Demoskinos
Member
All this while WB makes money hand over fist from Batman:Arkham City. But I have yet to see this anywhere else.... is this even official yet?
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Around 60 people lose their job at Warner Bros. (Seattle area)
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
Demoskinos said:
Yes it is: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/11/04/layoffs-at-snowblind-monolith-studios.aspx
Demoskinos
Member
Kifimbo said:
Damn. Guess I'll never get that 3rd Condemned game. =(
Flavius said:
Right forgot about that, but if I'm not mistaken SOE is not technically first party right( I thought there were basically a subsidy like Ericsson)? Also if I'm not mistaken that was because they had finished up DC Universe which is pretty normal for MMO teams to drop staff after launch.
This is always sad news, I was not happy with the way Snowblind handled War in the north, but I hate seeing good devs lose their jobs, and devs for that matter.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Ugh. Never a good sign.
sixteen-bit
Member
That's awful. Best of luck to those out of a job.
BTW, for what it's worth, I'm not too worried about the people that were laid off.
Of course it sucks for them, but there are a ton of studios in the area up there now. Artists and programmers are in high demand everywhere, but especially in Seattle.
There were some talented people on War in the North, too, and it was pretty obvious to everyone. Within hours of the announcement I had a handful of people ask me if I know people up there that they should hire for openings they had in both Seattle and Los Angeles.
I don't know anyone there, but I'll be sending them to my producer so she can recommend some of the better ones.
Of course it sucks for them, but there are a ton of studios in the area up there now. Artists and programmers are in high demand everywhere, but especially in Seattle.
There were some talented people on War in the North, too, and it was pretty obvious to everyone. Within hours of the announcement I had a handful of people ask me if I know people up there that they should hire for openings they had in both Seattle and Los Angeles.
I don't know anyone there, but I'll be sending them to my producer so she can recommend some of the better ones.
nephilimdj
Member
Sadly with Monolith making Gotham City Impostors, its not too surprising 
nephilimdj said:Sadly with Monolith making Gotham City Impostors, its not too surprising
Thanks for the reminder. I've been meaning to check out what in the hell that game is all about. My perception of what it was based on the screenshots and video was quite different from the admittedly minimal preview coverage I've read more recently.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
I'm sad for the people who lost their jobs, but tbh I don't think I could ever forgive Monolith for killing the Blood IP with the completely godawful Blood 2. Still, hope the ones who lost their jobs manage to land new jobs ASAP.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
I feel loved!batbeg said:Did Snowblind Tina make it?
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
You're safe!SnowblindTina said:
Thank god.
Damn we can kiss post-launch pc support goodbye tho.
What a waste, Snowblind was awesome last gen especially.
jim-jam bongs
Member
My avatar has been changed in memoriam. I have guests this evening so I think I might spring a bit of Bloodbath LAN party action on them.
AlphaTwo00
Member
Wow. Sucks. Especially at this time of the year ramping up towards christmas. Hope people land on their feet soon.
Barack Lesnar
Banned
Wow, this is awful. War in the North must have really bombed. I didn't see it reach top 3 in the Top 10 Steam sellers list when it came out and usually any full price release with even a moderate amount of hype and interest reaches the top 3. This is terrible, such a great game. I hope this doesn't mean the end of post-launch support and potential patches.
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Not to be an ass, but if this is used by WB or any Pro-Corporate GAF that devs got closed due to used sales or the evil Gamestop, I'm gonna be pissed
All these new Mega-Publishers are following the Activision route of years past
Keep the bloat for a year, give them a title that will fail or not generate enough sales, release it in a jam packed release schedule, then 1 week later close up shop
Blame low sales on those dirty used/pre-owned sales, and get the developers to come running saying they tried but no one bought their game
Can't wait for next year dev close out, I think EA is up next, Activ & WB had their November one and done scenario
(If you haven't figured it out it's almost a carbon copy of 007 BloodStone + Bizzare Creations)
All these new Mega-Publishers are following the Activision route of years past
Keep the bloat for a year, give them a title that will fail or not generate enough sales, release it in a jam packed release schedule, then 1 week later close up shop
Blame low sales on those dirty used/pre-owned sales, and get the developers to come running saying they tried but no one bought their game
Can't wait for next year dev close out, I think EA is up next, Activ & WB had their November one and done scenario
(If you haven't figured it out it's almost a carbon copy of 007 BloodStone + Bizzare Creations)
Spokker
Member
To be fair, there was no gala when they hired all these people in the first place. The reality is that losing something is much worse than getting it is good.
