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Warner lays off staff at three studios

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XBLAnnoyance
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/warner-lays-off-staff-at-three-studios

Warner Bros. has cut an unspecified number of staff at three of its studios in the US.

F.E.A.R. 2 team Monolith, The Suffering developer Surreal Software and Snowblind Studios are all affected by the cuts.

"We are committed to growing Warner Bros. in the game space and will be retaining robust teams in our Seattle studios," said the company in a prepared statement.

"We have been moving towards sharing certain resources across the studios and have also been reallocating resources to align talent with our development needs. Unfortunately, we had a few too many resources in certain functions and some positions were eliminated in this process. Our plan is to continually review staffing needs and as future projects evolve we would expect to see the studios grow."

Warner acquired Snowblind just under a year ago adding it to its in-house development team. Surreal Software was picked up as part of the acquisition of bankrupt publisher Midway.
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If they said they had invested too much resources into certain areas, why did they buy them in the first place ? According to the article, Snowblind Studios was bought under a year ago, so I guess Warner felt like they needed more gaming studios at that time and then changed their minds a couple of months later ?
 
Goddamn this gen sucks so hard. So many layoffs, cutdowns and closures. Fucking hell.


Also, now we'll never get another NOLF. :(
 
SolidSnakex said:
Snowblind are being wasted. BGDA and the two Champions games were amazing but they haven't really done anything since then.
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Aren't they making Lord of the Rings: War of the North?
 
2zf1mir.jpg
 
make great pc games > make joyless, homogenized console games > go under.

pattern for a generation.

(or replace stage 2 with anything affiliated with microsoft)
 
after the FEAR 2 bombing, such a move could have been foreseen. on the other hand, both surreal and snowblind didnt release a game in years. so...

SOE should have been bought snowblind back in the days.
 
I just want This is Vegas, dammit! I've been waiting and desired it for far too long for it t go under at such a late stage, with all the work on it so far showcased.... :-/

That's all I REALLY want in gaming this year - This is Vegas.
 
Bloody hell; I thought 2010 would be a slight growth year for the development community but I'm already depressed about the state of the industry (future Games Development grad).
 
Haunted said:
Also, now we'll never get another NOLF. :(
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Element has mentioned many times that NOLF is in copyright hell. We weren't going to get another NOLF anyway.

Not that it lessons the blow. Monolith was a great developer. Shame.
 
1-D_FTW said:
Element has mentioned many times that NOLF is in copyright hell. We weren't going to get another NOLF anyway.

Not that it lessons the blow. Monolith was a great developer.Shame.
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Well, from another article it said they've fired about 25 people, devided by 3 studios.(Monolith Productions , Snowblind Studios and Surreal Software)

So Monolith might still be OK.
 
ghst said:
make great pc games > make joyless, homogenized console games > go under.

pattern for a generation.

(or replace stage 2 with anything affiliated with microsoft)
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so strange

companies were turning a small profit just fine in the master race space, they see how Gears of War went, and start to put console games in the front line. GREED has destroyed them.

I am sad.
 
Zenith said:
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU.... FEAR2's made me desperate for another sequel.
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^ this and i want a Condemned 3.

and of course im sorry to hear about more lay offs in the gaming industry. :-/
 
Sucks to hear about Monolith but their games have been diminishing in quality since Condemned 2. I used to be a huge Monolith fan, but the studio has changed, the focus has changed and it just isn't the same. I actually wouldn't want them to do a NOLF sequel at this point because I know it wouldn't have the magic and appeal of the original games.
 
Really sad to hear this news, hope they can all get jobs soon :(

Like others have said, I'm eager to know what Surreal have been doing all this time
 
ram said:
Sony should have been bought snowblind and surreal back in the days.
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fixed

So how can publishers lose money amid such incredible sales and record growth? The answer is simple: They're spending more than they're bringing in. Game development budgets have ballooned, and publishers are reeling because they can't keep the costs under control.
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This quite true and it doesn't suprise me as more games these days are unprofitable. Look at Lost Planet... 1 million sold and a $40 million investment...it migh've recouped, but cleary the game barely made a profit for Capcom. The flipside though when Yamauchi revealed GT5's budget to be aroun 60 million it didn't suprise on how he didn't feel concerned because in reality GT5 already recouped and turned a profit for Sony by means of GT5P and will be even more profitable after GT5 released.

Overall the game industry is pretty much committing seppuku at the moment hence why I don't disagree with that slate article.
 
Damn, that's horrible. :(

I hope these will be the last of the recession related layoffs, but I'm not holding out for it. :/
 
ram said:
after the FEAR 2 bombing, such a move could have been foreseen. on the other hand, both surreal and snowblind didnt release a game in years. so...

SOE should have been bought snowblind back in the days.
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Same. I really enjoyed the Dark Alliance and Everquest game they made. Wish SOE had grabbed them or at least someone else that was willing to continuing games of that design. It's a game area that is very lacking on the consoles as well.
 
Not good, hope the staff will regroup and form new independent teams. XBLA/PSN/WiiWare or DS need more western devs so mayby they can build something new.
 
Effect said:
Same. I really enjoyed the Dark Alliance and Everquest game they made. Wish SOE had grabbed them or at least someone else that was willing to continuing games of that design. It's a game area that is very lacking on the consoles as well.
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Action RPGs don't have to have isometric cameras anymore, and they can have a way more expanded and sophisticated moveset, there might be a limited market on consoles for the kind of hack-n-slash RPG that snowblind makes.

