NeoGAF

element · 04:56 AM

Word is spreading here in Seattle that Zipper has been hit really hard tonight with layoffs or perhaps worse.

Light on real details, but lots of twitter talk and some people updating linkedin.

Confirmed Departures (via linkedin):
Lead Designer
Lead Programmer
Graphics Lead (went to Bungie)
Audio Lead

scoobs · (05-19-2011, 04:32 AM)

they got shafted by psn being down in a big way. Not sure about the sales numbers but i cant imagine it was real good.

Deadly Joker · (05-19-2011, 04:32 AM)

I'm guessing it's because Socom 4 bombed. I'm sure PSN going down had something to do with the poor sales.

BeEatNU · (05-19-2011, 04:34 AM)

exclusive PSN shooters aren't as popular as they use to be :(
I enjoy Socom 4

LiK · (05-19-2011, 04:34 AM)

Ouch, sucks. PSN down didn't help.

Fantastical · (05-19-2011, 04:36 AM)

Originally Posted by g35twinturbo:

exclusive PSN shooters aren't as popular as they use to be :(

Yeah there was like no one online for a good three weeks.

Corran Horn · (05-19-2011, 04:36 AM)

Hope Das-J is alright

Marleyman · (05-19-2011, 04:36 AM)

Another casualty of the COD craze. Sad.

Trevelyan · (05-19-2011, 04:37 AM)

Really, really sucks. Just bought Socom 4 a week ago and beat the campaign. Thoroughly loved every second of it and am really liking online too. Curious to see what Zipper's next game will be. MAG 2 or new IP?

ezekial45 · (05-19-2011, 04:37 AM)

Either Socom 4 bombed, or this was set to happen regardless.

Zee-Row · (05-19-2011, 04:38 AM)

I blame the hackers for what they did , they screwed a lot of people. Socom isn't CoD popular but it had its dedicated fanbase that couldn't play the game online.

fernoca · (05-19-2011, 04:38 AM)

Was it confirmed that Socom 4 "bombed"?
The NPD report said that counting bundles it would've made Top 10.

Booshka · (05-19-2011, 04:39 AM)

I really hope we can have almost all MP shooters be multi-platform and the console versions cross-platform. Online FPS' live and die by their community, and they need to have one large cohesive community, at least on consoles. Hopefully in the future this can happen. Sucks if this news is true.

Fantastical · (05-19-2011, 04:39 AM)

Originally Posted by ezekial45:

Either Socom 4 bombed, or this was set to happen regardless.

Yeah, I'm wondering PSN's / Socom sale's role in this. Maybe it was going to happen either way.

chubigans · (05-19-2011, 04:39 AM)

We know SOCOM 4 made more than 190k in sales last month...I'm sure this month was a deadzone thanks to PSN being down.

Doesn't seem like a total bomba to me, but I dunno. I think the gears were already in motion before the game's release.

legacyzero · (05-19-2011, 04:40 AM)

Originally Posted by Booshka:

I really hope we can have almost all MP shooters be multi-platform and the console versions cross-platform. Online FPS' live and die by their community, and they need to have one large cohesive community, at least on consoles. Hopefully in the future this can happen. Sucks if this news is true.

I would love this to happen.

radjago · (05-19-2011, 04:40 AM)

Needs more Seal Team 6.

Full Recovery · (05-19-2011, 04:41 AM)

Originally Posted by Marleyman:

Another casualty of the COD craze. Sad.

Yeah this, I doubt psn being down had much to do with it. Execs expected Zipper to reel in the COD crowd and they didn't.

LevityNYC · (05-19-2011, 04:43 AM)

This news is a month old.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/24/so...r-interactive/

maxxpower · (05-19-2011, 04:43 AM)

Damn, I really hope MAG 2 sees the light of day. MAG is best online shooter I have ever played.

TheSeks · (05-19-2011, 04:44 AM)

Originally Posted by Marleyman:

Another casualty of the COD craze. Sad.

Not even that.

Clunky shooter series (lose some sales, but had a niche hardcore base) + PSN downtime (lose said niche hardcore base because they can't play) = perfect storm of lost sales.

