Another Game Studios shuts down

JO420 · May 2009

I lost my job today, Deadline games in Copenhagen lost its funding and closed down today.

Experienced environment artist looking for work.:(

o2car · May 2009

Damn. what were you guys working on?

Rens · May 2009

JO420 · May 2009

o2car wrote: »

Damn. what were you guys working on?

Sadly trying to get funding at the time,were real close to signing a deal,publisher dragged its feet.

RickFX · May 2009

these are such hard times for the industry...:/

Wahlgren · May 2009

J0. *hug* Try massive? It´s straight across the bridge.

EbolaV · May 2009

;( thats baaad.

Mongrelman · May 2009

Sorry man

Renaud Galand · May 2009

sad news

Hopefully you'll refind something very soon !

Spark · May 2009

Sorry to hear that JO, hope the best for you on finding something soon.

Spark

_Shimmer · May 2009

shit
faith and a .45 looked very promising.

good luck with your next move, if you get around to come to berlin drop me a line.

notman · May 2009

So no chance this is only temporary? (if the deal could still get completed)

Sorry to hear this man... Didn't you move over there for this job?

Mark Dygert · May 2009

Sorry to hear about the bad news. =/
I hope you (and everyone else of course) land on their feet quickly.
Good luck in the coming weeks, we're all pulling for ya!

o2car · May 2009

JO420 ; Do you have a resum

Junkie_XL · May 2009

RickFX wrote: »

these are such hard times for the industry...:/

It shouldn't be. Did software sales slow down? I thought things were way up? 2008 and the xmas season still had the best sales of any year despite the downturn.

People are tightening their belts a little too much. And I'm referring to the head honchos.

notman · May 2009

That's how I see it. CEO's of these bigger companies are acting as though they need to make preparations for a decline in sales, but there have been no signs of the gaming sales dropping.

JO420 · May 2009

o2car wrote: »

JO420 ; Do you have a resum

CrazyButcher · May 2009

the ways revenues are generated is shifting more towards "small / less risk" from the giant productions too many were doing. I guess people are more likely to pay little but frequent, than buy fancy big games.

think micro transactions, downloadable games... that imo will continue to rise and do well. The market is adapting. Doesnt mean fancy big productions die out, but I suppose there will be less, but if done even bigger.

hopefully everyone finds something quickly again.

Jeff Parrott · May 2009

Sorry to hear man. It's ashame so many companies keep going under. Seems like at least one every two weeks is going under. I'm sure you'll land on your feet. Everyone needs experienced people.

JohnnyRaptor · May 2009

fuck! what a terrible week! sorry to hear dude!

Joshua Stubbles · May 2009

Notorious P.I.G wrote: »

J0. *hug* Try massive? It´s straight across the bridge.

I'd suggest Massive as well. They're right across in Malmö and their last game was a big success (World in Conflict).

Sorry to hear about the layoffs J0 - it's a ridiculous time for everyone right now. Things will get better!

Rick Stirling · May 2009

Shit, really sorry to hear that.

There are opening at a few R* studios: http://www.rockstargames.com/jobs/

Junkie_XL · May 2009

notman wrote: »

That's how I see it. CEO's of these bigger companies are acting as though they need to make preparations for a decline in sales, but there have been no signs of the gaming sales dropping.

By getting rid of the people who make the games they are fulfilling their own prophecy if they keep laying people off as a result of publishers pulling back too much. Of course sales and profits will be down then because there will be less games ready to sell.

Quokimbo · May 2009

Sorry to hear sir!

Thegodzero · May 2009

Sad news indeed! Hope you get another job soon!

Wahlgren · May 2009

Junkie_XL wrote: »

People are tightening their belts a little too much. And I'm referring to the head honchos.

But that is probably because the head honchos have their tentacles in many places and I guess some of them are doing badly and they just don´t want to take risks with games (They are kind of expensive and you don´t get instant results... and they probably aren´t that knowledgable about them anyway).

But what do i know. I´m a grunt

killingpeople · May 2009

kwakkie · May 2009

notman wrote: »

That's how I see it. CEO's of these bigger companies are acting as though they need to make preparations for a decline in sales, but there have been no signs of the gaming sales dropping.

Thats not true, average game sales in the US dropped 23% in April alone! It would be stupid to think the game industry wouldn't be affected by the econimic crisis!

Vrav · May 2009

Averaging at least one new closure ever week, feels like.

katzeimsack · May 2009

kwakkie wrote: »

Thats not true, average game sales in the US dropped 23% in April alone! It would be stupid to think the game industry wouldn't be affected by the econimic crisis!

compared to april last year. compare which games got released april last year and which this year..

CrazyButcher · May 2009

read a bit more about this years april drop, and it doesnt sound all doom. Last year's it was like a 50% plus or so (some record year) and eventually this year is also very strong (still more than 2 years ago). as katze said its pretty important to take details into account here.

Mark Dygert · May 2009

The funding for future titles doesn't always come solely from game sales. It's a lot more by hook or by cook then you might think, of course every company is different. I think some places borrowed money against the value of their stock, when that tanked they find themselves owing more then they're worth. Hard to generate new loans when the value of your company evaporates and everyone stops lending, especially to risky investments like games.

Em. · May 2009

Sorry to hear that man, I lost my job a few months ago for the same reason, publishers dragging their feet. Best of luck sir!

Schultzie · May 2009

Sorry to hear you lost your job. I lost mine in February so there seems to be a lot of that going around lately

bugo · Jun 2009

Geez, and I applied for them not long time ago... what the hell is happening over the game industry, investors are getting so afraid I believe.

Rox · Jun 2009

Seems like it. My company couldn't afford to pay me for my last month of work because their publisher breached contract. Looks like they just downright bailed on us. I didn't get laid off, but my boss pretty much just told me "Go see if you can find someplace else to work, if you still wanna squeeze in some hours for us we'd love that, but I understand if you don't want to seeing as how we won't be able to pay you right now."

I'm really not liking this. And in the back of my head are dreams about starting my own company, so I don't have to rely on someone else to give my boss money so he can give it to me. But in this situation that seems even more impossible than normally...

nkoste · Jun 2009

Sad to hear especially since you relocated. Sweden sounds like a good option and IOI is looking too. Good luck on finding something new.

renderhjs · Jun 2009

my condolences,
hope you get a job soon,- I just read it today on a news website and was searching for your watchmen thread until I found this one.

Bronco · Jun 2009

Sorry to hear that JO, hope you find anew place real soon.

John

Another Game Studios shuts down

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