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Motiga (Gigantic) announces significant temporary layoffs

H

Haruko

Member
https://www.gogigantic.com/en/news/motiga-announces-temporary-layoffs


It is with deep heartache that Motiga announces the temporary layoff of a significant percentage of our studio today. Our financial situation is such that we are unable to continue supporting the entirety of the studio at this time. Though we are in active and promising discussions with a number of potential investors, the timing for those negotiations extends beyond the resources we have to maintain the staffing required to continue development on Gigantic.
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Owing to our commitment to transparency, both to our studio and the Gigantic community, this is a decision that has been shared with every member of our team before the posting of this article.
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Our goal at this time is to work aggressively to identify the resources we need to rehire the members of the Motiga family that were laid off today, securing our financial future so that the Gigantic community can continue to work with us to develop this title, and ultimately bring the complete Gigantic experience to the marketplace.
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Hope they pull through; the game seems fun and I'm looking forward to it.


close my beta if old :(
 
W

Warxard

Banned
Wow, uh, looks like Gigantic might actually die then.

Must be why they're giving away so many keys/opening the NDA up
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Xer0 said:
That's a shame. I thought MS was funding this game.
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Ya it's weird that they're confining themselves to xbox/windows 10 when they're having financial issues.

Played a bit of the alpha. Game has promise, unfortunately I'm swamped with games and don't feel like taking up a MOBA again.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
Isn't this the second time they had a big layoff? I was thinking of skipping Battleborn in favor of this since they basically look the same but I may have to think twice. Gigantic may have a shorter future.
 
G

GrantDaNasty

Member
"temporary" layoffs?

Is this essentially a "well if we manage to break out of this, we'll hopefully be able to re-hire you", because look, no one likes bad news, especially a company with an image to maintain, but that's double-speak on a...gigantic level.
 
P

PetulantChild

Banned
That's rough. You'd think they would be getting lots of funding with the game being W10/XB exclusive but maybe that was their decision. Weird.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
I wonder if MS are one of the parties they are talking to about investment. They are the publisher... you'd think they would be interested, assuming they are happy with the games progress (and they'd probably be cheap at this point?)

FelipeMGM said:
Weird, isnt Microsoft backing them up?
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They are to a certain point but they (MS) don't own the IP and aren't fully funding it iirc. The game was already in closed alpha testing I think so was quite far along when MS announced their partnership and Motiga made it clear IP ownership was not something they were considering
 
W

whyreggielie

Member
Weird, such a good game to. I really hope they can continue to support Gigantic, the game is well done for the state its currently in.
 
P

PetulantChild

Banned
Steverulez said:
I wonder if MS are one of the parties they are talking to about investment. They are the publisher... you'd think they would be interested, assuming they are happy with the games progress (and they'd probably be cheap at this point?)
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I don't see why not since they've already seemingly made a deal with them. Hopefully they make it out of this. Also apparently they raised around 20 million for making Gigantic, so I don't know if it would exactly be "cheap".
 
B

BananasWithGuns

Member
Well, that's concerning.

I wonder if MS will step in and save the game/studio if it comes to it. They do seem like a fairly talented bunch.
 
D

Doffen

Member
Ferrio said:
Ya it's weird that they're confining themselves to xbox/windows 10 when they're having financial issues.
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They've got issues with production not sales. Developing for more platforms won't help their current financial situation.

Speculation: they would probably have been bankrupt by now, if not for the Microsoft deal.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
Doffen said:
They've got issues with production not sales. Developing for more platforms won't help their current financial situation.

Speculation: they would probably have been bankrupt by now, if not for the Microsoft deal.
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They'd probably have been fine if they had hit their end of 2015 release period as planned, perhaps the MS deal came at a good time to help them keep development going and last out the year until it launched but now its delayed until... who knows.
 
B

Banjo-Kazooie

Member
I feel like they mismanage some money, or lost an investor or something? Last year at PAX East they had a pretty big party with free booze and food for like 2 hours. Found it kind of odd at the time that a MOBA from a studio that hadn't even shipped a title yet was having a huge party like that.

They also pay community expert members to fly to conventions and demo the game to people which is a good concept but cant Be exactly cheap...

I always assumed they were living lavishly because they had MS money but if that were the case why is this the second time in two months that they had decent sized layoffs?

Game is really amazing by the way so this is sad to me :/
 
W

_woLf

Member
I had a very bad feeling about this game's future when the whole Windows 10/Xbox One exclusivity thing happened.

Seems like MS isn't helping them at all, either. What a bummer for all involved.
 
undu

undu

Member
The windows 10 exclusivity, if Microsoft hasn't paid them enough to avoid layoffs, only makes their situation worse as it restricts their market even more.
 