Sucks for Zipper, as Socom 4 wasn't bad (not $60 or investing in multiplayer to me, but~).

element · 04:49 AM

Originally Posted by LevityNYC:

This news is a month old.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/24/so...r-interactive/

No. The Lead Designer was a month ago, and he stayed on to finish Socom 4. What I am talking like people were laid off or mass exodus. TODAY.

http://twitter.com/#!/gizmosan/status/70938055141359616
http://twitter.com/#!/gkr/status/71044710759804928

fernoca · (05-19-2011, 04:47 AM)

Originally Posted by LevityNYC:

This news is a month old.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/24/so...r-interactive/

Interesting.

Maybe the positions laid-off "tonight" were the usuals "people being laid-off after releasing a big game". So that combined with the Lead Designer leaving to form his own team, and probably a few others that followed him.

So far it seems to be something "normal" rather then "Socom 4 bombed..start packing!!". But not too many details out..yet.

Gaspode_T · (05-19-2011, 04:47 AM)

That sucks, almost took an interview with them back in the day...I heard really, really good things about their team.

RustyNails · (05-19-2011, 04:48 AM)

PSN being botched definitely stole SOCOM 4's thunder. If I were Sony, I'd definitely give them some latitude. Talented team, no doubt and it will be sad to see it let go of its workforce.

alphaNoid · (05-19-2011, 04:49 AM)

Originally Posted by maxxpower:

Damn, I really hope MAG 2 sees the light of day. MAG is best online shooter I have ever played.

You haven't played many shooters than. Regardless I hope Zipper isnt in bad shape, they SOCOM 4 looked good.

Cobra1 · (05-19-2011, 04:50 AM)

One of my friends worked at Zipper and was one of many in the "bad meeting" Seems all told, 33 people were let go.

http://twitter.com/#!/MizzSmartyPants/status/71064781095841792

Persona7 · (05-19-2011, 04:51 AM)

God damn it.

Socom is my favorite Sony franchise...

beast786 · (05-19-2011, 04:51 AM)

Originally Posted by Cobra1:

One of my friends worked at Zipper and was one of many in the "bad meeting" Seems all told, 33 people were let go.

http://twitter.com/#!/MizzSmartyPants/status/71064781095841792

Man, that is tough . Especially in this market.

Does anyone know what was the total number of Zipper prior to this?

When you loose so much and especially at the top. Is this studio pretty much dead?

Loudninja · (05-19-2011, 04:51 AM)

Originally Posted by Cobra1:

One of my friends worked at Zipper and was one of many in the "bad meeting" Seems all told, 33 people were let go.

http://twitter.com/#!/MizzSmartyPants/status/71064781095841792

That really sucks, does anyone know how many people work at Zipper?

CatPee · (05-19-2011, 04:52 AM)

Oh man, 33? That seriously sucks.

Ah well, such is life. Hopefully, they can share some of the secrets to their amazing netcode to other Sony 1st-party devs before they go :(.

Secks4Food · (05-19-2011, 04:53 AM)

Shame, Socom II was one of the best online shooters on consoles, the series only got worse from there but it's still a tough break with the PSN outage and all that.

Persona7 · (05-19-2011, 04:53 AM)

Originally Posted by Loudninja:

That really sucks, does anyone know how many people work at Zipper?

I would guess over one hundred at least.

PsychoRaven · (05-19-2011, 04:55 AM)

Damn that totally sucks. I hope those fired land on their feet.

demolitio · 05:00 AM

Edit: Beat

I'll play S4 right now in their honor. :(

Warrior_Keoni · (05-19-2011, 04:56 AM)

Eek, hope some other company picks them up soon.

~Devil Trigger~ · (05-19-2011, 04:56 AM)

too bad

Socom was my intro to console MP

TaKeRx · (05-19-2011, 04:57 AM)

Boo, that really sucks. I really enjoyed Socom 2. Socom 3 was trash IMO and I was contemplating whether to get Socom 4 since it's on sale on amazon.

fernoca · 05:01 AM

Originally Posted by Cobra1:

One of my friends worked at Zipper and was one of many in the "bad meeting" Seems all told, 33 people were let go.

http://twitter.com/#!/MizzSmartyPants/status/71064781095841792

Though she also said that she didn't worked on Socom 4, till later:

Quote:

lol. I didn't work on S4 until it went live, so I didn't have any vision about it at all.

