Rare lays off all artists
polycounter
http://www.next-gen.biz/news/rare-makes-staff-cutbacks
Rare has cut their last permanent members of art staff. All artists working there are temps.
I hope all you guys land on your feet. This sucks.
Rare has cut their last permanent members of art staff. All artists working there are temps.
I hope all you guys land on your feet. This sucks.
Replies
I noticed they were advertising their 2011 internships literally a couple of weeks ago.
Best of luck to those affected.
Also, it wouldn't shock me if Rare finally goes under. It wouldn't be the first time their head as dipped below the waves, but this probably will be the last time...
I agree, this might go like bizarre creations, they havent made anything substantial in a while.
I thought they were the last safe house in the UK, where because they had Microsofts coin they were safe from this sort of thing. They were my number one choice to apply to because of this (and their high quality games). I really can't believe this, I'm stunned.
Win7 really hasn't been able to wash out the bad taste of vista and the disappointment over the abandonment of XP. The Kinect still has to prove itself as a worthy replacement for what would normally be the next console generation... Which it looks like they've tied Rare's fate to the kinect, if that's true its... scary.
Personally I think they pay a few people way too much money and they're out of touch, getting old and not really sure what to do. It has to say something when Robbie Bach, who led the hardware division, stepped down after 22 years and J Allard, who had managed the technical development of the Xbox and the Zune, stepped down roughly about the same time.
Personally I'd rather they adopt the contractor mindset, these layoffs after a project are finished are the worst because there is a giant air of secrecy over who/when/if. At least with a contract you know when your end date is and you can line up the next gig in advance instead of being kicked out on your ass.
problem is, there is no hub in the UK where the majority of studios are located. that's quite a difference to the london VFX shops which are mostly based around the same few streets in soho, central london.
being an on-site contractor in games would mean moving around all over the country. many studios are not even located in bigger cities but smaller towns or - like rare - somewhere in the middle of nowhere. a lot of them are far from london, actually.
not an attractive proposition for the single twentysomething junior artist, eh?
Aye, was afraid that Rare would become MS's 'Kinect' studio. Maybe it's time they called up their old 'sugar daddies' :P
thats how vancouver seems to be these days and it sucks balls. so many artist looking for work, the contracts all have no sick days, no paid overtime or benefits. not to mention no severance when your contract is up. there is nothing in the employees favor and studios seem to realize and exploit this nowdays.
[ame]
Does not compute?!
Best of luck to those affected....
the rare thing sounds a bit weird though. I thought pretty much everywhere was working through short term contractors and then renewing everyone when necessary? Its the only smart way to do it these days so the company never has to pay out big redundancy packages. I think since free radical was established I lost alot of interest in rare, it almost felt like they stole all the good people lol.
It's probably because they are on M$ coin that it in part happened. M$ LOVES temp contract workers for anything except its core business heads/staff.
Conkers Bad Fur Day is still in the top3 of my greatest games ever made list
Wish them luck though.
* Fingers crossed for them going to Crytek UK for some ex-Rare reunion
If any of the laid off folks are Senior Character or Environment artists and read this thread.....PM me!
Regardless, it's very sad to see this happen...
~ Bit harsh on the newly unemployed, no?
what that i think the whole situation sucks? whoah just read what it means in english - sorry meh to me was always a sign of dislike, disgust or maybe rejection - not a sound i would make if i don't care, maybe hm would fit better for me in that case - not gonna use it again in an english forum i guess :X
reading further into this i guess it has different meanings
Really i always thought it was a sign of disapproval and not apathy or "i don't care", so to make it clear it's a totally messed up situation. especially with microsoft as their owner and the sales of kinect in mind - i somewhat doubt it was done to rescue the company, yet again i gues sits so safe a few bucks.
Hope those let go find something better, maybe found their own thing if possible.
Indie really seems to be taking over, if anything can come from all these layoffs it's new companies and a higher quality of innovation in games, or a crash, I hope it's not a crash
Hope they all land on their feet though..