There was a lot of press when McDonald's was hiring people recently, but the angle was that it was really awful that so many people were fighting for scarce McDonald's positions.
There was a lot of press when McDonald's was hiring people recently, but the angle was that it was really awful that so many people were fighting for scarce McDonald's positions.
element
Member
It has little to do with the sales of War in the North. It is just studio economics. Which is sad, since I know a good amount of the people who were laid off today. You have three companies, Monolith (3 game teams and tech team), Snowblind (2 teams and tech team when bought), and Surreal (1 game team). Merge all those studios together and have them work on only three games? Just too many bodies and redundancies.Heavy said:
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
element said:
I can't really blame fans for not buying it, as Blood 2 just wasn't a good game. Could it have been a better game with more development time? Maybe. But I honestly doubt it, as they took away most of the things that made the first one so good, and I don't think nine more months would've been enough to scrap the game as it was and make a new game from scratch. That said, I'd buy a Blood 3 day 1 if they made a new game that was closer to the original.
Warner Bros., how about using some of all the cash the recent Batman games made you, and make a Blood 3? You could even license the Build Engine for cheap. Please?
Flavius said:
That was always expected though.
The Agency getting cancelled.
Free Realms still being complete arse and finally getting on the PS3.
DC Universe Online only having enough content for one month so the numbers dropped off hugely.
Then security breach happened.
Still a huge shame though.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Thast really not good news
Good look to all people in seattle studios!
Good look to all people in seattle studios!
Speedymanic
Banned
Does this affect Gotham Imposters? It's likely to the be last FPS we get from the core Monolith team and it'd suck if they decided to can it.
Really sucks that they shuttered Monolith. No more Condemned and No-One Lives Forever.
Really sucks that they shuttered Monolith. No more Condemned and No-One Lives Forever.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Safe Bet said:
Looks like it's time you play some War in the North - lol.
element
Member
Let me make this clear. Monolith and Snowblind aren't shutting down. WB appears to simply be consolidating their development effort in Seattle in a single location. Sadly there is redundancy when you merge multiple teams into a single building.Really sucks that they shuttered Monolith. No more Condemned and No-One Lives Forever.
There are still lots of people at the studio who worked on Shogo, FEAR, NOLF, Condemned.
Shame to hear about the consolidation (although in the end it probably keeps more people in work) - I wonder if this was on the cards when Geithman left Snowblind?
But to Tina and co., I've always dug Snowblind's hack-and-slashes, wish the Vivendi game could have seen the light of day, and I picked up War in the North gladly. Shine on.
Hopefully WB Seattle will see the value in letting Snowblind and Monolith live on as brands, at least. And Surreal, too - in these post-Uncharted/New Tomb Raider times the world could use another Drakan.
But to Tina and co., I've always dug Snowblind's hack-and-slashes, wish the Vivendi game could have seen the light of day, and I picked up War in the North gladly. Shine on.
Hopefully WB Seattle will see the value in letting Snowblind and Monolith live on as brands, at least. And Surreal, too - in these post-Uncharted/New Tomb Raider times the world could use another Drakan.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Sucks royally.
WitN was sent to die with an 11-1-11 release date as far as I'm concerned, but it's so much worse knowing that we'll never see bug fixes, DLC, or another title. Some detailed in-game explanations of systems, more options, a nonlinear hub, better advertising, and a non-suicidal release date could have added up to a great sequel. Now we're just left with yet another fragmented former team and good folks looking for work.
WitN was sent to die with an 11-1-11 release date as far as I'm concerned, but it's so much worse knowing that we'll never see bug fixes, DLC, or another title. Some detailed in-game explanations of systems, more options, a nonlinear hub, better advertising, and a non-suicidal release date could have added up to a great sequel. Now we're just left with yet another fragmented former team and good folks looking for work.