Almost 12% of US Games Biz Laid Off

yeah... it's a scary world out there. I hope none of us have to join it any time soon.

Quote from kleinluka

Victims include the likes of 3D Realms

They don't count!

It really sucks. I hope this recession is over soon. Scary times.

75% of them in the US. Guess thats one of the downsides of getting paid so much better.

lol I couldnt have picked a worse time to enter the games industry.. I think

That also means a 12% rise in the opportunity to go indie!

i cant shake the feeling that the big boys like microsoft use the recession as an excuse to get rid of studios they dont like ...

also what is the comparison percentage of people being fired, quieting their job or jumping into a different business during a none recession year ?! wouldn't be surprise me if it was as high as 5% ...

I agree with Warby, I have yet to see analysts linking layoffs with a decrease in sales caused by less buying power due to the recession. Maybe they are there, somewhere, but the examples in that article are pretty weak. I don't think that Microsoft closed down Ensemble because people (for example) suddenly started to buy less RTS games due to the recession or 3D Realms had to close down operations because of the economical crisis. Maybe Scott Miller just decided to not throw away his money anymore. Why did EA lay off so many people? Prove me wrong, but I think the biggest problem were structural problems unrelated to the recession. Are companies having a tougher time to find investors these days than before? No doubt, so of course the games industry is not immune to recession, but it needs a closer look at each case than this.

I am also with Warby. However up to now we mostly heard about big devs like EA taking actions. I think the real danger can be at the smaller devs. And the worst may yet to come. I know several independent studios who are having trouble signing a new project. Most studios were working on a contract they acquired before this whole crisis thingy took off, and now that that contract is almost completed they may be facing difficult times as they can't easily get a new one.

On the other hand there is also a theory that it will actually improve, as publishers may realize that they will have a gap in their portfolio by 2010 and 2011, as so many projects were dumped, and that they need kickstart new projects very soon.

Shareholders need to be pleased. When they demand 20% ROI year over year, and your titles sell less than anticipated, you either cut your losses (employees) right away, or you go all in the following year and try and catch back the loss. The publishers in the first category are known to everyone, and they're the ones that were also funding third party independent studios who eventually shut down. The second category is made of publishers who are still riding the wave with cash cows (CoD, Guitar Hero) or those who had enough cash reserves to sustain that hit and bet big on the year to come (Ubisoft)

Wait a second... why don't Americans look for work overseas where the situation is not so bad? Ok sure not everyone can do such a major change in their lifestyle but I find it hard to accept that all 12% are out of work. Not when so many develoeprs are hiring still.

Games, Movies and TV industry are familiar with moving aboard to work on projects, it's common practice.

Quote from 2d-chris

Wait a second... why don't Americans look for work overseas where the situation is not so bad? Ok sure not everyone can do such a major change in their lifestyle but I find it hard to accept that all 12% are out of work. Not when so many develoeprs are hiring still. Games, Movies and TV industry are familiar with moving aboard to work on projects, it's common practice.

Yeah I think you got a point there, but the article does mention the new entrepeneurism, which indicates that the 12% maybe did find themselves a new job after getting laid off.

Quote from 2d-chris

Wait a second... why don't Americans look for work overseas where the situation is not so bad? Ok sure not everyone can do such a major change in their lifestyle but I find it hard to accept that all 12% are out of work. Not when so many develoeprs are hiring still. Games, Movies and TV industry are familiar with moving aboard to work on projects, it's common practice.

I'm under the impression that permanently or at least long-term moving to a different country is an extremely taxing process that takes just about forever. I know a few people that moved to Japan and getting through all the paperwork and government requirements was pretty much a new full-time job for a couple months worth of work and headache. It's apparently even worse if you've got family or a spouse.

Most developers make that process quite easy on the Individual, that being said you have to be good enough for all the effort. I know moving about in the EU is easy, not sure how it is for Americans wanting to work in EU. Judging from the amount we have here at Crytek, it can't be all that painful

You guys are forgetting the most important aspect of it all, which is the cultural aspect. Americans for the vast majority speak only English, and even in the rare occurrence they do speak enough Spanish to get by, that opens very small job markets for them. Same for French, German etc etc.

Basically they'd be moving to the UK to get a job, where the situation isn't all that great right now with the weak pound.

Once the country as a whole embraces foreign cultures and languages and make those mandatory in school, maybe you'll see a change but for the time being the American Way of Life and American Dream is way too present, and the rest of the world still trying to make it there only reinforces that opinion.

although games are being developed in english in germany as well, and as e.g. crytek shows you can easily migrate people from all around the globe.

Quote from e-freak

although games are being developed in english in germany as well, and as e.g. crytek shows you can easily migrate people from all around the globe.

It's the one case where it works, it's little known particularly in a country where it's exactly the opposite (you're expected to have perfectly fluent English to work in the US) and besides all that, people still face real life in a foreign nation and language when they're not working. Not many can surpass these fears, and Europeans due to geographical reasons are much more prone to being exposed to this early on, therefore to accepting these challenges.

It was quite easy for me to go from Canada to Sweden, both in paperwork and language/culture. I can imagine a move like that wouldn't be for everyone though, it can be really hard to start your life over from scratch, not knowing anyone at all in the country when you first arrive. I know that I wouldn't like to do it again anytime soon.

And you don't move that easily when having a gf/wife/kids/house/other stuff. Especially not that far.

In general the bigger the home country the more difficult it will be for people to go live in another country. If you grow up in a small country you are much much more familiar with borders, several languages and cultures, etc. I actually think it is enjoyable to switch countries as it keeps things interesting. The paperwork is very annoying though.

English is the common language these days, Americans would have no problem moving to a well respected studio in most countries. I'd be very surprised if you could not get a job speaking fluent english. Game development teams are too international these days to speak anything BUT english as a common language.

On the other hand, Americans don't speak english