Crunch Time Podcast

My god I sound like a retard. lol. I think my brain was still in Germany.

But yeah this was cool, we should do more of these....

I'll listen to this on Monday alongside Podcast 17.

Listen to the podcast right now.

Personaly i think most of the recent studio closings and layoffs have more to do with mediocre/shitty or under-performing games rather then the financial crisis.

I didn't know Klein sounded like the Terminator.

LMAO. yeah my accent is pretty horrible in this one. i was le tired

Downloading, I'm always up for listening Dan speak

Regarding Ubisoft Montreal, I think I should add my own grain of salt in the conversation.

Yes we are a very large studio, and there are many different projects. But it's not true that you HAVE TO interview for a new job. People that aren't high on the demand list (generally those who haven't really made a dent on their current project) will generally wait around a little bit as the high profiles are themselves filling in the first spots on the new projects' teams. Yes some of them will wait up to 3 months before they land on a new project, but it's because Ubisoft gives you the choice. They will generally be presented with projects, but they have a choice to turn them down, which only makes them wait even longer. And when we're talking about interviews, it really is only a meeting with your future lead to see if you get along. You won't be tested or anything. If you do get along, you WILL get the position

I arrived here in Montreal to work on PoP, then naturally continued on and have been asked to join the Assassin's Creed 2 team even before I finished Prince of Persia. So no I won't have to interview for a new position, and I know a ton of people who are in the same case.

As for the crisis. I think you either lost your job and have been impacted by it, or haven't lost your job and haven't been impacted by it YET. I know Ubi has already learned lessons from their results this year, shifted their internal policy and we know where we are going for the next year. Like any other company outside of Nintendo, I think it's fair to say the sales weren't as high as we all wanted them to be, so we'll have to readjust that this year. We'll see in early 2010 where we stand.

i think the industry hasn't really felt the impact of the crisis yet. as for the projects at ubi, yes this may be true for designers but artists need to actually submit a portfolio to their new project and they do get turned down from time to time. i know some guys who sat around doing nothing for 6 months (!!!) and then ended up being "let go" because "we cant find a project for you"... how ridiculous is that, they cant find a project for an artist in a 1500 man studio? this doesn't have anything to do with the company giving you the choice really. its just bad resource management. i wonder if similar things happen at EA or comparably big studios.

well, I know how this feels

Have you been laid off too dark?

Quote from kleinluka

i think the industry hasn't really felt the impact of the crisis yet. as for the projects at ubi, yes this may be true for designers but artists need to actually submit a portfolio to their new project and they do get turned down from time to time. i know some guys who sat around doing nothing for 6 months (!!!) and then ended up being "let go" because "we cant find a project for you"... how ridiculous is that, they cant find a project for an artist in a 1500 man studio? this doesn't have anything to do with the company giving you the choice really. its just bad resource management. i wonder if similar things happen at EA or comparably big studios.

And what's the full story behind this? Was this guy actually any good? Did he turn down projects himself being all too happy to be paid doing nothing while waiting for the next big thing? There are also this type of persons at Ubi Montreal, so he may have fallen in that category. I know I couldn't even fathom to go to work to do nothing for two weeks, so I would go out of my way to make sure that didn't happen.

Quote from dux

Have you been laid off too dark?

yes sir

A large group of us were before the holidays

Download the podcast, listened to both shows and liked it