I’ve seen first hand what both management and hr are capable of, can be real cutthroat, they put on a smile in the hall or in public but behind closed doors boy do they suck, remember to check the room before you start something people
2024 will bring more layoffs and closures than 2023
- Thread starter DriedMangoes
- Start date
Layoffs hit GTA producer's Everywhere studio
Everywhere developer Build A Rocket Boy has confirmed a round of layoffs at the company, which was founded by ex-Grand …
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Definitely a lot of over hiring due to working from home.
But a lot down to poor management (Embracer)
I can't speak to gaming specifically, but in IT, there was a big shortage and companies were really panic hiring. Everyone was thinking, "If I don't hire everyone I can, my competitors will".
Recruiters were cold calling people not even looking for a job. I had multiple meetings with higher ups at companies where I never even applied. The conversation was, "Here's the various jobs we have open, what interests you?". It was kind of comical at times. Salaries were going up and up, and already those kinds of jobs can add up.
I have to imagine some of that happened in gaming. General IT are starting to see layoffs now too, though nothing quite like the gaming industry. IT always has bigger salaries and a few cuts can always go a long way to cutting costs unfortunately.
I think you mix in the live service bubble bursting plus other CIO bad decisions, you get this. Hopefully it will be a short term thing and not a massive downturn. Console sales are still strong, it isn't like people aren't buying games. I think these companies just invested in the wrong direction, and of course they can't just pivot when they spend years making something.
I'm guessing it will take time for companies to admit that the live service bubble burst and that Destiny was/is unsustainable. Go back to making single player games with reasonable scope and sell copies. They can still make battle passes and stuff where it works.
See thing this where I work, our department just cut many contractors that have been here for years, and hearing the rumblings in the hallway is that it's only going to get worse, and yes I work in IT.
We are on the brink of a recession here in US whether people believe it or not.
The problem is that we're really going off script as far as the economy goes. The past few years have been pretty unprecedented, and the normal economic rules haven't applied. Normally, you get inflation, they raise rates and the economy shrinks. Now, they raise rates by a lot and the economy doesn't shrink and inflation barely slows. They were planning on cutting rates, but inflation ticked back up. Inflation has been more profit driven rather than wage driven.
Nobody really knows just what tomorrow will bring. It doesn't help that it is an election year in the US and that brings out a whole bunch of other stuff that may or may not be fact based. The media ignores the stock market going up for months and months, but one down day and it is front page news.
Live service are not "bursting." The biggest profit games are all live services.
The issue is the ignorant to see the market that therr are limited space for live services. .
Thing of it like this way, live services are like streaming. Unless you are hardcore TV fan, you are unlikely to have more than 1-2 streaming service. You have MORE streaming service, but the pie does not grow. SO they bleed money.
There is a ceiling how many Live service games are viable. Live service can print moeny, but there is only room for this much.
Same with any software as service. People has limited funds, you cannot expect people to sub to 30 different month subs. each for a different software
People who play & invest in Fortnite, is not going to invest & pay for warzone. People who play WOW, is not going to spend bith time & moeny in Final fantasy.
But someone who play BG3 may choose to play Steller Blade, after they complete Balders Gate. Most games should be non live service. make a reasonable length, sell at reasonable price.
The issue is the ignorant to see the market that therr are limited space for live services. .
Thing of it like this way, live services are like streaming. Unless you are hardcore TV fan, you are unlikely to have more than 1-2 streaming service. You have MORE streaming service, but the pie does not grow. SO they bleed money.
There is a ceiling how many Live service games are viable. Live service can print moeny, but there is only room for this much.
Same with any software as service. People has limited funds, you cannot expect people to sub to 30 different month subs. each for a different software
People who play & invest in Fortnite, is not going to invest & pay for warzone. People who play WOW, is not going to spend bith time & moeny in Final fantasy.
But someone who play BG3 may choose to play Steller Blade, after they complete Balders Gate. Most games should be non live service. make a reasonable length, sell at reasonable price.
Difficult News About Our Workforce
The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company. We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local...
sonyinteractive.com
An Important Update from PlayStation Studios
Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment initiated a reduction in our workforce – including within PlayStation Studios – and I wanted to talk about the impact that will have. These decisions have been extremely difficult, but they are necessary, and I think it’s important to be transparent: The...
sonyinteractive.com
Sad for everyone who lost their job that's tough, especially in an industry where it's happening all over.
London Studio hasn't released anything that I've even played as far as I'm aware. Sounds like that twisted metal game that the other studio was making wasn't even greenlit yet.
I would think if they want PC launches sooner or even at the same time they'd need more staff not less but we'll see. Percentage wise it's almost as much as MS laid off in their 3rd round of layoffs a little while back, these are the two "premium" console makers. Clearly they both need to find ways to make AAA games with high production values cheaper. Going the low visual quality Nintendo route isn't an answer either.
Sony needs PlayStation to make money, without it that company as a whole is screwed.
London Studio hasn't released anything that I've even played as far as I'm aware. Sounds like that twisted metal game that the other studio was making wasn't even greenlit yet.
