Ihate to break it to you, that's the computer software market in general.
I work for a company that produces Point of Sale software. We were upgrading the software one year and I watched as large swooths of people got laid off the moment their work on the upgrade project was completed. One' guy's whole job was to integrate the receipt printer's API into the new software. Once the receipt printing was fully functional and without error, he was gone.
One of the few bonuses of working for a game studio owned by a publisher is that once your job is done, you may more easily find new work at a different studio owned by the same publisher.
Well sure, it depends on the project, but the going gold ramp up of staff and contractors in particular can only ever come down once the launch period is over. Unless you have something else for them to immediately roll on to, they're just treading water.
If things were planned many massive layoffs would not be necessary as contractors could fill most of the ramp off overhead. Management just vibes what's up next quarter mostly and that is a huge problem.
Yeah, I completely understand the kneejerk reaction, but there is a difference between a furlough and firing someone, anyone on furlough is still an employee in name at least, just not doing work or getting paid for now, as the studio simply ran out of money as said (which probably explains why the marketing campaign was like how it was, they simply didn't have the money for a more comprehensive one)
If you're in management and see the money running out ahead of time, you have to make a decision. Would you choose to cut production short resulting in a pretty shit game that people don't like and won't sell well, or try to plan things out to reach the end where it can be finished up and actually have a chance to succeed?
So they cut dev time to the point that the game is extremely half baked and nobody likes it, but hey, the marketing campaign could get a bigger budget and they didn't have to fire everyone until after it flops!
I gave a "what if" kind of situation. If management cut development 6 months early to ensure they didn't run out of money on release, the game would have 6 months left of development and the game would have been half baked, which people really don't like.
Yeah! That’s why you’re happy that nobody is getting paid except for the executives right? Cause in theory no one could be getting paid so we should be happy the workers are screwed but someone is getting paid
I promise you don't have more insight into running a business. If you did, you wouldn't be out hear making yourself look like a clown. This is not industry specific.
It'd be alright to put on a resume. Star Wars is a big franchise and saying "I made Star Wars X-com" would make them notable. Alternatively, if they can find an indie publisher and do a lower-budget original IP game in a similar vein, being able to say "from the makers of Star Wars: Zero Company" would also be great for marketing.
It's a shame, I'd like to see these people succeed, but I can't justify giving money to EA now that they're owned by Trump's son in law and the Saudis. Giving those kinds of people any more money is an active increase to the danger in my life, as much as I enjoy turn-based shooters like this.
Well there's no guarantee for anything but what I look at is the money, there is no shot anyone significant to a project that generated an enormous amount of money wouldn't be recognized.
Now all that being said what they SHOULD do is make dlc/updates and I would even go as far to say greenlight a sequel but EA is a shitty publisher so hard to say.
Okay, I can stretch to understand why they furloughed people prior to launch. If the game is a success as they say, then the furlough should be over and the staff brought back on and compensated.
Spare me the fake outrage. We’re talking about people who kidnap dissenting journalists and chop them into pieces and use slave labor in the 21st century for 75% of their workforce, spreading their pelf around the world from the most harmful industry of our age to buy off the gullible. It’s insane and don’t pretend it’s not. If you’re not aware of these facts then wake the fuck up.
But you do understand that this game years in development before the idea to sell EA to Saudis came, right? Would you buy it a couple of months earlier? Are you buying all your stuff based on crimes committed in that specific country? Do you know China's sins and how much of everything around you is from China?
Your GPU is from American company, made in China, both are saint places, right? Especially America.
The only fake outrage is actually yours, it's pathetic and funny at the same time.
If you want to start moralizing anyone, start with yourself, there is a lot of work to be done.
Nah they'll hire cheaper designers and the next game will likely be nowhere near as good
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u/StarSlayerXHyper-V, ESXI, PiHole, Microsoft 365, Azure, Veeam B&R7h agoedited 1h ago
Against the grain here, but this is the normal life cycle of a video game release from a large studio. Once the game hits gold, the game is complete. The studio no longer needs all those 3D, modelers, animators, etc... so you will see an immediate layoff of contractors and staff.
The remaining staff usually are assigned to perform patches, live service maintenance, and community Management. Or they are assigned to a new pre-production project.
Usually smaller DLCs are handled by third-party studios with direct oversight from the main studio. Big main story. Yes, stay within the studio, but with smaller staff because assets can be reused.
Against the grain here, but this is the normal life cycle of a video game release from a large studio.
It has become the normal life cycle of a video game release because we let it happen. That doesn't mean we should continue to support it or just accept it as an inevitability. That's how things got this bad and they will keep getting worse if we just keep allowing it. People will continue to do shitty things that benefit them unless there are actual consequences that affect them. It's the same reason that AI is completely destroying gaming, both creatively and it's financial affordability. Just saying there is nothing we can do while ignoring all of the ways we can regulate industry, incentivize/disincentivize specific business practices, etc. is insane. This is literally the point of industry regulation.
No, it's the normal life cycle of all projects in any industry. When you hire people to work on a specific project, you no longer need them when that project is finished. The choice is then pay them to do nothing, lay them off, or furlough until you have a project that needs them again.
This has been the cycle for thirty years, this isn't a "let it" situation. As stated, you simply don't need a team of artists or designers and their support when you're not actively in full development of a game. There is no work for them to do.
Source: I've worked in video games for 20 years and seen studios go from three shifts working around the clock to nine people retained for a game day patch more times than I can count.
B. They didnt lay people off because they didnt need them anymore after Launch, they send most staff on unpaid leave 3 weeks BEFORE launch because they physically ran out of money.
I made a statement of fact backed by evidence and i stand by it. You've misinterpreted my words to attack an argument that i did not make (strawman).
It has a lot of negative reviews because it's unfinished
There are 2390 on steam alone, a huge majority of which (including 9 of the 10 most helpful rated negative reviews) state that their review is negative because the game is unfinished/broken (e.g. being buggy, crashing, having extreme performance issues).
Idk. I know people don’t like it but it’s the same for construction. When the project is done people get laid off. Idk why people expect companies to employ all these people when it’s done.
If you ran out of money before your game released, you don't know how to budget, you hired more people than you could afford, bought more shit than you could afford, and paid your management more than you could afford.
Why would you keep a production staff on after you finished the game?!? They all have this amazing game under their belts they will be fine, stop normalizing this BS.
Anyone with this galaxy brained take has not been paying attention to the games industry for the last five years. There are not a lot of jobs left to go around.
First off it is a furlough so they will have jobs when they have WORK for them to do, anyone with half a “BRAINED” can understand this it makes sense business wise! But something tells me you don’t understand the difference between laid off and furloughed, I assume because you’re 12.
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u/Dark_Randor 8h ago
My job isn't perfect, but I really didn't want to work in the video game industry