3 ms·

There are a lot of downvotes to this comment and I don't think it deserves it. I think the comment adds something substantive to the discussion. If you want to

by kaitai 8y ago

There are a lot of downvotes to this comment and I don't think it deserves it. I think the comment adds something substantive to the discussion. If you want to rise far in our economic system, a willingness or eagerness to figure out how to exploit others legally is a definite advantage. All the HN discussion here is about, "Those workers should find something else to do!" All about the self, maybe a bit about unions. But no one has mentioned the people at the very top who make money. So, HNers, are all these companies closing (Telltale, Capcom Vancouver) because some courageous entrepreneur put their ethics, heart, and soul into a game company and just couldn't make it work, ending up penniless alongside their former employees? Or were they just not making "enough" money anymore? or what? What are the profits like in the game industry? Who gets them? If I follow the money, where does it go? Genuinely curious.

Jasper_ 8y ago
Story time. I worked at a decently-sized game studio, and lived through a very well-publicized shutdown. The company didn't make enough money, and on the one game that made a lot of money, the publisher got most of it, because executives signed a very bad deal. Tensions were high, disagreements with managements were huge, and crunch was a big issue. We had too many projects. There was light at the end of the tunnel when new estaff came in, cut down on some of the chaff and refocused us around some better games, but it was too late. The company was already doomed; something something deck chairs on the Titanic. As for where the money went? Salaries, publishers, investors. There's still a grudge held for the new CEO, because he laid us off without severance; if there was another round of layoffs with severance months earlier, everyone would have been understanding. We all knew our games didn't sell well anyway. A lot of those people will find it difficult to get other work. Most employees in a game studio are not engineers -- games has 10 artists to 1 programmer. And the big tech companies don't have a culture of respecting non-engineers. So, where does a character TD go who has experience with painting vertex weights in Maya for a rig? To another games studio. Outside of that though, the team and culture was amazing. I loved everyone I worked with, all of the developers were smart, capable and talented. Not just the engineers, but also the artists, sound designers, cinematics team, etc. These people are very understood outside of games, because they are as much "problem solvers" like engineers as they are creatives. I still meet with ex-alumni from the studio to play Rock Band -- in fact, we're meeting up again tonight.

by kaitai 8y ago

Jasper_ 8y ago

Story time. I worked at a decently-sized game studio, and lived through a very well-publicized shutdown. The company didn't make enough money, and on the one game that made a lot of money, the publisher got most of it, because executives signed a very bad deal. Tensions were high, disagreements with managements were huge, and crunch was a big issue. We had too many projects. There was light at the end of the tunnel when new estaff came in, cut down on some of the chaff and refocused us around some better games, but it was too late. The company was already doomed; something something deck chairs on the Titanic. As for where the money went? Salaries, publishers, investors. There's still a grudge held for the new CEO, because he laid us off without severance; if there was another round of layoffs with severance months earlier, everyone would have been understanding. We all knew our games didn't sell well anyway. A lot of those people will find it difficult to get other work. Most employees in a game studio are not engineers -- games has 10 artists to 1 programmer. And the big tech companies don't have a culture of respecting non-engineers. So, where does a character TD go who has experience with painting vertex weights in Maya for a rig? To another games studio. Outside of that though, the team and culture was amazing. I loved everyone I worked with, all of the developers were smart, capable and talented. Not just the engineers, but also the artists, sound designers, cinematics team, etc. These people are very understood outside of games, because they are as much "problem solvers" like engineers as they are creatives. I still meet with ex-alumni from the studio to play Rock Band -- in fact, we're meeting up again tonight.