Eden Games strikes against Atari

Mark Dygert

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-05-11-redundancies-spark-strike-at-eden-games#justposted

Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games is facing redundancies, with 51 of the 80-strong studio facing the axe. The move by owner Atari has upset the French studio, which is today striking in protest of what it sees as continuous restructuring plans by a parent company that does not communicate with its employees.
"Eden Games pays now for Atari mismanagement," said the studio. "For several years we are witnessing multiple leader changes at its head, they did not hesitate to get rich despite financial difficulties.
"Restructuring plans have been following each others for 10 years at Atari. Each time the recovery project was beautiful and promising, and ended in a failure. We are sceptical about the proposed project."
"Atari does not play the game of negotiations with employee representatives on the redundancy plan measures. Employee representatives of Eden until now have been extremely collaborative, respecting the very tight deadlines of the redundancy plan."
In a show of solidarity, the company is striking and setting out a four point agenda to:

• Communicate and interact with the CEO, Jim Wilson, who has never introduced himself to his employees.
• Have a constructive negotiation on the terms of the redundancy plan, and not one-sided as is the case now.
• Be sure that an employee of Eden Games is compensated the same way as an employee of Atari.
• Have real visibility on the future of the studio after the restructuring, especially in giving us the financial records requested by our accountant.

Well well well... look what we have here, employees banding together. Something tells me this won't end well... I'm just glad some people are not just rolling over in the fetal position.

After being at the hands of Atari myself and seeing how it dealt with its employees and studios in the past, it's disheartening to see that nothing has changed... I had high hopes for the company after they replaced Bruno Bonnell, he was like Uwe Boll but without the knack for turning a profit on turds.

PatrickL

I think in a seemingly lose::lose situation like this, it's better to lose standing up.

Mark Dygert

Agreed and it just underscores why studio independence is so important.

Skamberin

Isn't a strike like this pretty much unheard of in the industry? I can't remember having read about anything like it ever. Hopefully it won't have everyone involved lose and instead spark a change of how the industry treats it's employees /extreme optimism

Funky Bunnies

lol atari

Calabi

Skamberin wrote: »

Isn't a strike like this pretty much unheard of in the industry? I can't remember having read about anything like it ever. Hopefully it won't have everyone involved loose and instead spark a change of how the industry treats it's employees /extreme optimism

Its not unheard of in France, so I hear. But still it is good to hear some guys standing together, whatever the outcome may be.

almighty_gir

good luck, and can i say? FUCKING FINALLY!

Farfarer

Good for 'em... but this will not end well

breakneck

hey, right on for standing up for yourself.
best of luck to those affected.

Jeremy-S

This is interesting. People keep saying it won't end well, but I'm hoping it will. I'm normally not an optimist, but I really do hope it gets some attention, and makes some waves. The fact that so many studios now dump people out, after a titles release, is pretty fucking disgusting, honestly. Something needs to break

beancube

yeh good on em! break some legs.

skylebones

I don't think they will get what they want, but I totally admire them for doing it.

Ghostscape

Good luck to them, I admire them for sticking their dick in the wringer, hope it's big enough to avoid being mangled

almighty_gir

while the industry is certainly saturated enough (and then some) that atari could likely replace any number of people in a heartbeat. one would hope that they aren't foolish enough to think that this thing won't affect their other current, or future studio relationships.

i would also hope that this could be seen as a form of wake up call to other studios, that you don't have to bend over and take it from your publisher.

Steve Schulze

If more folks do wind up getting fired over this, it could kick up a bit of controversy if the media latches on to it, a la the EA Spouse debacle. With enough voices willing to weigh in, perhaps some good may come of it.

Best of luck to them, regardless of the outcome.