Zenimax - A new hope?

Junipus · October 2016

Posted on ZOS' careers section:

https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1087

For those who can't be bothered, it's a new position for an Analytics & Ops Manager to build a team to help them improve their game and overall business practices.

One has a vague, strained, exasperated sliver of a glimmer of faintest hope that it'll improve their interaction with us players, their ability to prioritise and implement proper fixes and improvements and a greater focus on providing different solutions for various aspects of the player base.

P.S. If it's old news then meh.

Rohamad_Ali · October 2016

Are you going to apply ?

DemonDruaga · October 2016

ah well then

JamilaRaj · October 2016

Junipus wrote: »

Posted on ZOS' careers section:

https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1087

For those who can't be bothered, it's a new position for an Analytics & Ops Manager to build a team to help them improve their game and overall business practices.

One has a vague, strained, exasperated sliver of a glimmer of faintest hope that it'll improve their interaction with us players, their ability to prioritise and implement proper fixes and improvements and a greater focus on providing different solutions for various aspects of the player base.

P.S. If it's old news then meh.

Uh, negative. It is a job at The Monetization Department; they are looking for sociopath to find new ways to cripple the game in order to increase revenue. Sorry, no new hope, empire strikes back.

SirAndy · October 2016

JamilaRaj wrote: »

Uh, negative. It is a job a The Monetization Department; they are looking for sociopath to find new ways to cripple the game in order to increase revenue. Sorry, no new hope, empire strikes back.

Pretty much the exact opposite of what the OP is hoping for ...

Cogo · October 2016

Read the job description. Has nothing to do with improving the game. Its improving sales and revenue = Crownstore.

It also seams to be some sort of controller for the costs of the development = Is it worth investing in DLC "housing", etc.
Is there profit in develop X? Needed development for the Game is not always the same thing as profit.

As long as they sell DLC and enough gizmos from the crownstore, the devs may get ok to work on "free" stuff.

JamilaRaj · October 2016

The only semi-hopeful opening they have is the cook: https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1141
He will have nothing to do with the game, so he will not damage it.

Moltyr · October 2016

To be honest, I couldn't take those kind of careers seriously. Especially with a company like this, the way they carry themselves. It would be more of a stain or a step down with pretty much any engineering degree.

Solus · October 2016

Junipus wrote: »

Posted on ZOS' careers section:

https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1087

For those who can't be bothered, it's a new position for an Analytics & Ops Manager to build a team to help them improve their game and overall business practices.

One has a vague, strained, exasperated sliver of a glimmer of faintest hope that it'll improve their interaction with us players, their ability to prioritise and implement proper fixes and improvements and a greater focus on providing different solutions for various aspects of the player base.

P.S. If it's old news then meh.

Lol every company ever always wants more experience with these things than ive been legally able to work. 10+ years of experience testing and finding ways to test, managing teams ect?

10 years ago i was 14 >.>

(just because i dont have the prerequisite experience doesnt mean im not more than capable :] )

Abeille · October 2016

JamilaRaj wrote: »

Junipus wrote: »

Posted on ZOS' careers section:

https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1087

For those who can't be bothered, it's a new position for an Analytics & Ops Manager to build a team to help them improve their game and overall business practices.

One has a vague, strained, exasperated sliver of a glimmer of faintest hope that it'll improve their interaction with us players, their ability to prioritise and implement proper fixes and improvements and a greater focus on providing different solutions for various aspects of the player base.

P.S. If it's old news then meh.

Uh, negative. It is a job a The Monetization Department; they are looking for sociopath to find new ways to cripple the game in order to increase revenue. Sorry, no new hope, empire strikes back.

I thought they already had that with the lady that leaves a trail of ruined games wherever she goes.

Vorcil · October 2016

cmon @FENGRUSH

bellanca6561n · October 2016

JamilaRaj wrote: »

The only semi-hopeful opening they have is the cook: https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1141
He will have nothing to do with the game, so he will not damage it.

I'll admit, this response made me laugh, particularly given the topic title.

Most of you have the right of it....it's a biz dev position involving monitization, KPIs and such.

But there's nothing inherently wrong with that. What would be interesting is trying to move the KPIs through game design rather than react to them with DLC strategies.

