4 ms·

> Does it seem like companies just aren’t that well run anymore? If you mean the games industry, it was always poorly run. I worked in games in the 90s and 00s

by louthy 1mo ago

> Does it seem like companies just aren’t that well run anymore? If you mean the games industry, it was always poorly run. I worked in games in the 90s and 00s it was a cottage industry of nerds, many of whom had success with an 8bit game in the 80s (where they did everything: a one person team), to then have to run large teams of devs/artists/designers/etc without any leadership experience and more complex hardware. Happy days :D

lobf 1mo ago
This is one of my favorite eras / subjects in tech history. I was just recently reading about the history of the Ultima series and you’re describing Richard Garriott. As games were pressured to be bigger and prettier and use 3D graphics, suddenly the lack of managerial experience (partly) caused the later games to spin out of control and they were forced to release a series of bad titles that brought the whole franchise down. It’s busy really interesting how fast that industry changed, and the massive scale involved compared to just 10-15 years prior, depending on where you measure from.
- ethbr1 1mo ago
  > As games were pressured to be bigger and prettier and use 3D graphics, suddenly the lack of managerial experience (partly) caused the later games to spin out of control This generalizes to the industry, not just Origin. Corporate game dev uniquely seems to attract incompetent middle and upper management with extreme egos. I guess because the people who scramble to the top of the pile in an industry with an endless incoming supply of naive new workers tend to be those who spend most of their time networking and sharpening their knives.
- jijijijij 1mo ago
  Have you seen Halt and Catch Fire? It's really, really good television and may be your kinda thing thematically. Excellent soundtrack too.
- louthy 1mo ago
  If you find this stuff interesting, you can read about the failure of the first game I worked on here [1]. I replied in the comments [2] It says 1997, but dev started in ‘95, I joined in ‘96. I was pretty gutted at the time, I was just 21 years old and had the big dreams of working in games. It soon becomes clear that very few titles succeed. Luckily I had a few wins on the way, but the lack of professionalism really did get tiring. [1] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/ https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme... [2] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/#comment-377406 https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme...
  - lobf 1mo ago
    Very interesting, thanks for the read. Your comment touches on what I’m talking about- specifically the massive new challenges introduced by rapidly increasing graphical abilities of computers and the demand from consumers to see that in all new titles.

by louthy 1mo ago

lobf 1mo ago

This is one of my favorite eras / subjects in tech history. I was just recently reading about the history of the Ultima series and you’re describing Richard Garriott. As games were pressured to be bigger and prettier and use 3D graphics, suddenly the lack of managerial experience (partly) caused the later games to spin out of control and they were forced to release a series of bad titles that brought the whole franchise down. It’s busy really interesting how fast that industry changed, and the massive scale involved compared to just 10-15 years prior, depending on where you measure from.

ethbr1 1mo ago
> As games were pressured to be bigger and prettier and use 3D graphics, suddenly the lack of managerial experience (partly) caused the later games to spin out of control This generalizes to the industry, not just Origin. Corporate game dev uniquely seems to attract incompetent middle and upper management with extreme egos. I guess because the people who scramble to the top of the pile in an industry with an endless incoming supply of naive new workers tend to be those who spend most of their time networking and sharpening their knives.
jijijijij 1mo ago
Have you seen Halt and Catch Fire? It's really, really good television and may be your kinda thing thematically. Excellent soundtrack too.
louthy 1mo ago
If you find this stuff interesting, you can read about the failure of the first game I worked on here [1]. I replied in the comments [2] It says 1997, but dev started in ‘95, I joined in ‘96. I was pretty gutted at the time, I was just 21 years old and had the big dreams of working in games. It soon becomes clear that very few titles succeed. Luckily I had a few wins on the way, but the lack of professionalism really did get tiring. [1] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/ https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme... [2] https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainment-cancelled/#comment-377406 https://www.unseen64.net/2020/11/16/lunatik-pure-entertainme...
- lobf 1mo ago
  Very interesting, thanks for the read. Your comment touches on what I’m talking about- specifically the massive new challenges introduced by rapidly increasing graphical abilities of computers and the demand from consumers to see that in all new titles.