Laurie Cooper Joins in Unemployment
If the nickname Lods means anything to you, then you may be disappointed to know that the man behind the handle, Sega Europe community manager Laurie Cooper, was also axed last month as part of Sega’s significant layoffs.
Cooper was once a colleague of Sonic Wrecks head Kevin Eva, who broke the news, but he was also the last remnant of a formal community presence for Sega in the UK.
“This does of course mean that with Laurie gone, SEGA Europe’s dedicated Community team which when I joined was four people strong now consists of… no one,” Eva wrote. “There is Craig over at Creative Assembly still I believe, but the legacy of that golden era, of the likes of Rom, myself and Martin is now dead. Now I’m sure we’ll be told that Community is global – which it is to a degree, but there’s still a big difference between having someone who you can see and develop regular contact/relationships with. Despite having Kellie in charge of what remains over at SOA, having someone you can ring up and have a chat with during European work hours to see what can be done for your site is a big difference.”
Eva alleges the loss of Cooper has left a significant gap of communication between the company and the media sources the managers once served.
“Everything I’ve heard so far has indicated no notification from SEGA on the matter to their contacts which doesn’t particularly bode well if they can’t even let people know that the person has gone,” Eva said. “Who do those people speak to now? Simple fact is they don’t know.”
Cooper joins fellow ex-community manager Kate Bryant in North America, along with many other individuals inside Sega who were laid off on March 30th, shortly after a mass restructuring of the company was announced. The takeaway from this latest development is that not only are there now no testers in North America to ensure a Sega game’s quality, there is now no cohesive, dedicated community outreach team in the UK to help promote it. If you’re a Sonic fan, that’s not good news, because Europe and the UK in particular is where Sega’s flagship mascot still strongly performs on store shelves.
Thanks to Sonication for tipping us.
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Man, I don’t want to be all doom and gloom here, but I think that was a really bad idea.
Just think if Eva would have not resigned…they would have AXED him probably….argh…I don’t know…I’m scared that @ issue poll might go in reverse. Really scared I should say. Ya know I still remember the day I was once asked what things might be like in say 50 or more years and this was back when I was like say 12 years old… I once thought there’d never be and end to world progress growth…I couldn’t have been more wrong. If this is progress…then I have little hope for the future right now….none the less I shall go on living day in and day out. Just thankfully there’s been enough out there to keep this life long love going. Pray it never gets smited out..and one other thought…remind the world that we will not go into the night without one hell of a fight!
@Shadowbane2009
Yeah, I definitely hear ya there bro. Earth’s been a pretty shitty place to live lately. Our favorite pastime is not what it used to be. The gaming industry is changing, and companies like Sega, Nintendo, Sony and THQ are going to have adapt to it. Believe me, I’ve seen Sega through their ups and downs and let me tell ya, they’ve seen much better days, but they’ve much worse too. Sega may be down, but they’re certainly not out.
Some of the best posts I have seen for ages. Agreed with both. Earth has been a craphole recently and I am sad to see Sega suffer through all this just like many companies all round the world.
Sadly I am not as optimistic about the future as you Sonikdude but I hope I am wrong.
Why are my news tips always ignored?
Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2 are on the PS Vita SEN market. I know it’s old, but there was never a story about it.