Sulake To Begin Talks To Reduce Workforce By Up To 2/3

[xxMATTGxx]

I was reading the Habbox twitter account and noticed two tweets that got me thinking "Have I missed something?" and these tweets are:


PaulWalla (CEO)


Habbos, a few questions abt staff changes and effects on Hotel. All hotels stay open, site remains free, more games & more classic features


Habbo Community is the only priority for Sulake now. All energy goes only into making Habbo great.

I then Googled search Sulake on the news section then found this:


Breaking: Sulake To Begin Talks To Reduce Workforce By Up To 2/3


Sulake, the Finnish creator of the Habbo, has announced it is starting a cooperation procedure - a Finnish legal procedure that must be followed after a large round of layoffs. Sulake currently has around 90 employees, and the potential layoffs will affect a "maximum of 60 people." Negotiations with employees will begin November 5th.

“The 12 language versions of Habbo Hotel will continue running as usual, but there will be considerable changes in the business operations” Sulake CEO Paul LaFontaine states.

“The competition in the market is fierce, and to keep the Habbo Hotel service running, it is necessary for us to make savings. Habbo Hotel returns to its roots and we will continue to entertain the millions of monthly users visiting the service. Sulake will also carry on developing the recently launched Habbo gaming platform, as the platform allows us to offer the Habbo users new, high quality content.”

Sulake has had a rough year. This summer the company received extremely bad press on Channel 4 for the company's failure to police their platform. Habbo is targeted at pre-teens and teenagers, but pornographic and violent messages were apparently rampant, leading to some news sites calling it a "paedophile haven."

Before the piece on Habbo Hotel aired, Balderton Capital exited their 13% investment in the business at zero value. Later that June, 3i, the largest investor in Sulake, also exited their 16% share. Sulkake has raised over $35 million to date. The main shareholders in Sulake include Taivas Group, Elisa Group and the company’s founders Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä.

But Habbo has seen some sort of rebirth in recent months at the company level with their new API, allowing third party developers to create games for the platform. Their goal is to leverage their existing userbase to become almost like a mixture of Steam and Facebook's gaming platforms, complete with in-game purchases, achievements, and social features. Sulake would then take 20% share of the games' profits, beating the industry's average 70/30 split with developers.

http://www.arcticstartup.com/2012/10/29/breaking-sulake-to-begin-talks-to-reduce-workforce-by-up-to-23

There is also an interview with Paul LaFontaine which can be found here:

http://www.arcticstartup.com/2012/10/29/interview-with-sulake-ceo-paul-lafontaine

[lawrawrrr]

Wait so they're going to have 30 staff running 12 hotels?

HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

No wonder they're all dried up on ideas...

[Red]

Another one? Which means he isn't going to want to devote any staff to running comps/articles/interacting on the hotel.
'that they expect to see much more third party games and apps within Habbo.'
No one wants to go down in this direction :S These games don't suit habbo at all and they are all a pile of rubbish.

[karter]

no hope for habbo now lol

[xxMATTGxx]

Remember Osma Ahvenlampi? (ex-chief technology officer) Used to work for Sulake but left either last year or this yearIf I remember correctly well he just tweeted this:

http://mattgarner.net/upload/images/2012/10/29/y8jra.png

[CrazyLemurs]

At least if they remove everyone they can employ some new, CAPABLE staff.

[MKR&*42]

Well, Habbo is screwed.

I'm sorry but this is a bloody ridiculous idea... that's just under 3 staff for one hotel and is COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE. The man is doing everything possible so that the revenue this year matches the record made last year (hence why everything in this habboxween event is actually costing you money IRL if you want something out of the catalogue) and it truly is showing how desperate he is getting.

I've actually 'face palmed' IRL about how badly this is going to affect users. Why is the man not gone yet? He is a buffoon and hasn't had people interact the community so he doesn't know what we want... here's a clue, it's not more crappy games from third parties.

