How did it happen?:
The "Dark Age" era :
It all supposedly began when J. Todd Coleman, the former Computer game designer of KI left the wiz community to pursue new passions which for him led to the formation of Artcraft Entertainment. I can atest why this would be considered a downturn however, you still had people at that time such as Gary Scott Smith the senior software engineer of KI, and Josef T. Hall the creator of Wizard101 & Co-Creator of Pirate101.
Does Pirate101 contribute to the Dark Age?
When pirate101 was first disclosed in closed beta and open beta, I was one of many to test out this new game. I thought personally from my standpoint that it would be an amazing concept. When it was released, I beated the game (Back when it was level 50) within a month and a half and I had fun, but like Wizard101, what were you suppose to do within pirate101? The only thing you can do in pirate101 back when it was in its original state was the side story quests. However, the question still remains, does it contribute to the Dark Age? In my opinion, I would say during the 3 year hiatus yes because since aside from PvP, the addition of the advanced pets and Marleybone/Aquila, there was still nothing else to do even after you complete all that. It wasn't until the introduction of Ranked PvP when things got more interesting. However, there was tons of people who want that Book 15 released and finally in 2016, KI revealed several teasers of images along with vine video of what Valencia part II is gonna be like.
Did the hiatus of Gary Scott Smith's twitter contribute to the Dark Age?
Gary Scott Smith, the senior software engineer of KI was considered by many to be a fan favorite (Next to Tom, also known as the Friendly Necromancer) since he gave insight on how many days until test realm begins, reveals content little by little, and even at one point suggested to KI to add something of his ideals into Wizard101. Everyone admires Gary for being that guy who interacts with the wiz community. But ever since his twitter account, @GaryScottSmith2 stopped posting (With his last post being from October 2015), many have speculated that he left KI just like J.Todd Coleman but in a private way. However this was confirmed to be false, he is indeed still working at KI but I have a little speculation statement here though. What if Gary was signed onto a contract that doesn't allow him to disclose any information with the public until it's shown by the Community Managers? Now, back to the question, did Gary's twitter hiatus contribute anything to the Dark Age? Well for me, it was kind of a hit and miss since on one side, he did interact with the audience/community via twitter which made this community unique but at the same time I feel as though since his hiatus, Belloq (Also known as W101 & P101 Spoilers) has taken over his position of revealing in game content. I just wish that Gary can return to his twitter so he can interact with his community again.
Conclusions:
Its quite understandable why KI needed to lay off workers(Due to money problems), but how come did you lay off some of your best? KI should had gone with compromises to several average working to extraordinary working employers to keep them and let everyone else be laid off. I know that last statement was a bit harsh to the below average workers of KI but you gotta consider this, at the end of the day, KI is a gaming company that needs revenue to stay afloat and if it needs to lay off some workers, its gonna need to so it can stay stable.The Status so far:
(5/12/2016) There has been around several workers Laid off by KI along with everyone's beloved turkey, Lealea. Not sure if Tom is also gonna be laid off but I'll update as the rumors continue.
