NCsoft Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

It's a great start in the game industry, and if they happen to make a game you love, it could be worth it to work there.

Cons

Company direction changes with the wind, and directives from above are rarely followed by the support (budget, manpower, etc.) to actually follow them.

Advice to Senior Management

Analyze the way the MMO marketplace is today, not the way it was ten years ago. Trying to do the same things you did ten years ago to be successful - that stopped working a few years ago - is not the path to success.

Pros

Casual atmosphere. Remodel of the Austin, TX offices.

Cons

Many of the major groups in NCsoft West (Operations, Billing Software, Web Development) are experiencing downsizing while those jobs are being returned to Seoul. After 3 or 4 changes of senior management in 5 years, it seems as though the folks in Seoul HQ are done with almost everything to do with North America/European offices. I'm not sure I would even consider the folks that are not losing their jobs "lucky" in any aspect.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop think that you are fooling people by holding back information. Everyone knew the layoffs were coming. Everyone knew about the leadership transitions. Have more all-hands meetings like the old days, including P&L.

Pros

Plenty of work to do

Cons

Total chaos in every direction

Pros

If you're mediocre and are looking for a place to just dog it, maybe punch the clock? This is the place for you. Also, if you speak Korean you can write your own check.

It is a good place to be in QA or CS, though. Those departments are pretty solid.

25 cent sodas and snacks.

Cons

Hmm, let's see. Stability is poor, absolutely no coordination between Korean management and US management, weak strategic vision, poor portfolio, weak creative development, terrible marketing, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire talented people and get out of their way. It would be easier to execute on your vision if people knew what it was, and it didn't change every other month.

Pros

Working in Austin, competitive salaries, often good opportunities for career advancement, company generally tends to do the right thing for its employees (layoffs postponed as long as possible so that people can find positions elsewhere)

Cons

Rapid changes in direction from management, lack of focus, many burnouts especially in high-ranking positions, currently great deal of uncertainty due to high profile failure (Tabula Rasa). The Austin location especially is having serious morale issues.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a focus and stick to it, the whiplash is getting old. Politics between divisions is also getting more than a little old.

Pros

Development teams are given a fair amount of autonomy to create the game they want to make.

The company was willing to take risks on some technologies and ideas.

They are the leading MMO developer in the world with many titles under their belt, they have the experience to create some fairly polished MMOs and to support them.

Cons

Senior management and corporate direction comes down without any feedback from the development teams whose fates are being decided.

Coordination amongst various development teams and knowledge sharing is not practiced, reinventing the wheel happens alot.

The lack of follow through on some project ideas and letting projects die creates frustrated employees.

Advice to Senior Management

More transparency in the decisions that are being made and the direction the company is going in, from highest level to lowest level.

Pros

Lots of wonderful peers to work with and great opportunities to learn and work with interesting technologies.

Cons

Upper management seems unsure of what they want to do and repeatedly change direction. Each occurrence kills morale and reduces confidence in the company as a whole.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop chasing the trends, focus on the future.