For example, if the data is showing you that most players stick around for just a few months at a stretch you can decide, as they did, to deliver modest quarterly DLCs rather than less frequent but larger content expansions.

OR

You could look to improve the appeal of your game to persistent in-game communities. Make it stickier.

A biz dev person will respond to the data with the former but will be utter unequipped to do the latter.

Now, would give me hope would a job opening for a high level position in Quality Assurance who has the resources to conduct regression testing and veto power over any release.

But that's just me

JD2013 · October 2016

magnusthorek · October 2016

Just fire Mr. Wrobel and Mr. Firor in favor of someone who actually play the (whole) game.

There, the seed of evil has been planted.

Mojmir · October 2016

I'd rather work a season retail job. Lol

sirston · October 2016

was the person who worked it get fired or let go or something else?

Bossdonut · October 2016

JamilaRaj wrote: »

Junipus wrote: »

Posted on ZOS' careers section:

https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1087

For those who can't be bothered, it's a new position for an Analytics & Ops Manager to build a team to help them improve their game and overall business practices.

One has a vague, strained, exasperated sliver of a glimmer of faintest hope that it'll improve their interaction with us players, their ability to prioritise and implement proper fixes and improvements and a greater focus on providing different solutions for various aspects of the player base.

P.S. If it's old news then meh.

Uh, negative. It is a job a The Monetization Department; they are looking for sociopath to find new ways to cripple the game in order to increase revenue. Sorry, no new hope, empire strikes back.

Which could mean poorly skilled devs getting the Axe in favor of real ones.

Junipus · October 2016

sirston wrote: »

was the person who worked it get fired or let go or something else?

As I read it, it's a completely new position developing a completely new team which means they never had the processes or auditing in place to determine how best to implement new changes and standardise their business practices (possibly why Kai was giving away more info than Gina or Jessica).

If they are looking for someone to help do the above then it'll be a change of tact from ZOS on their approach to us and the game.

raglau · October 2016

Junipus wrote: »

sirston wrote: »

was the person who worked it get fired or let go or something else?

As I read it, it's a completely new position developing a completely new team which means they never had the processes or auditing in place to determine how best to implement new changes and standardise their business practices (possibly why Kai was giving away more info than Gina or Jessica).

Yes, that's how I read it:

- Create a strategy and vision for the analytics team at ZOS working across all disciplines essential for the studios success.
- Build and lead a team able to analyse both business and game data and bring forward recommendations on how to improve both the Elder Scrolls Online experience for our customers and the business operations at ZOS.

So they actually had no such vision to date, and were not collating metrics relating to the game in any meaningful way. In some ways that goes to show why it's been such a fudge to date, and does inspire some hope of improvement.

But in many others it does serve to underpin my long held belief that ESO is a superb game in the hands of imbeciles.

DannyLV702 · October 2016

ZOS Y U NO HIRE PPL WHO FIX GAME?? I PAY U GOOD MONEY ALREADY

Rune_Relic · October 2016

A the end of the day they need to understand what brings people in to the game and what drives them away.
You cant understand anything without first analysing it.
Then there is not the insignificant problem of personal interpretation of that dataset being about as valuable as an opinion.

You could employ a psychoanalyst that understand human mentality without the need for data that could advise ZOS.
You could employ a business analyst thats purely driven by what is going to give the greatest profit margins using feedback analytics as a decision making engine.

The crux of the problem with option2 is it will be driven by short term financial improvements and not the long term vision of maximising playerbase.
This is the fundamental difference between western and japanese business practice for instance.
Personally...I think it would be better for them to be looking at the japanese model where brand loyalty is a big thing.
That requires a reputation of integrity and competence though (aka reliability).

Yes it is a big market but it is finite.....when players walk out the door.....many dont come back.
Thats what they call market share ..passing on by down the river of opportunity.
Of course, the fact many people try and stick it out rather than walkaway doesnt help, as you get a delayed response to changes rather than an instant one.
No business analytics can capture the buffering of human reaction.

hrothbern · October 2016

This new employee will be on the payroll of ZOS and I guess will report to Matt.
and will mingle with all the OPS people at the ZOS studio, getting lots of gut feeling info as well from them to be analysed/checked.

That is I think always better than an outsider marketing person/initiative.