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UPDATED: Most of Club Penguin's redundancies are support staff

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UPDATED: Most of Club Penguin's redundancies are support staff

[Updated: Following communication with Disney Interactive, we've changed the headline, which originally read "Most of Club Penguin's 110 redundancies are support staff".

While it won't comment on the numbers involved, Disney says the total of staff impacted is considerably fewer than stated, although locations in Canada, LA and Brighton have been affected.

It also says that thanks to an improved customer support system, it doesn't expect the changes to have any impact on Club Penguin support waiting times.

Following news that Disney Interactive has begun a “targeted reduction” of its Club Penguin workforce, PocketGamer.biz has been informed that the axe has been aimed at support staff.

Approximately 30 people have made redundant at Club Penguin’s Canadian HQ, while 30 people have been laid off from their LA office and the entire Brighton office has been closed – resulting in another 50 job losses.

As well as providing English language support, this team also handled French, German and Spanish support. 

Customer support

A source close to the matter told PocketGamer.biz that the axed “UK team were also support staff for Disney Infinity,” and that Club Penguin’s community manager Chris Gliddon was also let go.

“Most of their redundancies were with their support staff - whose aim to respond to emails within 48 hours has been failing for months,” our source said.

“These redundancies will only increase the waiting time with our predictions reaching an average wait time of around 72 hours now.”

Easy pickings

More generally, the move to games-as-a-service is highlighting the importance of support staff, which while generally low paid make up a high percentage of a successful online game's overall headcut.

This makes them vulnerable to cost-cutting, especially when a game is in decline, but has obvious implications for player satisfaction.

Indeed, in recent weeks, PocketGamer.biz has been contacted by players unhappy with the support offered by top developers such as Kabam and Machine Zone. 

 

 


News Editor