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I hear about game studios going under like this a lot. Is it just that games companies suffering the same fate get more coverage in the media, or is it somethi

I hear about game studios going under like this a lot. Is it just that games companies suffering the same fate get more coverage in the media, or is it something about game studios that seem to make them more likely to crash and burn like this? I know that games are quite consumer's-whim-driven and you're never really sure if you've got a hit on your hands or not until you release. I guess it is the same for movies, yet I've never heard of any movies spectacuarly just going bust half-way through filming and just abandonning what they are doing and packing it in (although I have heard of some near-misses). Yet it seems to happen a lot for games comapanies? What gives? P.S. sucks for the people working on this. Hope you all find something new!

WorldMaker 8y ago
The comparison to movies seems apt. Games industry has the same problems that Early Hollywood had (high crash rate and a lot of employee anguish), and a lot of these stories match early days histories of Hollywood. The solution to that was strong unions. Film companies still have a high crash rate, though now it is much more intentionally controlled (Hollywood has organized development companies to very specifically be only for the scope of a single film project), and more importantly employee anguish from the intentional turnover is mitigated by strong union protections and safety nets. The interesting part is that Hollywood is dealing with a cycle of this sort of suffering currently with Special Effects houses. The CG special effects companies are often contracted for only a single set piece at a time in a movie, as companies they currently last about at most 2 years and involvement in scenes in two and a half films, and there is a lot of employee anguish because a lot of the artists involved have generally not been allowed to unionize (or heavily discouraged from unionizing), especially in the smaller contractors. Most of the Oscars presented for Best Special Effects in the last few years have involved at least one firm that was dead by the time of the Oscars award. It's not making the news as much as game studio suffering, but it's a similar problem in that both industries feel that they can afford to burn through talent cheaper than it takes to protect it, as there are always excitable young kids happy to get their shot in Hollywood or Videogames.

WorldMaker 8y ago

The comparison to movies seems apt. Games industry has the same problems that Early Hollywood had (high crash rate and a lot of employee anguish), and a lot of these stories match early days histories of Hollywood. The solution to that was strong unions. Film companies still have a high crash rate, though now it is much more intentionally controlled (Hollywood has organized development companies to very specifically be only for the scope of a single film project), and more importantly employee anguish from the intentional turnover is mitigated by strong union protections and safety nets. The interesting part is that Hollywood is dealing with a cycle of this sort of suffering currently with Special Effects houses. The CG special effects companies are often contracted for only a single set piece at a time in a movie, as companies they currently last about at most 2 years and involvement in scenes in two and a half films, and there is a lot of employee anguish because a lot of the artists involved have generally not been allowed to unionize (or heavily discouraged from unionizing), especially in the smaller contractors. Most of the Oscars presented for Best Special Effects in the last few years have involved at least one firm that was dead by the time of the Oscars award. It's not making the news as much as game studio suffering, but it's a similar problem in that both industries feel that they can afford to burn through talent cheaper than it takes to protect it, as there are always excitable young kids happy to get their shot in Hollywood or Videogames.