[Richie]

Another one? Which means he isn't going to want to devote any staff to running comps/articles/interacting on the hotel.
'that they expect to see much more third party games and apps within Habbo.'
No one wants to go down in this direction :S These games don't suit habbo at all and they are all a pile of rubbish.

I agree, some of the games are fine though like snowstorm and fast food but then you have those stupid car games that aren't even related.

[xxMATTGxx]

At least if they remove everyone they can employ some new, CAPABLE staff.

I don't believe that is their plan, they are reducing the number of staff and then keeping it like that and only hiring if needed. They aren't going to get rid of X amount of people and then replace them with others.


By reducing the workforce, Sulake will be able to have a longer term view with more solid financial footing. "We can call our own direction now in terms of future investments," says LaFontaine, rather than having an immediate need to raise funding.

[MKR&*42]

If anyone's interested, they said something about it on their blog as well; http://www.sulake.com/blog/entries/habbo-returns-to-its-roots/


Launched over 13 years ago, Habbo Hotel was one of the first online communities. Since then the market for online communities has changed considerably. Habbo has always been for teens and we are aware that continuous development and renewal is key to successfully serving the teen audience.

Habbo is going back to its roots. It has always been a place to meet and enjoy time with friends. We are going to focus specifically on the features and services that makes finding new friends and sharing with old friends enjoyable. This means new features, fresh themed entertainment and a variety of games. And we will keep elements of the service Habbos have always loved.

As we increase our focus we are going to streamline the business. The Sulake organization will be restructured to better serve the community needs. These necessary changes will allow us to maintain Habbo as an iconic and safe service for our users.

Bold makes me want to rage because of how full of crap it is?

[Kardan]

Everyone is complaining that Sulake are stupid to fire staff, but they wouldn't do it unless they have too - obviously profits are down after what happened in the summer, and they need to cut costs, there's one easy way to do that. Sulake already have a small workforce compared to Habbo's prime-time back in 2006/2007 when there were about 20 hotels open. Essentially, Sulake is buying themselves more time with this, so all you Habbo fans should be pleased...

[karter]

At least if they remove everyone they can employ some new, CAPABLE staff.

new doesn't necessarily mean capable, the new staf will not have any idea of what we want in habbo, they will continue to put crappy updates which they think will be cool and fun

[CrazyLemurs]

new doesn't necessarily mean capable, the new staf will not have any idea of what we want in habbo, they will continue to put crappy updates which they think will be cool and fun
They cant possibly get anybody new who is worse than what we have right now

[MKR&*42]

They cant possibly get anybody new who is worse than what we have right now

But they won't necessarily get anyone better :P

[Empired]

I guess we'd better start finding other sites :l

Been expecting this since the C4 crunch although I was just starting to think maybe Habbo was going to survive...

[Kyle]

Only one staff member needs laying off and that's Paul.

[karter]

They cant possibly get anybody new who is worse than what we have right now

That's what people said when moderators were singapore were replaced with the new ones

[Michael]

Well, Habbo is screwed.

I'm sorry but this is a bloody ridiculous idea... that's just under 3 staff for one hotel and is COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE. The man is doing everything possible so that the revenue this year matches the record made last year (hence why everything in this habboxween event is actually costing you money IRL if you want something out of the catalogue) and it truly is showing how desperate he is getting.

I've actually 'face palmed' IRL about how badly this is going to affect users. Why is the man not gone yet? He is a buffoon and hasn't had people interact the community so he doesn't know what we want... here's a clue, it's not more crappy games from third parties.

In fact, it isn't 3 staff per hotel - its much less. Some staff don't work on the hotel they make furniture, they decide the campaigns, they improve Habbo etc. I'd think it would most likely be 1 staff member per two hotels. I really don't see Habbo getting any where with low staff either, low staff will cut down the furniture that is released, cut down on the updates to the hotel, & halt campaigns on the hotel to a close. RIP Habbo.


“The competition in the market is fierce, and to keep the Habbo Hotel service running, it is necessary for us to make savings. Habbo Hotel returns to its roots and we will continue to entertain the millions of monthly users visiting the service. Sulake will also carry on developing the recently launched Habbo gaming platform, as the platform allows us to offer the Habbo users new, high quality content.”

