enough proficiency? Are the higher ups putting too much pressure to get updates pushed out with very little polish? And why the heck does it take so gad damn long for a decent big update to come out for this title. 6 months?... Come on WG. I know you can do better. If this studio needs help give them the resources. If they need more employees/man power well crap... give it to them!
It surprises me beyond belief how dev groups in employee size comparison have accomplished far more than this studio. And you look at WOT's level of employees... 4000. Maybe you could transfer some of those guys into WOWP? Seems like an overwhelmingly large dev team size there for one MMO title. Versus 550 for the planes division...hmm. Seems rather fishy. But sadly understandable in a sense they're putting majority of their resources on their largest most successful MMO.
My final question to WG is this: How do you hope to maintain the trio-wargame if you continue to skimp the support of the plane's division? Like they always say a company is only as strong as its weakest link.
TL;DR
Manpower for WOWP is questionable and disappointing to say the least. WG should support them even at a time right now where it's mostly needed and stop being so narrow minded with just one of the 3 titles. WOWP could be great if only they treated it the same as they do with WOT. Or even WOWS.
P.s. As always, apologize for the long poast. But I do know some of you enjoy the read
Edited by ArrowZ_, 30 August 2018 - 11:37 AM.