Bigpoint Lays Off 120 Employees

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Bigpoint Lays Off 120 Employees


The Drakensang Online and DarkOrbit studio says it will no longer develop games in the U.S.

Bigpoint's foray in the U.S. marketplace has not ended well, as the studio announced today that more than 40 employees at its office in San Francisco, which only opened in 2010, have been laid off. "We have seen that developing games in the U.S. is not really the most efficient way for us at the moment," CEO Heiko Hubertz told GamesIndustry. "The games that we have developed in the last two years haven't been that successful, and the San Francisco area and Bay Area is quite a competitive market. San Francisco is, after New York, one of the most expensive cities you can live in in the U.S., so the people are quite expensive."

The other 80 employees affected by the cuts are "administrative staff" at Bigpoint's Hamburg operation, which Hubertz said had to be let go after the company failed to meet yearly revenue projections. The cuts won't affect any projects currently underway, however, and he said that Bigpoint will continue to make new games. He also revealed that he is stepping down as CEO and will take a position as executive chairman of the company's supervisory board at the end of the year, although he said the move is unrelated to the layoffs.

"For me it's very important, and there are private reasons," he explained. "I wanted to leave the company after ten years of very strong growth, very exciting times, launching many products in many countries - it was really tough times and I'm a little bit exhausted. I want to relax a little bit, travel the world and think about starting a family."

Bigpoint's best-known game is probably the browser-based fantasy MMO $1300 item [http://www.drakensang-online.co.uk/] in its free-to-play game DarkOrbit.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-23-bigpoint-axes-120-jobs]


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gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
The Drakensang Online and DarkOrbit studio says it will no longer developer games in the U.S.
Interesting choice of word there...
 

Gearhead mk2

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Aug 1, 2011
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> Tim Schafer says companies shouldn't lay off teams after a game is finished
> Two companies lay off massive amounts of employees on the same freaking day
Our industry, folks.
 

Formica Archonis

Anonymous Source
Nov 13, 2009
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Gods, this is an awful news day. And it's Tuesday. The nothing day of the week when even the afterglow of the weekend is gone.

Garfield's an idiot. Tuesday's the day to hate.
 

Ken Sapp

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Apr 1, 2010
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DVS BSTrD said:
Someone must have reanimated Patrick Swayze because they've made... Point Break.
That was terrible.

Back on topic. It is saddening to hear about layoffs but I would argue that setting up shop in one of the most expensive cities in America is likely a big mistake, especially in a down economy. I know there is always the argument that you go where the talent is, but... there is more talent out there than in just places like New York, 'Frisco, Houston, Silicon Valley, etc. And in a down economy those looking for work, especially those with highly specialized skills, are more likely to transplant if the money and job are right. I would suggest companies like this try to find more affordable markets to set up shop in.
 

kburns10

You Gots to Chill
Sep 10, 2012
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Never heard of this company until now, but I wish those who were laid off the best.
 

Staskala

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Sep 28, 2010
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Gearhead mk2 said:
> Tim Schafer says companies shouldn't lay off teams after a game is finished
> Two companies lay off massive amounts of employees on the same freaking day
Our industry, folks.
What does this have to do with anything?
Bigpoint is a German browser game dev, which tried to enter the US market and failed. This has exactly 0 to do with the hire & fire standard.
Neither does Zynga actually, they'd still employ these people if the company hadn't fallen on rougher times.
 

Scypemonk

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Sep 26, 2007
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For those don't know, bigpoint is probably one of the biggest online game developers/publishers around. They make a living from low-bugdet, micro-transistion funded games, and pretty much their entire lineup consist of knockoffs of more popular games.

I quess what we can take from all this, is that it's that entire part of the market who's in trouble. I won't be susprised if more of these developers will get in trouble.