Rumour: Mass layoffs hit Grin?!!

[Minos]

Really sucks to hear that, grin was one of the companies I always wanted to apply to if things didnt work out at ubisoft for me... But I'm quite sure you are gonna find a new job in no time Stepp!

[IR]

Sad to hear stepp, and others what about philip?

[jaboo224]

ahhh that sucks stepp. I have faith you should be able to find another job.

[madgernader]

Man that's a bummer... Seems kind of strange to just lay off the new guys, but I've never worked in a studio so I don't know any of the common practices. Best of luck to anyone affected, I'll hope for the best

[Skjalg]

Wow this is really a shock. Grin was doing so good and now they release two mediocre(not in art or style) games and loads of layoffs...

What excactly happened?

[-HP-]

A post I found on gaf

It is very likely GRIN received the full development budget plus some margin paid on a milestone basis across the length of the project. That budget would have had some margin baked into it, so GRIN would likely have made some money on the development with some possibility of royalties on the back end.

It is possible before release there may have been an expectation of rolling on to sequel or derivative products, but with the apparent low sales those opportunities if they existed will have disappeared leaving them with spare teams. Royalty payouts would be unlikely.

And in this environment, there are not a lot of licensed projects floating around that haven't been placed, and those that are available are hotly contested. Not an easy time to place spare teams in a hurry.

It is possible this was a factor also.

All speculation of course. There could be many factors at work here and the full story is certainly not known.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread. ... 035&page=4

[Argyll]

I'm sad to hear you've been affected Stepp

Any other INS alum affected too?

[Steppenwolf]

I'm the only one. Skybex got fired earlier this year tho.

[Wunderboy]

Stepp,

Try not to take it too personally mate. One thing you may not know about Swedish employment law but they have something called "LAS" which basically means "last in, first out". It's pretty retarded to be honest because you might be the best guy in the room but if you've worked there the shortest time, you're first to go regardless. It's actually a hot political topic at the moment and several MP's are trying to abolish it because it's counter intuitive to growth.

Just move on while you're young and be glad you didn't have any "roots" here - it always makes leaving easier.

Best of luck, I know how you feel - I got made unemployed recently too.

[Steppenwolf]

Yes i know Wunderboy. It was explained earlier already. Infact my boss told me that i was considered a "above average" employee when he had to fire me. I also got two raises within half a year from the same guy, a big one and a small one. He wouldn't give them to someone he dont want in the company.

That law really is a two sided sword. On the one hand it weakens a company that already is in trouble. On the other hand it avoids "bad blood" among the employees because it is a simple rule that everybody understands.

[Wunderboy]

Well I thought I'd explain just in case you didn't know why. I know a lot of people who have come from abroad to work in Sweden and never had the LAS law explained when they're fired.

Actually the LAS law can be got around if your company is of a certain type and part of a Union. When I was fired I was actually the most senior and experienced person in our team (and still no-one, not even my boss, knows why I was chosen to be fired but the guys "upstairs") and they kept the no-brainer who'd been there 6 months and turned everything he touched to shit Of course they had to give me 3 months notice and a nice payoff but still...

Anyway, good luck whatever you end up doing.

[Grinwhrl]

Damn shame... best of luck getting new work!

[2d-chris]

Sucky, but view it as an opportunity, the world of games is now open to you Find a kick ass project.

I've always viewed the game industry like the movie business, one project at a time, who knows what will happen at the end of it.

[Steppenwolf]

Yea i try to stay positive and my job search doesn't look too grim so far actualy. Just had a good phone interview yesterday with a top notch company. Worst case that can happen if no studio hires me is that i will move back to germany and do some freelance work from home until the state of the economy gets better and more companys are hiring again.

Just want to say that it's kickass to know all you guys from the internet or in real. It's super helpfull to have contacts basically everywhere in this industry

[FrieChamp]

Job.Core~