Chobel

Chobel

Member
Ferrio said:
Ya it's weird that they're confining themselves to xbox/windows 10 when they're having financial issues.
Click to expand...
undu said:
The windows 10 exclusivity, if Microsoft hasn't paid them enough to avoid layoffs, only makes their situation worse as it restricts their market even more.
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Maybe they agreed to partner with MS and go XBO/W10 exclusive because they had financial issues?
 
D

Doffen

Member
Steverulez said:
They'd probably have been fine if they had hit their end of 2015 release period as planned, perhaps the MS deal came at a good time to help them keep development going and last out the year until it launched but now its delayed until... who knows.
Click to expand...

If they didn't need extra funding they wouldn't have made a deal with Microsoft.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
Doffen said:
If they didn't need extra funding they wouldn't have made a deal with Microsoft.
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I was agreeing with you in my post? Saying that the MS deal would allow them to keep going with development until the planned release date which then slipped.

That said, publishing with a platform holder can also give you exposure (like at E3) you wouldn't necessarily get otherwise which can be nice
 
D

Doffen

Member
Steverulez said:
I was agreeing with you in my post? Saying that the MS deal would allow them to keep going with development until the planned release date which then slipped.
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I didn't read carefully enough. Sorry about that.

Chobel said:
I clicked "Submit" instead of "Preview" XD
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Or the more logical explanation: Someone suddenly abducted the real Chobel and you're here to avoid suspicion.
 
element

element

Member
Sad because I have friends at Motiga, but I feel they missed their window and competition just started taking attention away from them. You have SMITE, Orcs Must Die: Unchained, Epic announcing Paragon and continued growth in LoL, DOTA2 and Heroes of the Storm just makes it even more difficult for any game to build a player base.

I remember playing it at GDC last year and it was better than SMITE was the first time I played it. Perhaps they should have released open beta back then, and grow off that momentum.

Still, very sad. Looked good.
 
F

FelipeMGM

Member
Steverulez said:
I wonder if MS are one of the parties they are talking to about investment. They are the publisher... you'd think they would be interested, assuming they are happy with the games progress (and they'd probably be cheap at this point?)

They are to a certain point but they (MS) don't own the IP and aren't fully funding it iirc. The game was already in closed alpha testing I think so was quite far along when MS announced their partnership and Motiga made it clear IP ownership was not something they were considering
Click to expand...


Prob not the case anymore right?

Phil recent talks are always about stuff that MS should focus more on first party so they should go after new studios and IP's, and this looks like a cheap case indeed. Good deal, assuming they think its a cool game and a talented studio
 
Papacheeks

Papacheeks

Banned
Maybe take that awesome artstyle, and make a game that's not another F2P moba?

The issue is moba's are already too crowded as are MMO's. They have an amazing looking artstyle, they could have used that to make a 24-29.99 game on steam with early beta.
 
I

Interficium

Banned
I would be shitting a brick right now if I was at Gearbox polishing up Battleborn for release.

The class-based shooter/MOBA hybrid space looks like it's going to be a bloodbath in 2016.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
mejin said:
They bet on the wrong horse.
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Im not sure how you can say that with any amount of actual thought on it given the game has yet to actually launch (and potentially make or lose money) and beta impressions so far have been mostly positive.

Unless its just a cheap drive-by
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Interficium said:
I would be shitting a brick right now if I was at Gearbox polishing up Battleborn for release.

The class-based shooter/MOBA hybrid space looks like it's going to be a bloodbath in 2016.
Click to expand...

Gearbox always has Borderlands to lean back on if their new IP tanks, and that's also being paid for by Take-Two.

Motiga at most seems to have a completion bond they've already run through from Microsoft.
 
B

blakep267

Member
Steverulez said:
Im not sure how you can say that with any amount of actual thought on it given the game has yet to actually launch (and potentially make or lose money) and beta impressions so far have been mostly positive.

Unless its just a cheap drive-by
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Probably the latter

As you've pointed out, this seems more like them burning through their resources without finishing the game rather than it failing after released.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
Interficium said:
Fair enough. Maybe I should have said I would be shitting a brick if I was at Boss Key.
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Gearbox are probably sitting on mega $$ from Borderlands and Cliff knows what he is doing, having Nexon as publisher too is probably helping to pay the bills

Collingwood said:
Not sure how making this game for PS4 would change the situation they're currently in. Especially given Gigantic is F2P.
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In closed beta state on PS4 the game would clearly already be profitable...
 
Z

zashga

Member
GrantDaNasty said:
"temporary" layoffs?

Is this essentially a "well if we manage to break out of this, we'll hopefully be able to re-hire you", because look, no one likes bad news, especially a company with an image to maintain, but that's double-speak on a...gigantic level.
Click to expand...

Who would want to go back to a company that already laid them off? Sounds like a nightmare.
 
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