Jon Shafer leaves Firaxis!

If it's true:

In a way, I'm kinda glad if it means that Firaxis now knows that their approach to Civ V was flawed (at best) , and hopefully it means for better content in the future.

Screw that, get Brian Reynolds back in the chair.

Also, the press release makes it seem like he quit, not that he was fired. So who knows what's going on.

It's quite often at various jobs that people on leading positions are being "persuaded" to leave on their own - that way it looks better on their resume and everyone is happy.

It was obvious from the very beginning that Shafer is a disposable hero, a scapegoat in case anything goes wrong.


Anyway, can we get a Civ game now?

Look at all these angry manchildren punching the air over a guy quitting.

Don't worry kids, the bad man can't touch your precious game no more.

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Shiggs713 said:

this is the best news i've heard on civ5, well since forever. maybe we can cross our fingers Soren or Sid come and revive it.

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I just love how a lot of people assume that this is a good thing.

Somethings to note:

-If Jon was fired, that is more than likely a sign that firaxis (or 2k) has pulled the plug on the further development of civ5. Expect no major patches or expansion from here on. Stuff like MP, will never get fixed. You just might see some extra DLCs churned out for extra $$.

-Another possibility is that Jon Shafer left because of some internal conflict, which probably had to executive decisions from the top, like releasing the game in a state, that is best described as unfinished. In any such conflict, Jon was likely the one representing your interests, because like it or not, he was "one of us". Him leaving, again probably means that he won't be replaced, or be replaced by somebody who is more willing to dance to the tunes of the executive pipers.

Senethro said:

Look at all these angry manchildren punching the air over a guy quitting.

Don't worry kids, the bad man can't touch your precious game no more.

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Look at this sad person desperately showing that he IS better than others.

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@Trias
Tbh, with the latest patch Fountain Of Youth crap and no scientists till Universities (not even to mention AI ICS) I don't think it would get better. So if Civ5 will dies, so be it - the faster Civ6 will come. If not, someone else might resuscitate this rotten carcass of a game that Civ5 is.

bryanw1995 said:

If he's really gone it's probably due to poor sales. Too bad, he was one of us before he went to work there.

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It might as well be totally undramatic. He has been in Firaxis for nearly 6 years and has been working on the Civilization series even longer. He have gone from a modder to lead designer and with Civ5 released it's not unnatural if he wants to work on other projects. Firaxis will focus on expansion packs for Civ5 now.

Trias said:

I just love how a lot of people assume that this is a good thing.

Somethings to note:

-If Jon was fired, that is more than likely a sign that firaxis (or 2k) has pulled the plug on the further development of civ5. Expect no major patches or expansion from here on. Stuff like MP, will never get fixed. You just might see some extra DLCs churned out for extra $$.

-Another possibility is that Jon Shafer left because of some internal conflict, which probably had to executive decisions from the top, like releasing the game in a state, that is best described as unfinished. In any such conflict, Jon was likely the one representing your interests, because like it or not, he was "one of us". Him leaving, again probably means that he won't be replaced, or be replaced by somebody who is more willing to dance to the tunes of the executive pipers.

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I think its your last point that I'm most most worried about as its also the one that I suspect comes closest to the truth.

I think that Civ V from now on is put to the grave. You are not letting go main designer if product was good, it seems that they make mistake and now they cutting off from this product

With sales going down to one unit per turn, what did you expect?

Trias said:

I just love how a lot of people assume that this is a good thing.

Somethings to note:

-If Jon was fired, that is more than likely a sign that firaxis (or 2k) has pulled the plug on the further development of civ5. Expect no major patches or expansion from here on. Stuff like MP, will never get fixed. You just might see some extra DLCs churned out for extra $$.

-Another possibility is that Jon Shafer left because of some internal conflict, which probably had to executive decisions from the top, like releasing the game in a state, that is best described as unfinished. In any such conflict, Jon was likely the one representing your interests, because like it or not, he was "one of us". Him leaving, again probably means that he won't be replaced, or be replaced by somebody who is more willing to dance to the tunes of the executive pipers.

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I agree with that. People seem to just assume that Shafer is stupid/evil/whatever and that all of the problems with the game are on his head, without knowing what's going on behind the scenes. It could be just as likely that he left because he didn't like how things were going and that he didn't have too much control over "his" baby. Maybe he was upset that he wasn't allowed to do things in different ways.

