General Gaming More than 1,000 jobs lost to studio closures over the past year

[Pikachu]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-09-27-more-than-1-000-jobs-lost-to-studio-closures-over-the-past-year

 

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A series of high-profile closure over the past 12 months have taken their toll on the industry's workforce, with more than 1,000 developers losing their jobs.

 

In the wake of mass redundancies and the near-closure of Telltale Games, PC Gamer has compiled a list of the studios that have been forced to close since September 2017, including (if known) the number of people rendered unemployed by each. It makes for harrowing reading.

 

Telltale, of course, has not quite been closed but reduced to a team of just 25 people as they wrap up the studio's final project. But with at least 250 people dismissed, the company is a shell of what it once was.

 

The year kicked off with Electronic Arts' decision to close Dead Space developer Visceral Games back in October, with PC Gamer reporting at least 80 employees affected.

 

Similar to Telltale, Gigantic developer Motiga saw significant layoffs - reportedly around 70 people - in November, leaving a small core team maintaining the game. However, in February it was announced the game would be shut down during the summer.

 

Motiga's closure came at the hands of its publisher Perfect World, which also shut down Seattle-based Torchlight developer Runic Games in November.

 

Shortly after, CCP announced it was exiting the VR business, leading to the closure of its Atlanta studio, a reduction of its Shanghai studio and "the elimination of a number of positions worldwide."

 

At the end of November, Marvel Heroes developer Gazillion Entertainment was forced to close down, making approximately 200 employees jobless. This was due to Marvel ending its partnership with the studio.

 

February ended with the closure of The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, David Jaffe's lengthily-named studio responsible for Drawn to Death. This came a month after the firm laid off the "vast majority" of its staff.

 

In May, Cliff Bleszinski's studio Boss Key Productions was forced to shut down, less than a year after releasing its debut title LawBreakers. At peak, the developer had 60 employees.

 

A further 150 people were lost later that month when Wargaming closed its Seattle studio, formerly known as Gas Powered Games.

 

Earlier this month, MMO developer Carbine Studios closed after more than a decade, with its final title WildStar due to go offline in November.

 

Finally, it was revealed last week Capcom Vancouver was closing down. The Dead Rising studio had 158 employees, having laid off around 50 back in February.

 

[HardAct]

So Sad . .. 

[Keyser_Soze]

When I was in high school I wanted to make video games, but then as I got older it seemed like it was a very volatile career.

[Mr.Vic20]

And this kind of thing will continue to happen because games have hit the "big time", and the big time is mean as Hell. From AAA to B team, studios now carry all of the risk, drama, and power struggles of any other industry's famous giants. The result is almost always the same, the people at the bottom drown when waters of misfortune rise. It sucks, but unless there is a developers union, I expect this issue to continue in perpetuity. Thanks to indies though, there is hope that a new generation of game makers can stay more independent and leverage existing engines under reasonable contracts to produce games that won't ruin peoples lives. But even with that being a more and more viable avenue, don't kid yourselves that these engines are updated for the indies. Without the larger companies to make the industry so profitable, these engines wouldn't have the market they enjoy and indies would have to find their own in house solutions once again. That in turn would lead to higher costs and more horror stories. 

[XxEvil AshxX]

@mr.vic20 put it better than I was going to. In short, if you want to open a burger joint, you have to be able to compete with the In-n-Outs and Whataburgers of the world. A lot of places offer something unique and good enough to find their place, but many more do not. And some have a good burger but just can't run the fucking place.

 

[Paperclyp]

They need a union. 

 

I know they’ll just hire the next vulnerable  young adult who is willing to put up with this shit, but I think these programmers and employees of these game companies need to just stop putting up with this stuff. I couldn’t put up with that daily stress and grind. 

 

They just need a union I guess though. 

[jaethos]

Unions don't stop businesses from shutting down though.

[The def star]

7 minutes ago, jaethos said:

Unions don't stop businesses from shutting down though.

Unions stop people from getting fucked at the bottom. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

15 minutes ago, jaethos said:

Unions don't stop businesses from shutting down though.

They certainly don't, but they give workers a seat at the table for decision making.