Hope the people find new gigs.
 
Andrew2 said:
fixed



This quite true and it doesn't suprise me as more games these days are unprofitable. Look at Lost Planet... 1 million sold and a $40 million investment...it migh've recouped, but cleary the game barely made a profit for Capcom. The flipside though when Yamauchi revealed GT5's budget to be aroun 60 million it didn't suprise on how he didn't feel concerned because in reality GT5 already recouped and turned a profit for Sony by means of GT5P and will be even more profitable after GT5 released.

Overall the game industry is pretty much committing seppuku at the moment hence why I don't disagree with that slate article.
Click to expand...

They cannot launch another generation of consoles anytime soon if the industry hopes to survive.
 
robjoh said:
Not good, hope the staff will regroup and form new independent teams. XBLA/PSN/WiiWare or DS need more western devs so mayby they can build something new.
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They laid off like 25 people. Across 3 studios.
 
At risk of sounding callous, there is a restructuring of the games industry going on. I doubt these will be permanent loss of jobs in the games industry as a whole. Revenues are up, there is some profit to be made, and game studios will need the talent.
But the games industry may becoming like the aerospace industry/construction/etc, big projects-->hire new help-->finish project-->lay off help.
Not good for getting company benefits or retirement plans.
 
Snowblind are being wasted. BGDA and the two Champions games were amazing but they haven't really done anything since then.
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Don't doubt Snowblind, they are working hard. Snowblind got bit by next generation and multiplatform as well as some changes in the publishing space, so they had to build an entirely new toolset for PS3/360. They rock! Good people there!

So Monolith might still be OK.
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Snowblind and Monolith are fine, the core is still there. The whole thing is more of a reorg then anything else. WB grew very quickly in Seattle to almost 450 people, many of which were redundant. I am sad because I know some of the people that were involved with this reorg, but they are all talented and will land on their feet.

^ this and i want a Condemned 3.
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doubt it will happen.

Element has mentioned many times that NOLF is in copyright hell. We weren't going to get another NOLF anyway.
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Sad but true. NOLF is probably gone forever for two reasons. IP ownership hell and NOLF really not being a strong IP to make a new game. As awesome as the NOLF games were, they did not sell well, at all. So the chance of a dev/publisher making a $15m to $25m new NOLF game really isn't going to happen.
 
element said:
Sad but true. NOLF is probably gone forever for two reasons. IP ownership hell and NOLF really not being a strong IP to make a new game. As awesome as the NOLF games were, they did not sell well, at all. So the chance of a dev/publisher making a $15m to $25m new NOLF game really isn't going to happen.
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Very true and it´s a shame, but still would like Monolith developing something on that tone again. Not NOLF, but I'm confident they would be able to make something similar if they could/wanted without using the IP.

Of course, we will get more Alma instead. Pretty ironical that a studio able to develop such a funny game as NOLF it´s stuck making an horror series.
 
element said:
Snowblind and Monolith are fine, the core is still there. The whole thing is more of a reorg then anything else. WB grew very quickly in Seattle to almost 450 people, many of which were redundant. I am sad because I know some of the people that were involved with this reorg, but they are all talented and will land on their feet.
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That's what I figured. This sadly isn't that uncommon in the industry, RIFs in this fashion have happened all the time since the 80s.
 
verbum said:
At risk of sounding callous, there is a restructuring of the games industry going on. I doubt these will be permanent loss of jobs in the games industry as a whole. Revenues are up, there is some profit to be made, and game studios will need the talent.
But the games industry may becoming like the aerospace industry/construction/etc, big projects-->hire new help-->finish project-->lay off help.
Not good for getting company benefits or retirement plans.
Click to expand...

You must be new to this. The games industry has had that kind of cycle for a long time. EA and Activision have been the kings of "hire temporary workers for final months, lay them off when project finishes". It's common practice.

These things just get highlighted more because of the number of actual studio closures that are happening. Industry wide annual layoffs have been a reality for a long time, they just seem worse in light of the current economic landscape and the fact that no one is getting rehired because there aren't more projects coming along.
 
element said:
Snowblind and Monolith are fine, the core is still there. The whole thing is more of a reorg then anything else. WB grew very quickly in Seattle to almost 450 people, many of which were redundant. I am sad because I know some of the people that were involved with this reorg, but they are all talented and will land on their feet.
Click to expand...
Hopefully it works out for everyone involved. A shame, though.
 
SuperEnemyCrab said:
Sucks to hear about Monolith but their games have been diminishing in quality since Condemned 2. I used to be a huge Monolith fan, but the studio has changed, the focus has changed and it just isn't the same. I actually wouldn't want them to do a NOLF sequel at this point because I know it wouldn't have the magic and appeal of the original games.
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...they have only done one game since Condemned 2.
 
bluemax said:
You must be new to this. The games industry has had that kind of cycle for a long time. EA and Activision have been the kings of "hire temporary workers for final months, lay them off when project finishes". It's common practice.

These things just get highlighted more because of the number of actual studio closures that are happening. Industry wide annual layoffs have been a reality for a long time, they just seem worse in light of the current economic landscape and the fact that no one is getting rehired because there aren't more projects coming along.
Click to expand...
This is the biggest reason why I avoided working in the gaming industry. The shift to episodic development needed to happen like yesterday.
 
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