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Around 60 people lose their job at Warner Bros. (Seattle area)
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
ipukespiders
Member
Broussard's comment seems kinda smartass like.
crimsonheadGCN
Banned
Most likely those who were hired to help finish LotR.
jim-jam bongs
Member
ipukespiders said:
It's not in the least bit, it's meant to shame the publishers who are laying people off a couple of months before Christmas, which fucking sucks.
The season is going to be terrible, so many bomba's already and games like Rage which underperformed. Luckily some companies like EA, Sega and Square Enix/Eidos have started to hire more people but when you look at the financial results for Sony, THQ and others I wouldn't want to work for those companies. Also, Microsoft has tied the future of Rare to the succes or failure of Kinect Sports 2 if it doesn't do well enough the Twycross location will be shut down.Salmonax said:
crimsonheadGCN said:
I don't get it then. If the people get hired to pull through on a specific project, they should've been expecting this, right? I mean, it's not like it doesn't suck to be out of a job, I don't mean that in the slightest, but sometimes it sounds like it is completely unexpected that a lot of people won't be needed after a game ships. Are they not informed beforehand that they will be employed up to that day and then (probably) there will be talks of a more permanent position or something? Or are most of these people oblivious to the fact, and suddenly they come in to work on a Friday and are summoned to an office by their bosses and let go just like that because, guess what, game underperformed on its first week?
Like I said, I don't get it.
This really sucks.
While the scores aren't really what they should be for a game that's been in development this long, ultimately Warner Bros. was just stupid to release the game right now.
This is a really packed holiday season, and rushing an RPG out right before Skyrim is just suicide.
While the scores aren't really what they should be for a game that's been in development this long, ultimately Warner Bros. was just stupid to release the game right now.
This is a really packed holiday season, and rushing an RPG out right before Skyrim is just suicide.
jim-jam bongs
Member
inky said:
Some games get continued long-term support, so even temporary staff will not be given contracts which terminate when the game goes gold so that they'll be around to work on DLC and patches. A good example would be that the mass layoffs at Obsidian didn't happen until the New Vegas DLC was all production ready.
On the other hand, if the launch doesn't meet expectations, the publisher might decide not to bother with funding long-term support and can all the contractors and people who have been around the least amount of time.
Spokker
Member
They laid off people in January too.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/61902/layoffs-hit-warner-bros-interactive
http://www.shacknews.com/article/61902/layoffs-hit-warner-bros-interactive
It usually goes like this:Ravidrath said:
Team A works on fall game
Team B works on next spring/summer game
Team C works on next fall game
Team B has to help out Team A to meet their deadline.
Team B's project is left with a skeleton crew.
The fall game bombs and money is lost, management starts to look at Team B's game but because Team B only has a couple of guys left progress is slow and the project won't meet the projected deadline. Team B's game is cancelled and the staff fired. Team A and C merge to make sure the same shit won't happen with the next fall game.
The Boat said:
It doesn't, that is why I am asking. If 60 people are under contract and informed that they won't be needed after the game ships (because that is the kind of job they were hired for) it is completely different than "hey, 60 people just got laid off a month before Christmas, industry sucks" don't you think?
Like I said, that is why I am asking because both situations are completely different to me.
If people were hired just to finish up a project, why were they not on contract? Or does "letting 60 employees" go just mean their contracts weren't renewed?
If you're under contract for a project you wouldn't be expected to stay beyond that unless they need you on another project. Most people will have work lined up ahead of time in this situation.
If you're under contract for a project you wouldn't be expected to stay beyond that unless they need you on another project. Most people will have work lined up ahead of time in this situation.
~Kinggi~ said:
Its not. The company I worked for went out of business a year ago and the vast majority of the employees no longer work in the games industry. And most of the employees were let go a year before the company went under.
Out of 45 or so employees I'd say at most 10 of them still work in the games industry and off the top of my head 4 of them relocated, 3 to other countries.
demosthenes
Member
P90 said:
1) Leave politics to OT
2) Don't talk about stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about
3) If sarcastic........why?
Neuromancer
Member
Damn shame. Good luck guys, and girls.
ClivePwned
Member
~Kinggi~ said:
depends on which town they're in and what else is left in the industry
Seattle has lots of devs so there are at least options for many, not to discount Vancouver.
Some places have next to no other developers or comparable industries, that's when you start packing your shit and moving elsewhere (if you can).
Good luck to all.
element
Member
no. i have many friends who have been part of Monolith for over six years that were hit today.crimsonheadGCN said:
All were full time. Monolith/Snowblind/Surreal had very little temp staff. Those positions are also schedule to go off the books and technically not part of a 'layoff'. You don't layoff someone that is scheduled to end their employment. Layoffs or reduction in force (RIF) is when there is a budget decision to cut staff that are on your books.
I know of at least five classic Monolith staffers who were hit.
WB merged three different studios, moved them all into the same build. Shifted staff around, Monolith person works on War of the North, or on another game. Over 200 people on staff. Sadly it was just a ballon waiting to pop.
Sadly, the studios you knew as Snowblind and Monolith are dead. Now you have WB Seattle.
In times of layoffs in Seattle, most land on their feet in the area. You have Valve, 343, Turn10, Sucker Punch, Bungie, 5th Cell, ArenaNet, Good Science, Kudo's NextGen Team at MS, PopCap, Undead Labs, Zipper, Zombie, and others. We as a game community also have two meet ups a month. So there is a fair amount of inner city networking as well.
jim-jam bongs
Member
reptilescorpio
Member
George Broussard has a lot of contacts in the industry and a lot of departures are first brought up on his Twitter.
Shit.element said:
Just out of curiosity is there any major publisher who has not had big layoffs on in house development staff, after a title is released? I can't remember Sony every laying off teams from their first party, but it's possible i'm wrong. Sadly stuff like this seems like it's just par for the course, in the game development world.
Neuromancer
Member
Monolith. =(
MaddenNFL64
Member
Fuck.
This games business has to be one of the shittiest.
This games business has to be one of the shittiest.
This is why I'm not in the game industry anymore. There's no job security at all. They lay people off without even blinking an eye. We were always worried that one day we were going to be out of a job and eventually, it happened. I feel bad for those who lost their jobs so close to Christmas. Game companies are pretty heartless entities, in my opinion.