This proves there is a problem.

[MKR&*42]

In fact, it isn't 3 staff per hotel - its much less. Some staff don't work on the hotel they make furniture, they decide the campaigns, they improve Habbo etc. I'd think it would most likely be 1 staff member per two hotels. I really don't see Habbo getting any where with low staff either, low staff will cut down the furniture that is released, cut down on the updates to the hotel, & halt campaigns on the hotel to a close. RIP Habbo

This proves there is a problem.

Was just trying to work out an average ;) What you explained is much more likely. I don't see us progressing much further with 2/3 of the staff going at all.

[Star-Fighter]

According to this Finnish article (http://www.kauppalehti.fi/omayritys/habbo+hotellin+sulake+vahentaa+puolet+vaestaan/201210292845) they are only reducing workforce at the Finnish office, which has the 90 employees mentioned on the English article, with the layoffs affecting a maximum of 60 of them. Sulake has offices in four countries and the total amount of employees is 128. Yes, that's "only" 38 people internationally, but it seems that at least they get to keep their jobs. This still is a sign of something not working - agreed.

[Michael]

Oo found this


Habbo Returns To Its Roots
Monday, Oct 29, 2012 / Writer: Paul LaFontaine, CEO

Launched over 13 years ago, Habbo Hotel was one of the first online communities. Since then the market for online communities has changed considerably. Habbo has always been for teens and we are aware that continuous development and renewal is key to successfully serving the teen audience.

Habbo is going back to its roots. It has always been a place to meet and enjoy time with friends. We are going to focus specifically on the features and services that makes finding new friends and sharing with old friends enjoyable. This means new features, fresh themed entertainment and a variety of games. And we will keep elements of the service Habbos have always loved.

As we increase our focus we are going to streamline the business. The Sulake organization will be restructured to better serve the community needs. These necessary changes will allow us to maintain Habbo as an iconic and safe service for our users.

The 12 local Habbo sites will keep running as usual and the service will continue to be moderated and free to play. We will launch campaigns monthly as we always have and we will continue to offer new, exciting games on the recently launched game platform.

http://www.sulake.com/blog/entries/habbo-returns-to-its-roots/

[karter]

That's what people said when moderators were singapore were replaced with the new ones

i meant from damn it lol

[GommeInc]

I'm still shocked Paul LaFontaine is still CEO, the man is ridiculous and doesn't know a thing about good PR and business. The C4 report showed just how incapable he is as a CEO :P Hopefully he will be going with the job cuts, Habbo will do better without him. He should be first to lose his job during the cuts.

[the.games]

I'm still shocked Paul LaFontaine is still CEO, the man is ridiculous and doesn't know a thing about good PR and business. The C4 report showed just how incapable he is as a CEO :P Hopefully he will be going with the job cuts, Habbo will do better without him. He should be first to lose his job during the cuts.

Completely agree with this. Someone should really make a move because habbo is going down the drain. We know the users think so and this thread proves that staff think so too, so why isn't anything being done?

Eventually Habbo will end up dissolving into nothingness if nothing is done :(.

[Pigperson]

I understand Sulake is having a tough year but how can you cut the workforce by 2/3, would Sulake be able to run properly :S

Will

[:Act]

What's that sound?

Oh that's right, it's the sound of more nails in the coffin..

[DPS]

Honestly if they want to make Habbo great again.. hire Habbos, these staff members dont know what we want because they havent played aslong as most of us...

and when i mean hire i dont mean pay, as i know alot of Habbos would give up some of there time to do this, like key members of the community ect ect.

[GoldenMerc]

not really suprising to be fair, shame the game i grew up playing is dying

[Aaron]

They honestly can't expect to run all their hotels with 2/3's of their work force laid off.. 30 people to run everything.. wow, madness!!