It could also be that he (or the company) only intended to stay around for the initial release and then move on to other things. Maybe he just wants to do something else for a while. I don't think that it's a coincidence that this is happening less than a week after this major patch.

First, yes, it is true. Shafer updated his own resume on LinkedIn; it's not like this is based on a rumor. He's also commented on it himself:

UPDATE: Jon Shafer replied with this comment, which says nothing, but since I said I would run a comment, here it is:

I very much enjoyed my time Firaxis, worked on many projects that I’ve very proud of and got to know a lot of amazing people. I’m appreciative of the opportunities provided by Firaxis and 2K, and hope to see (and play) more great games from them in the future.

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He would also like it made clear that he left of his own accord and was not dismissed by Firaxis.

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I'm personally not very surprised at his departure. Clearly Civ5 didn't have as positive a reception as 2K / Firaxis (and Jon himself) would have liked - and yes, before half of you get up in arms, I know the majority of the players enjoy it, but you can't deny the significant blowback from the fanbase. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jon decided to leave of his own accord out of disagreements with the direction set by the producers and publishers. I don't think Jon's the bad guy and solely to blame for any flaws in the game, even though I'm not wild about Civ 5.

Either way, we can speculate til the cows come home (and I know we will!) but I don't think any of us will ever know "what really happened" so to speak. Maybe sometime in the future, Jon will talk about it a bit in interviews or on blogs or forums like Qt3, but for now we're likely to remain in the dark as to the "why."

I'm not too concerned about Jon's personal life either way. I'm more interested in knowing what this will mean for Civ 5 in the long-term. I fear that it's not a good sign.

WoW, I think this can be a good thing. With the forums all pretty much stating how poor game design is this might mean an influx of different creativity. One can hope....

Sullla said:

Also, a moderator should probably change the thread title to "Jon Shafer."

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Moderator Action: done.

Definitely an interesting development. But really hard to say for sure what happened. Maybe he was fed up at management rushing him. Maybe management wasn't satisfied with his work. Maybe he just got a new job at a new company that he likes better.

Whatever the reasons, hopefully someone new will step in and continue work on this solid foundation of a game, and not simply kill it and re-invent the wheel again for civ6.

Or maybe he just wanted to do something else? Most people change jobs every 4 or 5 years, seems about right given what I saw of his resume.

Perhaps the man just won the lottery / wanted to get a new job / wanted to go fishing/ had a tragedy in the family (delete where applicable)....who cares? Good luck to the gent in his new endeavours, whatever they may be.

Trias said:

I just love how a lot of people assume that this is a good thing.

Somethings to note:

-If Jon was fired, that is more than likely a sign that firaxis (or 2k) has pulled the plug on the further development of civ5. Expect no major patches or expansion from here on. Stuff like MP, will never get fixed. You just might see some extra DLCs churned out for extra $$.

-Another possibility is that Jon Shafer left because of some internal conflict, which probably had to executive decisions from the top, like releasing the game in a state, that is best described as unfinished. In any such conflict, Jon was likely the one representing your interests, because like it or not, he was "one of us". Him leaving, again probably means that he won't be replaced, or be replaced by somebody who is more willing to dance to the tunes of the executive pipers.

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The second part of what you wrote is what I fear. I personally would like to believe that Jon wanted more out of this game than what we got, and that he finally had enough, and said it's my way or the highway. Maybe it was because he wanted to work longer on the patch, but 2k said nope. They must have wanted it out by the time dlc was released, and they weren't going to hold that back due to an incomplete patch.

I'd also like to think he did this..... %#=+ you, #%*@ you, &$@# you, your cool, $@&% YOU! Then knocks out some higher up!

I really am not so sure if he was let go or quit. The sales numbers are pretty solid. I think the figures have to be close to over 1 million units sold (.54m hard copies, and statements that digital Steam/D2D are over 50% of sales). The fanbase has certainly been loud expressing their displeasure with many aspects of the product, but many reviews have also been glowing as to how this game is far more appealing to the casual gamer.

Given that Jon is from Group A (Civ series fans/community members) and that the game, much like CivRev, seems to want to appeal more to Group B (more casual gamers), I am certainly willing to entertain the theory that there was a rift as to what the direction of the game should be.