Did... did Second Son do that bad?
...
The layoffs were likely planned well in advance, independent of the game's sales.
Did... did Second Son do that bad?
...
40% is a huge number, I wonder why that would happen, as far as I know SuckerPunch has been doing fairly good, if Sony was to restructure it or something, it won't go as far as 40% of the studio.You all suck for instantly thinking that!
Educated guess from my Facebook and Twitter:
Around 30% to 40% of the staff were laid off.
Majority of these are full time exempt employees (salary positions).
Some have been at Sucker Punch over 10 years.
All areas effected including design, programming, art, marketing, production, and test.
My heart goes out to all those effected.
This is a board about videogames thoughI'm sad for people that need jobs, but please don't turn this into another what's going on with Sony thread...
we know what's going on, they are SLIMMING down.
Again, I'm not being cruel, but with ND, there was like a microscope on the studio's ins and outs, every time someone left there's 2-3 new threads a day of everyone fishing tweets and quotes.
It not only seems to be an invasion of privacy but just trivial for the type of industry this is. I'm sure these developers who have talent will find work. And get well compensated for it. These devs make over 100k sometimes and find new work in as little as a month. Again, not being a douche here, just find it a bit ignorant when I see how saddened people are at layoff news, there are very very worse things happening globally right now.
I do hope everyone lands on there feet though.
Why not cut some studios that do nothing interesting for years instead?
seemed borderline obsessive IMO...This is a board about videogames though
Because Sucker Punch just entered that stage?
They already reduced several studios.Why not cut some studios that do nothing interesting for years instead?
Seriously Sony, SERIOUSLY!?
Keep the talented team members at the studio, Jesus. I get the need for reductions in some studios to reduce costs, but not at your primary studios.
Seriously worrying, they should never touch Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, San Diego Studio and they should never have touched Studio Liverpool
Why would they lay off devs who helped get Sucher Punch where they're at?
Seniority is never a great thing to depend on. You should hire base on skill not how long you stayed at the company.Why would they lay off devs who helped get Sucher Punch where they're at?
Already mentioned in this thread.It has to have exceeded a million sales worldwide, surely. Considering where it was in the charts and for how long, it has to have surpassed it. And that would include digital sales.
It's sold close to 700K in the US alone, not counting digital sales...which is the series best by far.
I don't think this really has anything to do with performance, as the game has done better than any title in Sucker Punch's history, more than likely.
Could just be some staff redundancies being removed after wrapping up projects and moving on to the next.
They already reduced several studios.
SCE Japan Studio already had a "reboot" with a new studio boss for that very reason over 2 years ago.True, but it sucks to see competent studios like SuckerPunch lose employees when they seem to always be doing their work right. Don't think Second Son hit any major delays and it seems like the DLC is on target too.
Then you look at something like Evolution Studios that cost Sony an extra year of development costs on a game like Driveclub that is still unproven. Also The Last Guardian, no one wants that game to get cancelled, myself included. But if it meant a saving a studio like Sucker Punch from losing 40% of their staff then enough with it already. I would rather give credit to a studio that can actually make deadlines and produce great content in that time frame.
"Layoffs" sounds to me like it wasn't really planned. Or at least that the staff didn't see it coming.The layoffs were likely planned well in advance, independent of the game's sales.
Eh, it sucks. But trimming fat is important to the health of a company. We'd like to think that all devs give 100% of their efforts to the job, but the reality is that there will always be those who under perform or slack off. Not saying this is what's going on with Suckerpunch, but that's the nature of running a successful business.
"Layoffs" sounds to me like it wasn't really planned. Or at least that the staff didn't see it coming.
You all suck for instantly thinking that!
Educated guess from my Facebook and Twitter:
Around 30% to 40% of the staff were laid off.
Majority of these are full time exempt employees (salary positions).
Some have been at Sucker Punch over 10 years.
All areas effected including design, programming, art, marketing, production, and test.
My heart goes out to all those effected.
Well, you do have to consider the ever increasing production cost ramp. If (as a simple example) Infamous 2 sold 500k units and cost 15M to make, while Infamous:SS sold 700k units and cost 25M to make, that higher sales total may not be high enough to justify the increase in production costs. They wouldn't be the first studio to suffer from this phenomenon, where sales are fine by historical standards, but insufficient because of the relentless cost ramp.
That's a possibility, but I think it's more likely we're just looking at redundancies. Ultimately I agree with you, I just wanted to point out that there is a pretty common way (At least in the AAA industry) for a company to have their best selling game ever also make far less money than their previous titles.
Is it true or common sense? infamous SS cost 25m to made? Damn it is extremely expensive with only 80 people in the studio. That about 300,000 per person for 3 years project.
Only an example, companies rarely reveal development costs. And it certainly sold more than 750k, so no worries there.
This doesn't make any sense...
yeah but NOT a very good example to assume it cost.
So bad assume I ever seen. What's the truthfully community!
1. 30%-40% = ~50%? Stop that.Wow, that doesn't bode well at all for the studio. To lose a massive chunk, nearly HALF their workforce, is going to cripple plans for any projects on the scale of Infamous Second Son.
The fact they cut so deep at entrenched salary staff won't be putting the rest of the veterans at ease either, would expect more than a few to jump ship expecting to get cut in later rounds of layoffs in years to come.
Could very well see Suckerpunch taking on much smaller scope games, maybe DD only.
What?Sony should just acquire them and get this done.
They already had another development studio work on Sly 4 while Sucker Punch worked on Second Son. I don't know why they needed Sly 4 out when they did but, yeah.Maybe they are just going to outsource large parts of their game development for now on?
Depends on how you are managed I guess. Ninja Theory and Quantic Dream have 110/140 employees respectively and their games sell around the same ballpark as Infamous or less in NT case.I dont know if 2-3MM WW will sustain a Triple A developer in this age.
Depends on how you are managed I guess. Ninja Theory and Quantic Dream have 110/140 employees respectively and their games sell around the same ballpark as Infamous or less in NT case.
Because Sucker Punch just entered that stage?
Nate Fox will unquestionably dissappear from public eye for more then a year after this, because FL is shipping and their next game is 2016 earliest, and 2017 if new IP.
I feel like these layoffs are the consequence of them being a one game at a time studio, and there probably just isn't enough work to go around for a full studio in the first year or so of preproduction.
And get well compensated for it. These devs make over 100k sometimes and find new work in as little as a month.
Wow they are not even yet? How much did it cost them to make?
Sucker Punch had almost nothing to do with Sly 4. That wasn't outsourced, it was just flat out done by another studio.They already had another development studio work on Sly 4 while Sucker Punch worked on Second Son. I don't know why they needed Sly 4 out when they did but, yeah.
It not only seems to be an invasion of privacy but just trivial for the type of industry this is. I'm sure these developers who have talent will find work. And get well compensated for it. These devs make over 100k sometimes and find new work in as little as a month. Again, not being a douche here, just find it a bit ignorant when I see how saddened people are at layoff news, there are very very worse things happening globally right now.
I do hope everyone lands on there feet though.
...which doesn't mean that the layoffs wouldn't have happened if the game had done better.The layoffs were likely planned well in advance, independent of the game's sales.