[xxMATTGxx]

Should read some of the tweets by: https://twitter.com/ediootti nothing confirms much but yeah since the decision hasn't been made yet he isn't sure if he will be going from Sulake or not yet. Shame if they do get rid of him, seems like one of the decent ones and was always nice to tweet back.

[Abdicators]

Everyone is complaining that Sulake are stupid to fire staff, but they wouldn't do it unless they have too - obviously profits are down after what happened in the summer, and they need to cut costs, there's one easy way to do that. Sulake already have a small workforce compared to Habbo's prime-time back in 2006/2007 when there were about 20 hotels open. Essentially, Sulake is buying themselves more time with this, so all you Habbo fans should be pleased...

Kardan seems to be the only guy thinking this through. Since the mute it's no secret that Habbos user base dropped, which means that their income dropped significantly too. You guys don't buy credits anymore and it's driving Sulake into the ground, they have to save money somewhere.

The cause of Sulakes problems is not Paul. Paul is doing ok, he is doing his best to ensure that the product stays alive whilst maintaining the staff essential to running Habbo.

As mentioned below Sulake actually has 128 employees. 90 of those are in the Finnish office, and a maximum of 60 are going to be laid off. Which would leave not 30 employees at Sulake, but 68; more than you guys think.

Sulake are trying their best to put what the players want first. All their other projects have been put on halt to try and maintain Habbo, this is not about being greedy or trying to make millions of teenagers, it's about making enough money to make the product maintainable; and it's not, because you guys are not buying credits. Instead you're complaining.

The Game Center is a big step for Habbo, with third party developers being able to put their games in the Game Center. it means that Habbos might find a product that they want to spend coins on, and then purchase them. Sulake take a tiny portion of the profits made from a game (a 80:20 split), but if they can get enough Habbos buying enough credits for enough different games, then Habbo may just survive.

I don't think any of you have actually thought about what you would do if Habbo did close. I know alot of you are on it consistently. Yet, few of you care enough to help Sulake, to help new users, to purchase the odd amount of credits each month. It's a service you've used for free, for years. And with the continued moaning attitude of you all, it wont be around that much longer.

[karter]

when did sulake try their best? it all started when they removed one feature and kept removing all others one by one, this had to happen. they are probably trying their best now as desperate measures to get users back but this won't work unless they return the features.

[GommeInc]

Kardan seems to be the only guy thinking this through. Since the mute it's no secret that Habbos user base dropped, which means that their income dropped significantly too. You guys don't buy credits anymore and it's driving Sulake into the ground, they have to save money somewhere.

The cause of Sulakes problems is not Paul. Paul is doing ok, he is doing his best to ensure that the product stays alive whilst maintaining the staff essential to running Habbo.

As mentioned below Sulake actually has 128 employees. 90 of those are in the Finnish office, and a maximum of 60 are going to be laid off. Which would leave not 30 employees at Sulake, but 68; more than you guys think.

Sulake are trying their best to put what the players want first. All their other projects have been put on halt to try and maintain Habbo, this is not about being greedy or trying to make millions of teenagers, it's about making enough money to make the product maintainable; and it's not, because you guys are not buying credits. Instead you're complaining.

The Game Center is a big step for Habbo, with third party developers being able to put their games in the Game Center. it means that Habbos might find a product that they want to spend coins on, and then purchase them. Sulake take a tiny portion of the profits made from a game (a 80:20 split), but if they can get enough Habbos buying enough credits for enough different games, then Habbo may just survive.

I don't think any of you have actually thought about what you would do if Habbo did close. I know alot of you are on it consistently. Yet, few of you care enough to help Sulake, to help new users, to purchase the odd amount of credits each month. It's a service you've used for free, for years. And with the continued moaning attitude of you all, it wont be around that much longer.
It's entirely Sulake's fault for what happened over the Summer, there should be no sympathy towards Habbo for what is a self-induced crisis. Why should people waste money on Habbo and get a half-arsed service in return? It's wise thinking not to spend money on something you won't get as much benefit or entertainment out, when there is very little decent service provided.