So it kinda gives the impression that some of the positions laid off were added later in development, and the layoff was the result of that, more than "the game bombing".

Still sucks, heck I'm still unemployed..so it really sucks.

Persona7 · (05-19-2011, 04:57 AM)

http://www.zipperint.com/company.html

Zipper currently has nearly 150 employees located in downtown Redmond, and is still hiring.

just saw this on the website

vilmer_ · (05-19-2011, 04:58 AM)

If you've played online, even after the outage, you'd never know S4 'bombed.'

Trin3785 · (05-19-2011, 04:58 AM)

Damn. Socom4 is tons of fun for me. The move controls are one of my favorite of the attempts for move games so far. Sorry to hear people are losing their jobs. I liked MAG too so it surprises me they had lay offs.

GQman2121 · (05-19-2011, 04:59 AM)

While I didn't agree with many of the changes made to Socom 4, its never good to hear so many people being out of work. Most of them probably had no control over the games direction and the circumstances of the last month were obviously out of their hands.

Unknown Soldier · (05-19-2011, 05:00 AM)

SOCOM 4 tried to turn the franchise into CoD-clone instead of what SOCOM was known for. Not sure what they were hoping to accomplish there.

TheFuryMGS3 · (05-19-2011, 05:00 AM)

Hate to see anyone in a tough spot job wise. However Socom 4 is sub par and really hurt itself by its poor quality. This coupled with psn loss seems like it could be this companies cyanide pill

demolitio · (05-19-2011, 05:01 AM)

Originally Posted by fernoca:

Though she also said that she didn't worked on Socom 4, till later.

So it kinda gives the impression that some of the positions laid off were added later in development, and the laidoff was the result of that more than "the game bombing".

Still sucks, heck I'm still unemployed..so it really sucks.

Yea, it could have been some of the people that worked on MAG that then helped get SOCOM 4 out the door. Maybe trimming some of the excess from having the two teams?

MalboroRed · (05-19-2011, 05:04 AM)

Originally Posted by Booshka:

I really hope we can have almost all MP shooters be multi-platform and the console versions cross-platform. Online FPS' live and die by their community, and they need to have one large cohesive community, at least on consoles. Hopefully in the future this can happen. Sucks if this news is true.

You don't need to be multiplatform to have a cohesive community, HALO was extremely successful without being multiplatform, very few multiplatform shooters can hold onto its base after a few months nowadays.

It comes down to having a high quality product with it's own unique twist, accessibility and effective marketing, without all of those qualities you can have a multiplatform game and it would still bomb.

The problem with SOCOM 4 was that it was not accessible (you don't need COD-type lock-on to be accessible), it did not impress graphically, and it didn't have a compelling single player campaign.

It absolutely sucks that some folks at Zipper lost their jobs, but between SOCOM 4 and MAG they're just not cranking out high quality products, you can blame poor sales on marketing but as far as the quality of the products goes they have to bear the bulk of the responsibility.

LevityNYC · (05-19-2011, 05:04 AM)

From someone who put 200 hours into Socom 2....aside from a few fixable bugs, Socom 4 is a fantastic

daffy · (05-19-2011, 05:05 AM)

Originally Posted by scoobs:

they got shafted by psn being down in a big way..

OR, this could be the result of two big budget games that were met with low market reception.

I highly doubt PSN has anything to do with this. A small ripple at best.

TheFuryMGS3 · (05-19-2011, 05:05 AM)

Originally Posted by MalboroRed:

You don't need to be multiplatform to have a cohesive community, HALO was extremely successful without being multiplatform, very few multiplatform shooters can hold onto its base after a few months nowadays.

It comes down to having a high quality product with it's own unique twist, accessibility and effective marketing, without all of those qualities you can have a multiplatform game and it would still bomb.

The problem with SOCOM 4 was that it was not accessible (you don't need COD-type lock-on to be accessible), it did not impress graphically, and it didn't have a compelling single player campaign.

This. It attempted to beat its competition and failed to even match games from years ago.