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Gabe: 'We aren't canceling any projects'

M

MRORANGE

Member
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/13/valve-gabe-newell-layoffs-statement/

Valve head Gabe Newell says the company isn't stopping any planned hardware initiatives, despite reports of layoffs at the company and the news that hardware lead Jeri Ellsworth was fired. In a statement issued to Engadget, Newell said:

"We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here."

When pushed, company reps wouldn't confirm or deny layoffs at Valve, nor would they comment on the confirmed exit of Ellsworth. Valve's big push this year is hardware, as evidenced by the company's presence at CES 2013 with a variety of living room PC prototypes, dubbed by many as the "Steambox." The company's also working on virtual reality and wearable computing technology -- we'll hear more about Valve's VR plans in mid-March at the Game Developer's Conference -- beyond its enormously popular game distribution platform, Steam.
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Huevos de Oro

Huevos de Oro

Member
Garry pls. We all know Valve is going under and will be bought by Activision-Blizzard. Good attempt at damage control, though.
 
M

MrNyarlathotep

Banned
No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing
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Something secret and internally contentious either just got shit canned or greenlit.

I genuinely wonder what to have 25 odd people jump ship.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
JordanLMiller said:
...so what was with all those layoffs?
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The layoffs were all in the hardware department... so either Gary has given up on developing the next innovation in game controllers/steambox OR they've mostly gotten the work done and can lay off a bunch of people... not unlike when a game developer finishes a big project then lays off a bunch of people before rehiring for their next project.
 
P

Polari

Member
Assuming Linux and Steambox are still priorities, I'm guessing the people who got fired weren't seen as a good fit or meeting expectations and they decided to get rid of them all at once in order to curb the effect on morale. That's not to suggest it must be a particularly happy place to work at the moment, but you probably at least feel more secure than you would if they had been letting people go at a rate of 2-3 a week for a couple of months.
 
D

DaBoss

Member
They fired lots of people who were part of the development teams of great games. Why did they do that? It seems so odd.

Paches-EJ- said:
How can you cancel what does not exist?

Seriously though, this comes at no real surprise.
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He's talking about a game with the number 3. He can never speak of the number.
 
Filth

Filth

Member
MrNyarlathotep said:
Something secret and internally contentious either just got shit canned or greenlit.

I genuinely wonder what to have 25 odd people jump ship.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't think jumping ship is the correct term. If they were laid off its more like thrown overboard. Jumping ship is when you choose to leave. :p
 
S

StalkerUKCG

Banned
JordanLMiller said:
...so what was with all those layoffs?
Click to expand...

I see a few scenarios.

Something nefarious happening involving those members let go. (Unlikely why would you fuck you a good thing?)

Reshuffle of company assets exposed weak links.

Reshuffle of the company exposed employees who simply did not have a place in what valve plans to do in the future.
 
D

DaBuddaDa

Member
StalkerUKCG said:
I see a few scenarios.

Something nefarious happening involving those members let go. (Unlikely why would you fuck you a good thing?)

Reshuffle of company assets exposed weak links.

Reshuffle of the company exposed employees who simply did not have a place in what valve plans to do in the future.
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Or all three of those things combined, as well as company performance reviews.
 
Y

yellow submarine

Member
DaBuddaDa said:
Or all three of those things combined, as well as company performance reviews.
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Generally you don't shit-can people at the same time though -- unless you want to "send a message". There's always plenty of individual considerations that companies have to look out for when laying someone off "for cause" -- to avoid lawsuits and the like.

So, based on the limited news/hysteria we have access to as the public, it's probably likely that an entire division got cut as opposed to just a bunch of people sucking it down on their annual performance review.

At least they didn't do the layoffs before Christmas, eh?
 
G

GillianSeed79

Member
yellow submarine said:
Generally you don't shit-can people at the same time though -- unless you want to "send a message". There's always plenty of individual considerations that companies have to look out for when laying someone off "for cause" -- to avoid lawsuits and the like.

So, based on the limited news/hysteria we have access to as the public, it's probably likely that an entire division got cut as opposed to just a bunch of people sucking it down on their annual performance review.

At least they didn't do the layoffs before Christmas, eh?
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Exactly, you don't just fire people without good cause. I've worked at a company before when an entire department got the axe. Granted, it wasn't very many people, but the reason they were let go was purely a financial one in that the company had to cut back employees. The thing that doesn't make sense with Valve is that they are rolling in money, so why just let an entire group or division of people go?
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
What I don't get is why wouldn't Gabe/upper management at Valve instruct or tell some of the employee's to change their current project or what they were currently doing?

Why shitcan talent when you can just change their priorities?
 
J

Jackl

Member
Dragonzord said:
All at the same time?
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Structural weakness at Valve is they often keep people they should let go. Maybe they decided it was time?


MormaPope said:
What I don't get is why wouldn't Gabe/upper management at Valve instruct or tell some of the employee's to change their current project or what they were currently doing?

Why shitcan talent when you can just change their priorities?
Click to expand...

They don't want assign anything, if an employee truly can't find anything to do or do well, perhaps you need to move on?

But I digress, I am merely commenting on this event and know nothing of what happened. May those effected land on their feet.
 
C

Curufinwe

Member
MormaPope said:
What I don't get is why wouldn't Gabe/upper management at Valve instruct or tell some of the employee's to change their current project or what they were currently doing?

Why shitcan talent when you can just change their priorities?
Click to expand...

Maybe the talent was as talented as they thought it was when they hired them.
 
Y

yellow submarine

Member
MormaPope said:
What I don't get is why wouldn't Gabe/upper management at Valve instruct or tell some of the employee's to change their current project or what they were currently doing?

Why shitcan talent when you can just change their priorities?
Click to expand...

Great question, considering they get basically the best/industry leading people to work there. Large divisions/groups get canned when their work doesnt' align with the rest of the company. So it's not financial, it's not hardware related according to Gabe... 25-person sexual harassment panda scandal seems unlikely =/
 
D

DaBuddaDa

Member
yellow submarine said:
So, based on the limited news/hysteria we have access to as the public, it's probably likely that an entire division got cut as opposed to just a bunch of people sucking it down on their annual performance review.
Click to expand...

From the confirmed layoffs so far, there is no indication that it's one division in particular. There's a business guy, some hardware people, some animators, a QA guy...
 
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