Paul is the problem with Sulake. He handled the C4 report unbearably badly and could of saved his and the company's skin had he bothered to get his egotistical finger out and solve the problem. He was given a copy of the C4 report weeks before it was announced, and his response? "It's not true" , then disregarded it as rubbish. As for staff, he's ensuring he doesn't have to spend as much money on proper training and doesn't understand how socio-companies work. The man is an imbecile and should be the first head on the block when the cuts are made.

People have the right to complain. Poor service and goods makes a consumer an angry or bored individual. Again, this is entirely self-induced. There's no point brown nosing for Habbo because consumers have the ultimate sway in what makes a consumer services based organisation work. Perhaps if they didn't use uneducated buffoons for moderators and were accountable for their actions this entirely self-induced crisis could of been avoided, but they didn't, they sat with their mucky fingers in their ears and hoped it all to go away - which is truely pathetic and they deserve the problems they are suffering now.

As for the last sentence. Good! I haven't used Habbo since 2009 because their attitude towards their business model and customers was appalling back then, and amazingly it has somehow gotten worse. Telling people to buy the odd credits is incredibly absurd. Why should people be told to spend their money on something they clearly are lacking interest in? They won't get any benefits out of spending their money on credits - Habbo have made sure of that with their poor approach to offering services and customer care, and there doesn't appear to be anything within Habbo worth spending money on other than furniture. It's entirely their fault, and delegating blame onto the end-user, the Habbos, is completely unfair as it wasn't them who ignored potential threats to the service, it was Paul LaFortaine and his 'ignorance is bliss' philosophy.

[October]

THEY CAN BARELY MANAGE 12 HOTELS WITH 90 STAFF...

[the.games]

To be honest I can't see how they can manage so much with so little. They should see if they changed the management they would make more money and could afford more staff.

[Zak]

Habbo announced a closing date yet? Soon you'll have to pay to play. :)

[:Act]

I know alot of you are on it consistently. Yet, few of you care enough to help Sulake, to help new users, to purchase the odd amount of credits each month. It's a service you've used for free, for years. And with the continued moaning attitude of you all, it wont be around that much longer.

I think you miss the entire foundation of business. Provide a service that the consumer wants, and will pay for. The way the hotel currently is, is not appealing to the masses. We know this because of the sharp and distinctly obvious drop in users over the past few months/years. Therefore, why would people 'purchase the odd amount of credits each month' for a service that we are not currently enjoying to the fullest that we know it CAN BE. It is not providing the service it used to, and so we will not support it. And if we did support it by buying credits thinking 'Oh it'll tide it over for now and it'll go back to normal soon', well that's a joke too because staff will then see these new implementations as working because people are spending more, and as such they will keep on the same track that we don't like. Complete misunderstanding!

The onus of business to stay alive is NOT on the consumer bailing them out, it is on the business to keep their product relevant, desirable, and keeping the consumer happy. If this means changing for the better, then so be it, but there is no point changing for the worse, and I believe many people think that Habbo is changing for the worse.

[LiquidLuck.]

I doubt Habbo will be able to get some CAPABLE staff, as it seems that all the staff they get is crap. -.-
Also, most of them seem like they just don't give a **** and just want to get paied for not doing anything.

[Abdicators]

I think you miss the entire foundation of business. Provide a service that the consumer wants, and will pay for. The way the hotel currently is, is not appealing to the masses. We know this because of the sharp and distinctly obvious drop in users over the past few months/years. Therefore, why would people 'purchase the odd amount of credits each month' for a service that we are not currently enjoying to the fullest that we know it CAN BE. It is not providing the service it used to, and so we will not support it. And if we did support it by buying credits thinking 'Oh it'll tide it over for now and it'll go back to normal soon', well that's a joke too because staff will then see these new implementations as working because people are spending more, and as such they will keep on the same track that we don't like. Complete misunderstanding!

The onus of business to stay alive is NOT on the consumer bailing them out, it is on the business to keep their product relevant, desirable, and keeping the consumer happy. If this means changing for the better, then so be it, but there is no point changing for the worse, and I believe many people think that Habbo is changing for the worse.

