Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Author, strategist, virtual world reporter

recent posts

about

Looking Into Reports of Linden Lab Staff Cuts in Engineering & Second Life Governance/Customer Support

Linden Lab Second Life Acquired

UPDATE, October 11: Grumpity Linden reached out to me earlier today, saying Linden Lab does indeed want to discuss this news with me for the record, late next week. So stay tuned for that! 

I've received many multiple credible reports that Linden Lab has made significant job cuts to staff recently, and am reaching out to the company for an official response. I'm told that the job cuts impacted a handful of engineers, and 15-20 people in the Customer Account Operations / Governance/ Fraud department for Second Life. Some or most of these cuts are reportedly related to staffing at Linden Lab's Atlanta office.

Again, I've asked the company for an official clarification, and will update this post when and if I get a reply. I will add that only a week ago, someone messaged me saying they were just hired by Linden Lab, thanks to a job listing I blogged awhile ago; so overall, this could be part of larger re-org. However, I won't speculate beyond saying that.

Linden Lab currently employs about 200 staffers, so this cut would represent a 10% force reduction, more or less — and an extremely painful transition for many talented people who've helped support the Second Life community through decades of combined service.   

Note on reader comments: Given the extreme sensitivity of these reports, please refrain from naming any specific Linden Lab staffer.

Please support posts like these by joining my Patreon!

Become a member!


https://c6.patreon.com/becomePatronButton.bundle.js

Posted in

4 responses to “Looking Into Reports of Linden Lab Staff Cuts in Engineering & Second Life Governance/Customer Support”

  1. Soda Sullivan Avatar
    Soda Sullivan

    Every time I read news from inside LL lately, I really miss Ebbe Linden. He seems like the last guy to run the show that actually “got it”. After years of staff being discouraged from interacting in-world, he revered it and pushed for more in-world involvement. He also seems pretty devoted to maintain a good RL working environment.
    Wagner, maybe you can correct me if I am wrong, but seems that, since the Hedge Fund purchase of LL, and the sale of Tilla and partnership with Tunes, LL has been a financial institution first, focusing on digital currently, and running a virtual platform as a side project to maintain a need for product A.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Concerned Avatar
    Concerned

    Linden Lab is waaaaayyyyyyy too greedy. The new owner Oberwager started to charge 10% in fees just to purchase some Lindens. This has made many people think twice before they spend money in world.
    Also the hefty fees when you order a small amount of Lindens is ridiculous. Not to mention the 5% fee when you exchange Linden Dollars into USD.
    It has been nothing but a grab for money from Linden Lab in the past years and this is showing its effect on the in world economy now.
    We are currently at peak hours on a Friday night and there are only 42000 people in world in the month of October.
    And then we have the PBR debacle. This also has a horrible effect on people their in world performance now. You are almost forced to upgrade to a new computer to log in these days.
    CEO Altberg was a goofball and it took him hears after his Sansar blunder to understand how Second Life works. Altberg did make sure that there was a stable environment for both businesses and residents. Altberg also wasn’t too cheap to advertise Second Life to bring in more users and make sure that the population didn’t decline like is currently the case.
    Oberwager is milking the platform dry and is letting incompetent staff to handle everything. Also if Oz Linden would have still been around I am sure that PBR would not have been implemented like this.
    Linden Lab should stop with their never ending greed,
    -Stop charging 10% on Linden Purchases.
    -Stop charging 5% on cash out fees.
    -Stop charging 5% on Lindex fees.
    -Rollback PBR and redo it so people can turn this on and off in the viewer as they wish.
    -Revise the policy on child avatars, it is like child avatars are being hunted. As a result they feel unwelcome and no longer log in.
    Also stop competing with private estates in Second Life. You screw over the businesses who make you what you are. Again in an attempt to fill your pockets even more.
    Linden Lab is overgreedy.

    Like

    Reply
  3. sirhc desantis Avatar
    sirhc desantis

    Good. Was hoping you would have some real info – after the usual suspects have had their collective ‘frothing at the brain’ over at the forum 😉 Will await with anticipation. Its astounding etc as ’tis the season

    Like

    Reply
  4. Vlad The Impaler Avatar
    Vlad The Impaler

    Everything from Brad’s “interview” was false. This was a cost-saving measure. Full stop. Engineers were either laid off or asked to take pay cuts. Entire operation departments were cut, and those jobs re-assigned to a cheaper zone in Georgia. That’s all done for financial considerations and has nothing to do with operational efficiency.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment