HighMoon Studio Layoffs
polycounter lvl 13
Although I don't work there as of a couple months ago, I wanted to bring attention to the recent layoffs at Highmoon Studios (Activision). I owe alot of the stuff I've learned to some of the artists at that studio and this news breaks my heart. I was there for 3 years and I met some of the best and most talented people I think I will ever meet.
I really really hope that every single one of the people laid off today will find something good and stable.
http://kotaku.com/activision-lays-off-high-moon-studios-deadpool-team-466330803
I really really hope that every single one of the people laid off today will find something good and stable.
http://kotaku.com/activision-lays-off-high-moon-studios-deadpool-team-466330803
Replies
I hope everyone lands on their feet.
I support a free labor market, but canning most of the studio after content lock is a Dick Move(tm). That's not the kind of thing that was done spur of the moment because of a major unforseen fiscal problem. Somebody planned that months ahead of time.
If I got laid off and the game I worked hard to produce was boycotted that would be a double slap in the face.
I would like to see a website that keeps a searchable database of all the layoffs in the game industry that can show you the odds of getting laid off at certain studios.
The team had just come back from comp time after working on deadpool. Either way it is a dick move because we tried as hard as we could with the very short deck of cards we were dealt by activision. As a result of their outdated business model, thinking that rushing a game through production and then cutting it's budget and time at the end...would in anyway profit was silly. And some of the best people (with families) have to pay for it.
Why not just consolidate the team into smaller teams for the purpose of R&D development? Get some ideas thrown around, focus on smaller ideas for games (mobile/browser-based/Xbox live) and use those as a basis to test new IP's. Minimal risk considering that they would be getting a better estimate on the potential of a new IP for a much smaller overhead rather than just putting millions into a game only to see it sell a mediocre amount.
Investors and their one track minds
I lost my previous job during the post Fable: The Journey layoffs. Same shit.
I want people to buy that game. I didn't bust a nut for two years along with some 60 or so other people who also lost their jobs, only to sweep the achievement under the carpet.
Imagine Nintendo and it's Indie relationship in the past with non certified 3rd part dev's, that's how Activision is internally.
Some people get lucky, and their team transition to a 'vouched' IP stance, giving them a chance a long term contract or a permanent position, before being assimilated into another core team.
However, anything outside of those, yeah, it's very much a gamble.
I guess the good thing about it is if you have friends, they will try and get your hired back on the next project, but I'm not sure how many people will like getting bounced back and forth from a high-ride success to unemployment position from the same place mutiple times.
That's a very slipper slope, if people don't buy the game, then the publisher will have no interest to making more, but they will instead sit on the IP.
At the same time, do you really want to sweep years of work under the carpet? What about showing off your work and telling people what title you worked, to garner industry cred?
Then there is the question of having layoffs vs. a total shut down of a team is better or not, since as I said, you can very easily get rehired back if you have the right friends at the time, etc. not to mention, the reinforcement that trying doesn't matter, so as a publish, just don't make other games.
So it's really not so black and white, as much as we would like to think so, not buying a game can potentially cause more issues then solve them in the long term.
Yeah, it's shitty, but maybe peeps who work in the industry, instead of talking and generating drama in places,could focus more on how we can improve the industry not in terms of medium, but how to make our jobs a batter place to work in without fear of losing it? Last I checked, happy dev's make better and more fullfilling games.
This is why this will keep happening over and over again. What you are effectively saying is "It's ok that you work me 60+ hours a week while only paying me for 40, then get rid of the team that made your game possible. I hope that everyone has a plan B for when this industry completely crashes.
When a game that sells 1.5/2 million copies is considered to be a financial failure because it can't recoup it's development cost, what is going to happen with the next round of consoles, where development is expected to take even longer? The industry is becoming unsustainable and to risky for companies to have any bigger budgets.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-02-25-industry-turmoil-worst-since-80s-crash-says-bleszinski
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/189595/Jade_Raymonds_been_thinking_about_the_future_of_AAA_games.php
Btw I predict layoffs at Crystal Dynamics and Irrational Games in the next few weeks.
hopefully this drives activision and other pubs to focus on less licensed and more original IP.
Thanks!
I know skylanders is not too new but isn't that a new original IP? Also Bungies Destiny game is also a new one even though bungie is not owned by activision.
btw, good luck to the people who got laid off.
They'll do it anyway, successful product or not. The problem is that it makes quite a lot of business sense in terms of raw numbers to get rid of a large volume of developers, content creators in particular, once a project reaches a certain stage and they literally become redundant.
The solution is to not make them redundant and ensure there's somewhere to go. Business raw numbers man sees two crossover projects as a waste of resources too.
This! I'm always amazed when management or whoever is in charge of this can't plan for having a project where people can move on after just shipping a game.
You're just a number to them. A salary.
http://www.bungie.net/en-us/AboutUs#!page=careers
Skylanders is Spyro the Dragon with car batteries hooked up to it to make it twitch. So, no, not really. That was Insomniac's baby to begin with.
Could even start a leaderboard of studios with the most/least layoffs to give studios more accountability.
When you consider how many people relocate their entire families for a job having that kind of information at hand would be really valuable.
Seconded. This is a great idea. The question is how it would be updated and where the information would come from.
Dustin Brown has this great database of studios. Might be able to build ontop of something like this.
COMPLETELY AGREE, but just over polycount will not get the millions of players still purchasing it.
Bollocks :thumbdown:
343 Industries is looking for some peeps.
http://www.microsoft-careers.com/go/343-Industries/190537/
Guerrilla Games is hiring :
http://www.guerrilla-games.com/jobs
this. it blows my mind how people can drop employees without a concern to their personal lives. its ridiculous.
the state of things is pretty scary these days.
Preproduction teams don't need 30+ artists and level designers.
That's why it's a good idea to either avoid "one game at a time" studios or be prepared to leave immediately after the game launches.
There is also Glass door, if industry people really started using this it would work. Obviously you get a lot of just "angry people" lashing out after being fired, but some of it seems like it would be useful. Also the power of aggregated scores on companies could shine some light on one with a track record of practicing shitty management and frequent layoff rounds.
http://www.glassdoor.ca/index.htm