6 ms·

You've had critial success. You've made so much money you could retire, buy an island, and still have enough left over to turn it into a supervillain lair! I ge

by beloch 13y ago

You've had critial success. You've made so much money you could retire, buy an island, and still have enough left over to turn it into a supervillain lair! I get it. You're only in it now for the love of creating, so why not leave the headaches of A titles behind? This is perfectly sensible. Handing off irrational to a protégé, taking your buddies and spinning off a smaller studio would be a great way to do this. Firing half the company that brought you success, however, is a bit of a dick move.

bertil 13y ago
He writes: > There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition. I've been through that recently (individually, though: specific skill-set, not right for the stage of development of the game) and recommendations go a very long way. Gaming, especially AAA, is actually a lot like the film industry on the HR point of view, except they don't really admit it: one-to-two-year-long projects, with a release date; little need for the same workers after that; many very specific, creative, expertise; a lot of rule of thumb, best practice to master through apprenticeship; recommendation being the tell-all; producers with far too often a horrible reputation; etc. Having a structure that handles that (union, special temporary worker status) would help facing the reality, which is frequently changing employers. Studios, movies and games alike, like to work with the same people for the next projects if things went well -- but half the time, no re-employment in the film industry is not a bad review, just a different creative direction. I'm not saying Hollywood Unions are the best example (or that French’ high direct subsidies and Status d'intermittent are cheap) but thinking about the differences between the two industry would help.
jamesaguilar 13y ago
Hard to say without knowing the current ownership structure of the studio. It may not have been his call to make. Or maybe they couldn't find a buyer who could offer terms they found acceptable.
jimwalsh 13y ago
Not really. Their last game (Infinite) was a flop (AAA game that only sold 4m units). Take Two control the money, and with those kinds of results (huge team of 300 something, that took six plus years to create Infinite) you can imagine they weren't lining up to do another title. So Ken did what he could so that some of the studio would stay alive.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Wasn't it widely considered one of the best games of the year? How did it flop?
  - chops 13y ago
    Just like he said: Though it was an amazing game (I bought it opening day), it only sold 4m units. Unfortunate that that's considered a flop. By comparison, Modern Warfare 3 sold 10m copies on day one.
    - kayoone 13y ago
      And thats sad... More mindless military shooters year after year after year
  - deevus 13y ago
    It was such an amazing game. Is this just like Looking Glass and Terra Nova?
    - AimHere 13y ago
      Well LGS made about three games after Terra Nova, so maybe not. Their last full game was Thief 2 which I think made money but not enough to warrant them being kept alive in the wake of the Daikatana fiasco.
      - gendoikari 13y ago
        http://www.ttlg.com/articles/lgsclosing.asp http://www.ttlg.com/articles/lgsclosing.asp
sspiff 13y ago
Exactly. I was expecting to read about the rising costs of developing quality AAA games and how even well received games failed to recoup their cost. Instead, I read a story of a guy who wants to do something else, and decided that the best way to do that is to fire most of his employees. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this is even legal. Handing over the group seems like a much more sensible plan.
- mikegreiling 13y ago
  you're surprised that it is legal to do what you want with a company you own? how would you suggest the government get involved exactly? there's nothing stopping these fired employees from banding together and forming their own company.

by beloch 13y ago

bertil 13y ago

He writes: > There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition. I've been through that recently (individually, though: specific skill-set, not right for the stage of development of the game) and recommendations go a very long way. Gaming, especially AAA, is actually a lot like the film industry on the HR point of view, except they don't really admit it: one-to-two-year-long projects, with a release date; little need for the same workers after that; many very specific, creative, expertise; a lot of rule of thumb, best practice to master through apprenticeship; recommendation being the tell-all; producers with far too often a horrible reputation; etc. Having a structure that handles that (union, special temporary worker status) would help facing the reality, which is frequently changing employers. Studios, movies and games alike, like to work with the same people for the next projects if things went well -- but half the time, no re-employment in the film industry is not a bad review, just a different creative direction. I'm not saying Hollywood Unions are the best example (or that French’ high direct subsidies and Status d'intermittent are cheap) but thinking about the differences between the two industry would help.

jamesaguilar 13y ago

Hard to say without knowing the current ownership structure of the studio. It may not have been his call to make. Or maybe they couldn't find a buyer who could offer terms they found acceptable.

jimwalsh 13y ago

Not really. Their last game (Infinite) was a flop (AAA game that only sold 4m units). Take Two control the money, and with those kinds of results (huge team of 300 something, that took six plus years to create Infinite) you can imagine they weren't lining up to do another title. So Ken did what he could so that some of the studio would stay alive.

sliverstorm 13y ago
Wasn't it widely considered one of the best games of the year? How did it flop?
- chops 13y ago
  Just like he said: Though it was an amazing game (I bought it opening day), it only sold 4m units. Unfortunate that that's considered a flop. By comparison, Modern Warfare 3 sold 10m copies on day one.
  - kayoone 13y ago
    And thats sad... More mindless military shooters year after year after year
- deevus 13y ago
  It was such an amazing game. Is this just like Looking Glass and Terra Nova?
  - AimHere 13y ago
    Well LGS made about three games after Terra Nova, so maybe not. Their last full game was Thief 2 which I think made money but not enough to warrant them being kept alive in the wake of the Daikatana fiasco.
    - gendoikari 13y ago
      http://www.ttlg.com/articles/lgsclosing.asp http://www.ttlg.com/articles/lgsclosing.asp

sspiff 13y ago

Exactly. I was expecting to read about the rising costs of developing quality AAA games and how even well received games failed to recoup their cost. Instead, I read a story of a guy who wants to do something else, and decided that the best way to do that is to fire most of his employees. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this is even legal. Handing over the group seems like a much more sensible plan.

mikegreiling 13y ago
you're surprised that it is legal to do what you want with a company you own? how would you suggest the government get involved exactly? there's nothing stopping these fired employees from banding together and forming their own company.