Bill Roper is out at Cryptic Studios. Whether it was truly a departure due to his “entrepreneurial spirit” becoming “restless”, or Cryptic coming to their senses, we may not know for quite some time. If anyone knows an insider, a little bit of inside info would be very welcome.
Anyone who has played any game he is associated knows that Bill Roper is Computer Game Poison. So the question is: what will he ruin next? Is he going to strike out again and create another Flagship style failure? Or will he join an existing team and strangle their baby in the crib?
Predictions?
Erm? I thought this was he was hired to do?
Cryptic: “Okay, it’s been two years. Time to do what you were hired to do. Here is your sword.”
Bill: “Banzai!!!!!!!”
It’s not even close to as spectacular as I thought they’d make it. Cryptic can even screw up the opportunity of the scapegoat, it seems. Sigh.
It’s telling he didn’t get to go with his friends and be part of the Torchlight (a game that’s sold about double what Hellgate did while costing 1/20th as much to make) team. Until I get more intel, here is my current hypothesis:
He begs Runic Games to take him back with lots of empty promises and pillow talk. They hire him back on as a voice actor. He then secretly works his way up the ladder like a sith lord, and pounces right as they’re beginning work on the Torchlight MMO, ruining it and his friend’s lives for forever. They all go bankrupt and live under overpasses. The end.
(It really is mind blowing. I can’t see a voice actor this day and age getting to be a producer some day in the industry. Was Roper’s angelic voice really the difference between success and failure for Warcraft? This question weighs heavily on me – it is a very important question.)
LOL Bryan.
The scary part about your hypothesis is how incredibly possible that series of events is.
I play Star Trek Online, and while I obviously enjoy it enough to pay and play, I think it is no coincidence that Roper departs now. “Zinc”, STO’s producer, took a sabbatical, too.
I had some contact with employees of Cryptic working on the game. This is only an assessment from my limited perspective, but I think the fish is stinking from the head, the lower ranks are working hard and well and still the game is riddled with bugs, little and unfinished content plus silly markting decisions and PR disasters.
It would not be fair to put all blame on Mr. Roper, I think a lot of other managers have to change their ways or go, otherwise they won’t get their act together. I wonder how their upcoming D&D MMORPG/CORPG Neverwinter will do, people lost a lot of faith in the company already.