I would think if they want PC launches sooner or even at the same time they'd need more staff not less but we'll see. Percentage wise it's almost as much as MS laid off in their 3rd round of layoffs a little while back, these are the two "premium" console makers. Clearly they both need to find ways to make AAA games with high production values cheaper. Going the low visual quality Nintendo route isn't an answer either.
Sony needs PlayStation to make money, without it that company as a whole is screwed.
I just hope they don't make the wrong move and push harder at live services, so many of those games flop and they still take a large investment. There isn't enough room for a ton of them to be hitting big anyway, initial success doesn't mean continued success either. Helldivers could take a dump in a month for all we know. That Palworld game has seen a huge drop and I don't even hear anyone talk about it anymore, sounds like it's still doing fine but it's nowhere near what it was just a few weeks ago. Companies thinking this is some way to make easy money are making a mistake IMO.
If Sony goes too far away from the more story drive single player games they'll regret it. Clearly, they need more diversity in their portfolio, and they don't want to rely on 3rd party MP games as much as before, but MP games aren't something they've really made a lot of noise with either.
If Sony goes too far away from the more story drive single player games they'll regret it. Clearly, they need more diversity in their portfolio, and they don't want to rely on 3rd party MP games as much as before, but MP games aren't something they've really made a lot of noise with either.
I can't fathom having to lay off this many people between Sony and Microsoft with both having record engagements and revenues. These companies and divisions, despite what fans think, are run by pretty intelligent people. Capitalism is gonna be capitalism but at some point the realization has to set in that the games industry, so long thought recession proof, is flat out broken and there is no easy fix to it.
ALL IMO:
Respectfully, I think the issue is a bit more multifaceted.
Outside of Nintendo who has been an outlier for years now, Sony and MS have made their profits selling the hardcore and casuals on big hollywood blockbuster types of games. And with those budgets come for the most part, large scopes, whether it be quality voice acting, mo-cap, cutting edge graphics, so on and so forth. IF you start cutting those budgets, it seems to reason that the scope will have have to diminish as well. High end Console makers specifically need to sell you on something to get you to purchase their $400+ product and get you in their ecosystem. Logically its easier to sell the masses an epic like Spiderman or Starfield than it would be something like Dreams or Pentiment. The problem is now, consumers expect this big budget scope out of all their $70 games because the console makers have previously shown it to be viable and acceptable. It no longer is. Hypothetically, if they reined in the scope of what these games offered to bring down the cost, you risk the consumers revolting and not buying the product in number previously seen. If that happens we're right back where we started, laying off people due to not meeting expectations.
Nintendo for all the crap people give them figured this out I believe after the Gamecube era. They in essense drastically limited the scope of their games and consoles in comparision to their rivals and pretty much established the modern low end console gaming(again, in comparison to their high end rivals) with the wii and have stuck to it ever since. Asking MS and Sony to do the same is a tall order. Which is why I'm guessing both Sony and Ms are so interested in spreading their games around ALOT more this generation and going forward. Multiplatform seems to be the way to recoup their costs for the future without limiting what games they can make for their high end consoles. Is it the right direction? Jury is still out but both need to figure it out soon before all the talent leaves the industry.
Sony needs those big games because that's what their audience expects, they need to find a way to do them cheaper or change how they are sold. That stolen insomniac info had something about games being split up into smaller chunks which is one option depending on how big the title is.
TLOU2 was too long, they could have probably cut 20% of that game and it may have even been better for it along with being cheaper to make.
My guess is, after seeing insomniac’s leak, Sony gets hurt more by licensed products, Spider-Man. Maybe that’s why Xbox initially turned away from said partnership or the fact that insomniac chose Spider-Man over everyone else came
They have a quota to meet, in sold through, to appease
With their own ip they probably don’t have to go as big with their budget, their kinda taking the Disney approach, using preexisting storys, either public domain or their own, and making the best with what they got.
Maybe with the last of season 2 we’ll see what could’ve been cut from the game as well? Or maybe they’ll lengthen it?
I think the big problem in video games is the time and money it takes to create games. Make a mistake, and it will be a big one. I imagine it is a lot harder to start making a game now and guess where people's interests will be in 2-3 years time when it actually comes out.
Destiny 2 looked to be the greatest thing at the time, now it seems like those massive live service games are shrinking.
I still think the higher ups do too much of chasing trends instead of just making good games. Games that have massive budgets come out boring, while relatively inexpensive games like Palworld or Helldivers can be a massive hit, while not even being AAA.
Companies should stop trying to predict trends 3 years out and instead look to make good games that are fun. Helldivers isn't some radical new concept. Many people kind of refer to it like a retro game in a good way.
I think the streaming/movie/TV industry has a lot of the same problems. They try and check boxes with trends instead of coming up with a good script/story, then good actors to play those roles. We end up with quantity over quality. Netflix makes a 1000 shows that are all ok.
Star Citizen developer hit with layoffs amid claims of a "highly toxic company"
UPDATE 29/02/24: Cloud Imperium Games has responded to Eurogamer confirming "some minor staffing changes" due to a retu…
www.eurogamer.net