Sulake is providing what the users want. They've set up multiple ways for you to provide feedback, and give suggestions.

Habbos wanted a scheme similar to the Hobbas back, they got it.
Habbos wanted rooms similar to the old public rooms back, they got them.
Habbos wanted competitions within the hotel, so room competitions were implemented.
Habbos wanted more staff visibility, so moderators were instructed to frequent rooms.
Habbos wanted rares back, so LTD rares were introduced. Habbos
Habbos wanted home pages back, they got them.
Habbos wanted forums back, they're coming.
Habbos wanted more games in Habbo, so the game center appeared.
Habbos wanted events back, they got promos.

You guys are getting what you want, and because you have nit picks with a system that wasn't exactly how you imagined it, you scorn it.

Some of Sulakes decisions over the past few months have cost Sulake alot, some of the decisions have been incredibly drastic. How would you have handled Channel 4s report? Would you have let the behaviour continue? Would you have muted the hotel? Or would you have just hired more moderators and hoped for the best?

How would you deal with two investors pulling out? How would you quickly find the money in order to ensure your company stayed alive? Or would you just throw in the towel?

Habbo will never be able to operate the way you remember it in 2005. There isn't enough staff to go around. Habbo was really no better then. I mean what was better?

You could talk to staff? I know staff that login all the time, I can give you their names if that's the case!
Staff run events? Why staff run? Are you unable to run your own events?
Articles? Why? Only a tiny portion of users ever read them.
Old public rooms? Why?
'Better Moderation' ? The moderation you remember was flawed, moderators were constantly hacked and people consecutively gained access to Habbos Housekeeping, it wasn't safe or practical to allow moderators remote access to sensitive data like that; besides as no one is buying credits this would be too costly.

What more could Sulake as a parent company of Habbo, possibly do to make you happy?

[Red]

Sulake is providing what the users want. They've set up multiple ways for you to provide feedback, and give suggestions.

Habbos wanted a scheme similar to the Hobbas back, they got it.
Habbos wanted rooms similar to the old public rooms back, they got them.
Habbos wanted competitions within the hotel, so room competitions were implemented.
Habbos wanted more staff visibility, so moderators were instructed to frequent rooms.
Habbos wanted rares back, so LTD rares were introduced. Habbos
Habbos wanted home pages back, they got them.
Habbos wanted forums back, they're coming.
Habbos wanted more games in Habbo, so the game center appeared.
Habbos wanted events back, they got promos.

You guys are getting what you want, and because you have nit picks with a system that wasn't exactly how you imagined it, you scorn it.

Some of Sulakes decisions over the past few months have cost Sulake alot, some of the decisions have been incredibly drastic. How would you have handled Channel 4s report? Would you have let the behaviour continue? Would you have muted the hotel? Or would you have just hired more moderators and hoped for the best?

How would you deal with two investors pulling out? How would you quickly find the money in order to ensure your company stayed alive? Or would you just throw in the towel?

Habbo will never be able to operate the way you remember it in 2005. There isn't enough staff to go around. Habbo was really no better then. I mean what was better?

You could talk to staff? I know staff that login all the time, I can give you their names if that's the case!
Staff run events? Why staff run? Are you unable to run your own events?
Articles? Why? Only a tiny portion of users ever read them.
Old public rooms? Why?
'Better Moderation' ? The moderation you remember was flawed, moderators were constantly hacked and people consecutively gained access to Habbos Housekeeping, it wasn't safe or practical to allow moderators remote access to sensitive data like that; besides as no one is buying credits this would be too costly.

What more could Sulake as a parent company of Habbo, possibly do to make you happy?


It make's me so angry reading your posts. Your like a Paul clone. I actually can't believe you are saying they put what the players want first? Every single change made by Paul has been unwanted. It's their fault the user base has fallen. He has sucked all life out of the hotel with his withdraw staff and make things automated appoach. The c4 report shouldn't have happened in the first place. Paul pretended that his moderators were doing an excellent job, despite our complaints.


