3 ms·

While this is true, it is still making work for said wage slave proletariat... and eventually it'll likely be the same people getting that money now, assuming t

While this is true, it is still making work for said wage slave proletariat... and eventually it'll likely be the same people getting that money now, assuming they stay in the same industry. I'm not saying it's a great thing, and I agree that it's likely motivated at least in part by a reduction in cost to justify some lovely top-level bonuses, but the work isn't disappearing. It's just being sent elsewhere.

ebbv 14y ago
Let's say that everyone who got laid off today at LucasArts forms a new studio and somehow lands the contract to make the next Star Wars games. I guarantee you that their pay will be much lower from that contract, and their new independent studio will probably not get a favorable (if any) portion of the back end on sales. That means that not only will they get paid less to make the game, but even if it is successful, the result of their hard work will not result in much improvement to their situation and indeed they will then have to land a contract to make the next game. My point is this a move that favors only the executives and fucks over the folks who do the real work. And in reality rather than hypotheticals, they are all out of work today and must find new jobs, a shitty position for anyone to be in and my heart is with all of them.
- madaxe 14y ago
  I'd wager that their just-terminated employment contracts explicitly prohibit them from doing such a thing.
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    It would be interesting to see the details of this - surely if the contract is "terminated" then they're under no contractual obligations any longer. If the company who were the first party to the contract no longer exists then the contract is void surely. (Yes "or successor in title" probably covers that one).
    - jclarkcom 14y ago
      non-competes are not valid in California where LucasArts is located
- danielweber 14y ago
  I guarantee you that their pay will be much lower from that contract Is this what 'patio11 means by video game developers being willing to deal with low pay? At least for now, no developers need to deal with their pay being cut. Go work someplace else instead. Unless you think you have to work on video games.
  - makomk 14y ago
    Surely the same thing's happening in every other industry too, though?
  - kevingadd 14y ago
    Spending a good chunk of your career in game development has a tendency to make it rough to job-hunt outside of games (with the exception of programmers - game programmers seem to get no shortage of offers from SV startups and bigger firms). Some of these people are very much 'locked in'; they probably moved to the bay area to work at LucasArts and brought families with them. I mean, I interviewed at the LucasArts campus in SF maybe a year ago and the people there definitely didn't act like they were constantly at risk of losing their jobs. It was a big, established studio with a long history, and the team seemed to have a lot of people in just such a situation. 'Go work someplace else instead' is not a simple proposition for these people.

ebbv 14y ago

Let's say that everyone who got laid off today at LucasArts forms a new studio and somehow lands the contract to make the next Star Wars games. I guarantee you that their pay will be much lower from that contract, and their new independent studio will probably not get a favorable (if any) portion of the back end on sales. That means that not only will they get paid less to make the game, but even if it is successful, the result of their hard work will not result in much improvement to their situation and indeed they will then have to land a contract to make the next game. My point is this a move that favors only the executives and fucks over the folks who do the real work. And in reality rather than hypotheticals, they are all out of work today and must find new jobs, a shitty position for anyone to be in and my heart is with all of them.

madaxe 14y ago
I'd wager that their just-terminated employment contracts explicitly prohibit them from doing such a thing.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  It would be interesting to see the details of this - surely if the contract is "terminated" then they're under no contractual obligations any longer. If the company who were the first party to the contract no longer exists then the contract is void surely. (Yes "or successor in title" probably covers that one).
  - jclarkcom 14y ago
    non-competes are not valid in California where LucasArts is located
danielweber 14y ago
I guarantee you that their pay will be much lower from that contract Is this what 'patio11 means by video game developers being willing to deal with low pay? At least for now, no developers need to deal with their pay being cut. Go work someplace else instead. Unless you think you have to work on video games.
- makomk 14y ago
  Surely the same thing's happening in every other industry too, though?
- kevingadd 14y ago
  Spending a good chunk of your career in game development has a tendency to make it rough to job-hunt outside of games (with the exception of programmers - game programmers seem to get no shortage of offers from SV startups and bigger firms). Some of these people are very much 'locked in'; they probably moved to the bay area to work at LucasArts and brought families with them. I mean, I interviewed at the LucasArts campus in SF maybe a year ago and the people there definitely didn't act like they were constantly at risk of losing their jobs. It was a big, established studio with a long history, and the team seemed to have a lot of people in just such a situation. 'Go work someplace else instead' is not a simple proposition for these people.