Mike Capps, Epic Games President, Retires
polycounter lvl 17
Transitioning into an advisory role. Didn't see this coming.
http://epicgames.com/community/2012/12/mike-capps-retiring-to-the-epic-board/
http://epicgames.com/community/2012/12/mike-capps-retiring-to-the-epic-board/
Replies
Congrats to Mike Capps and good luck in all your future endeavors!
Yeah what the hell are you talking about?
If its the first thats awesome, I would do that in a heart beat if I could. That also means it was done because Epic is a stand up studio that understands taking care of its people is important to them not being distracted and enables them to focus and succeed. Remove the money obstacle and people focus like a laser beam on their work. Granted he was high up on the food chain but everything I've read about the guy is that he's pretty awesome and not the type to screw over the people under him. I hope they replace him with someone who is quality.
If its the second, then they are burning though a lot more cash than I thought they could and the engine licensing business is being effected by the slow down in the industry more than I thought. Entertainment is slow to rebound after big economic down turns but when it bounces back you know things are going good. If they are in trouble I hope they can hang on until things really turn around.
I can imagine a few scenarios that put them in a difficult position but I can imagine even more that put them in a stable position. Still, there has been a lot of turn over at the top and its a little troubling.
Its certainly understandable if his decision to "retire" is because of a wish to spend mroe time with his family - but how many times has it turned out that there was in fact a much more profound reason behind a studio (head) departure.
http://www.srichinmoybio.co.uk/blog/inner-peace/10-powerful-ways-to-deal-with-anger/
There's more than financial reasons to quit. Boredom, family, I'd argue if you're in a design position it's good to do something else occasionally. I know some people who have quit jobs because they see what others can do and after years and years of work feel consistently inadequate.
Expansion is a gamble and a big part of why publishers took it in the shorts a few years ago (that and they borrowed too much based on their stock price which tanked), they went on a studio buying spree. They bought empty shells while the talent moved on to start up a new studio that the publishers would then buy a year or two later. Wash rinse repeat until you can retire comfortably.
Seeing Epic behaving similarly to the publishers, is a little worrying. Hopefully they are making wise purchases and retaining talent whenever possible. It seems like that is the case from the outside but then seeing some of the top brass leave makes me wonder...
Time will tell, they seem to have a magical money printing machine so even if things are as rough as they could get they'll probably pull through fine. But you do have to wonder if people are leaving before bad news comes to light and the fingers come out and start pointing.
You want to try new adventures, take risks, enjoy your family.
If I won the lottery tomorrow I wouldn't want to work a ton. I would want to spend that time with my family, watch my kids grow up, do special things with them, do some personal projects and just have fun again and not worry about the "job".
Also my secret is "I'm always angry"
you must have spooked him with your irrational and uncalled for rage, Jesse.
I love you guys.
Oh yeah that's what I'm saying, just in reply to those saying about finance. But Mark makes a good point.
whoa whoa whoa... calm down there buddy! It's all gonna be alright.
Proper respect to Mike Capps, and congratulations on the family :thumbup:
And I'm as always, pretty sure this is just another sign of the end of days.
It’s hard to believe I’m writing these words, but here goes! After 10 crazy and wonderful years, I’m handing off my current presidential duties at Epic, and transitioning into an advisory role as well as remaining on the Epic board of directors.
If you haven’t heard, I have a baby boy on the way. I’m fortunate that with Epic’s success and generosity, I can be a stay at home dad for a while. My wife Julianne and I are very happy in Raleigh, and other than cleaning up baby barf, I don’t have much planned. I might do some teaching, spend more time on creative writing, and maybe get more active with a few charities.
After dedicating a decade of my life to Epic, and with so many close friends here, it’s impossible to just walk away. I absolutely love this company. If you cut me, I think I probably bleed nanoblack and Imulsion. (Wow, just think about what mixing those would do…) Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney and other board members asked me to stay on the board, and I’m thrilled to do so as I’m truly excited about our future games and Unreal Engine 4.
As I mentioned above, I’ll continue to be available as a resource to Epic, to provide context or advice where I can. Whatever I can do to help in Epic’s success, I’m in! I’ve got great confidence in our executive team – VP of Development Paul Meegan is new to our Raleigh HQ, but we’ve worked with him for years, and I can only contemplate this retirement knowing that he and VP of Operations John Farnsworth can manage development better than I ever did.
Our partners and customers can reach me anytime on my Epic email address, and I’ll still be posting the occasional foodie and gamer musings on @epicactual. As a member of the board, I’ll help keep the ship pointed directly towards Na Pali, and make sure that everything we do is Epic.
Seems legit to me... being there for your family seems about the right time to step down. Plus.. being involved in other areas where he can explore some more creative freedoms might be good for him. All in all.. congrats to his family, and best of luck with anything he sets to do.
What? Seriously? Any info / links on this?
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/06/epic-launches-seattle-studio-to-work-on-unreal-engine-4/
Where did you hear that? The MSUC content was awesome, but I can't think of any of the MSUCers who'd make particularly logical choices as a second European studio.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/42132/Epic-launches-Make-Something-Unreal-Live-2013
It's a separate contest open only to students in Europe. I would've joined if I had any long term plans of working in the industry and were insane enough to consider competing on top of university work.
I don't know if they're funding a "studio" as such, but they ARE providing tools such as UE4, and some procedural texture tool.
I know most of the members of team Polymorph, who just got through to the final 4! ^^