Don't expect us to buy credits for a game that is not being run properly. If a bit of effort was put into making the hotel a fun place to be, people would be more willing to purchase credits. Paul is exactly the problem. He is rude, and arrogant. Feedback from users is never listened too, and he has just about blocked the entire community for expressing their opinions.


Get a grip, seriously. We all want greater staff presence/news articles/staff run comps. How is he going to devote any staff to be hotel managers, if theres no staff left? Yes the wanted home pages. Did we get them no? They have no guestbooks or stickies rendering them useless! We wanted return of old games? Did we get it? no. Snowstorm wasn't developed to its full potential. There was a lot of missing features like the ability to choose who to play with. No one wants these third party games that have no relevance or place in habbo, and I can guarantee no one will be spending credits on them. Yes we wanted events? Did they do that right? No. They decide to charge us for them. I can't even see any function for them now? It was easy to find credit shops before, because there was sections. That has been removed. There hasn't been no increase in staff visibility, and still no return of articles. News is still confusingly spread out across twitter/facebook/the blog. Did you see any campaign for halloween? I certainly didn't.


What would make me happy? Getting rid of their corrupt and childish CEO.

[GommeInc]

Some of Sulakes decisions over the past few months have cost Sulake alot, some of the decisions have been incredibly drastic. How would you have handled Channel 4s report? Would you have let the behaviour continue? Would you have muted the hotel? Or would you have just hired more moderators and hoped for the best?

How would you deal with two investors pulling out? How would you quickly find the money in order to ensure your company stayed alive? Or would you just throw in the towel?
Actually pay attention to your business rather than let it fall into disrepute like an idiot would?

As for the rest, there seems to be a lot of brown nosing going on as I'm slightly concerned you do not know how businesses work. Habbo was a company growing economically not so long ago, then they let greed get in the way of customer satisfaction. Removing features was something no-one wanted to happen in the first place. You completely ignore this, assuming re-adding removed features will actually solve something. If they want real advice, don't remove popular features for no reason what so ever.

I would say R.I.P. Habbo, but it doesn't deserve it. It's like a person who drinks 1 litre of vodka every hour and gets through 100 McDonalds burgers a day. The risks are obvious, yet it will carry on destroying itself from the inside out.

[Abdicators]

I don't think some of are going to agree on our feelings towards Sulake, so i'll just ask constructive questions.

If there was to be a staff member or members, in a hotel that you could instruct and give tasks. What would they do? Host competitions? Disqualify rooms unfit for the current room competitions? Simply hang out in player rooms? What would you want those staff members to do.

[Odette]

Oh dear... I really have no sympathy for sulake/habbo in its current state. I haven't played habbo for a while now, mainly because the "community" started to diminish at an alarming rate, making it unrecognisable to me. I don't have a comment in regards to new features, but the removal of certain key features that made habbo enjoyable really baffles me. I don't like what I've seen from Paul, and as a CEO he has proved himself to be nothing more than a liability. His "grand idea" of incorporating habbo into the twitter age proves to be failing - it wasn't needed. From what I gather, Habbo was thriving in 2007/08, which is the time I remember it to be at its best. It seems, instead of enduring the company's slow (yet steady) progression, sulake management decided to take an unnecessary risk and led habbo onto a completely different path. Furthermore, as damaging as the C4 News report was, it did outline serious problems within habbo and unfortunately it was handled appallingly - I seem to remember Paul's ridiculous outbursts on twitter.

Anyway, I feel sorry for the founders, Sampo and Aapo, as I'm sure they're hugely disappointed with how everything has turned out. I just hope that they have plenty of savings tucked away for when habbo goes under.

[Shorty]

If only we could blame the private servers ('retros'), Sulake has slowly been killing itself by adding pointless features or adding features which require you to spend money which prove not to be popular. The fact is, most people live off credits these days which they get via trading up furniture or being gifted from friends. I haven't spent a penny on Habbo since at least 2008.

I won't even start a rant about how fantastic the creativity has been lately with events, furniture and badges. *sigh*