Lucas Arts Troubles
polycounter lvl 18
Not sure if any polycounter's were effected by this news, but it's sad to hear. Sounds like over 100 employees have been let go, with little or no reason.
http://kotaku.com/5013769/rumor-ex+lucasarts-staffer-talks-kotor-3-more-indy-wii-lightsaber-game
Spark
http://kotaku.com/5013769/rumor-ex+lucasarts-staffer-talks-kotor-3-more-indy-wii-lightsaber-game
Spark
Replies
Hopefully those that lost their jobs can find better ones.
http://kotaku.com/5013769/rumor-ex+lucasarts-staffer-talks-kotor-3-more-indy-wii-lightsaber-game
http://kotaku.com/5013710/rumor-lucasarts-sees-massive-layoffs-outsources-jobs-%5Bupdated%5D
(sigh)
Meanwhile they're ramping up their production staff in their Singapore studio to 300 this year, with a bent towards fresh grads.
So, though some may have had notice months in advance, there have been other sudden layoffs at LucasArts.
I don't think I could trust my livelihood with a company that has ever engaged in mass layoffs.
-R
bad managment and biz no?
No, they may have made console versions but not on the PC.
Sounds like George the five chins Lucas is a bit strapped for cash and he is moving everything out their to cut costs. Poor George......NOOT!!!
Hope everybody gets back on their feet soon. Man, I hate layoffs.
Oh... Jedi Starfighter, then.
Good luck to those effected....:poly119:
That's the dumbest post I've read on this entire board in a very long time. I don't even know where to start, but I might suggest working in the bizz for a few years before finding oneself confident enough to make entirely uninformed statements about industry practices.
Like you suggest, it could be that management blew all the development cash on houses and hookers in their rampant determination to 'screw over families', OR, in the context of being a productive, efficient development studio, Lucasarts have been struggling for some time. Neither the Indy or Star Wars projects are shipping on time, so I don't think this news comes as a particularly huge surprise.
At some point I hope it will become apparent to the industry that the 100+ team model rarely works. Throwing more people at a problem without addressing the core team weaknesses doesn't help, it hinders. EA still haven't figured this out either, and these kind of growing pains will continue for the larger studios until they do.
If anyone laid off from Lucas on the environment side can face the commute down to Silicon valley, see my post in the paid job section.
As always though, if anyone out there knows anyone that got laid off or they're reading this, we're hiring across all departments.
Just send me a pm and I'll see what I can do.
With the economy being what it is (in the US) and venture capitol being scarce I doubt this is the last we'll see of layoffs. Sometimes its not miss management or greed, sometimes its about streams of cash running dry.
But I think in this case Daz is right that throwing more wood on the fire only makes for a bon fire that burns hot and leaves only a few glowing coals behind. But I can only guess because I've only worked at a small studio, in a niche market, that seems to be immune to most of the industries diseases. I honestly can't say that 100+ teams don't work because I haven't been there, but I can imagine that it starts to be come a bloated logistical nightmare that at some point works against the process.
Its not hard to imagine that with training new hires, and trying to unify differing artistic styles, speeds, and different disciplines, that at some point more time is spent on supporting the pipeline then whats going through it.
For Example:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23472166/
Not that this article defines the authority on the topic but the topic and subject matter is common in many other economic articles on-line.