Entire 38 Studios Staff Laid Off, Effective Immediately

[Something Amyss]

Except, apparently, them.

I sincerely doubt even that's true.

 

[FallenTraveler]

The sad part is they made a pretty good game, sure, it took place in a fairly standard setting, and was missing something in quests and equipment. The combat was incredibly satisfying. That kind of combat in an mmo would have been incredible.

I'm happy to hear that studios are considering apps from the former employees.

I don't know why I trusted this company to not fold...

 

[rob_simple]

It is. When a game sells a million copies in a few months and that causes the company to implode in bankrupcy it's a sign the industry is doing something wrong. I have been expecting the video game industry to collapse for years now and now it begins.

While I do agree that it's astonishing sales figures like that can still technically be deemed a failure, I think you are perhaps blowing the situation out of proportion. The industry is never going away: the crash in 1983 didn't kill it and gaming was substantially less popular then than it is now. One of the benefits about the gaming industry, that doesn't really stand in any other industry as far as I can tell, is how a folded company can be reborn a few months down the line with a new name and some of the original staff and continue to make great games.

OT: This is rubbish for the staff but I'm ashamed to say my second though was 'at least now I can pick this game up cheap.' Would that happen, though? I mean, if the company is bankrupt then wouldn't they keep the prices of their products up to recoup as much money as possible?

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't know why I trusted this company to not fold...

Quite possibly because you had no way of knowing the financial chicanery behind the scenes?

 

[Something Amyss]

When a game sells a million copies in a few months and that causes the company to implode in bankrupcy it's a sign the industry is doing something wrong.

Assuming there's a correlation between the two, even though no such correlation has been demonstrated. In fact, from the news reports, it seems that the business management end of things was so screwed, this could have been the next WoW or Skyrim and they still would be in trouble.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

The last bit annoys me. Companies are creating jobs for them. If these companies had the need for employees prior to this, why are they not advertising this already? Creating jobs because someone is laid off, while well meaning, is a serious fucking insult to every hard-working already unemployed programmer, artist, UI designer, storyboarder, or other, in the business.

That has irritated me so much.

I'm curious why you think companies are creating jobs out of pity. Also, why would these companies create unnecessary positions for talented employees?

This strikes me as opportunistic of companies like PopCap, Cryptic, Gearbox,and EA, because they can hire experienced personnel from a decent game. This isn't to say that a beginner artist or programmer from 38 is going to be hired over someone more qualified. It means that these companies can get people with lots of experience for relatively cheap.

 

[Mr Companion]

Its terrible when so many people are laid off, seeing that Email in their inbox must have felt horrifying.

The creative directors of the game however should have seen that the standard fantasy setting is just too predictable and unimaginative. In a way I hope this sends out a message to publishers that bog standard fantasy with a little twist isn't going to bring in the crowds any more.

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

It really seems to have been mismanagement from the upper executives and share-holders in the company. Whoever's bright idea it was to hire on 400 workers at two studios as a company with absolutely no PR to only try to make a AAA budget game was just silly. Really poor foresight on their part.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Almost 400 people? I don't know if it's more crazy that they were all let go at once or that so many people were employed there in the first place. Reminds me of Realtime Worlds except with even more employees.

Many of those people were part of Big Huge Games, which 38 Studios purchased. BHG was already working on a single-player RPG and after joining 38 Studios this was turned into a KoA title.

 

[FamoFunk]

Damn that's really sad. Hate hearing about people losing their jobs.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

I think we all saw this coming with all the news about them the past week or so ... still quite sad to hear.

I hope those who worked for them manage to land on their feet.

 

[Micalas]

Numerous unaffiliated gaming companies such as PopCap, Cryptic, Gearbox,and EA have already begun to offer their support, immediately considering applicants from affected ex-38 Studios employees. Twitter has joined the cause as well, with numerous members of the industry asking anyone currently hiring to post openings with the hash tag #38jobs. Facebook users can help, too, via the official support page found here. [https://www.facebook.com/38Jobs]

Source: WPRI [http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/providence-38-studios-lays-off-all-employees]
Permalink

Turbine is also looking to help pick some people up.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Another EA dev for the pile, wonder how long till Bioware joins them.

Along with poor Maxis and Pandemic

 

[Skeleon]

Erm. So much for me saying "I hope it works out for them" on the latest article. Laid off without any prior notice? Awful. Well, let me say this, then: I hope it works out for the employees. There are obviously many talented people without a job now, so hopefully they'll find new positions quickly, despite the current economic troubles.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Numerous unaffiliated gaming companies such as PopCap, Cryptic, Gearbox,and EA have already begun to offer their support, immediately considering applicants from affected ex-38 Studios employees.

Well it's great to see support from the other game companies.
And LOOK! EA is offering support!

I bet that upsets a lot of Escapist readers who like to think of EA as the gaming Antichrist.
Imagine that! EA is staffed by human beings who also want to help others and not diabolical rapists, murderers and paedophiles.



[disclosure; While I do not support the general idiocy shown in many of EA's decisions, I do like to keep an open mind and not write them off as inherently evil, as many Escapists tend to do.]

Considering that EA published the thing, I would expect them to at least offer in the first place.

This game was destined to fail..it came out with in 6 months of Skyrim.

Not to mention that Amalur emulated the stupid things from Oblivion, that Bethesda left out Skyrim.

I played the demo way back. I would have liked it and bought it if they hadn't taken the worst aspects of Oblivion and crammed them in(success/failure system for picking up potion ingredients, weapon degradation, and psychic guards), as well as hosing up the skills system and wasting good skill points by tying it to that first problem. Because Bethesda was smart and left those things out of Skyrim was the reason I was okay with my brother getting it for me for Christmas.

Of course the reason those things were in Amalur was because Ken Rolston(one of the leads on Oblivion) was on the team. Somebody needs to sit him down and say, "No Ken, nothing about such mechanics makes a game fun, and that is what games are about."

 

[llyrnion]

I've bought KoA on day one, I've played (haven't finished it yet), and I liked it, specially the combat. The story/presentation was a bit of a letdown.

My first instinct on reading this is someone at the top messed up, and now everyone else in the company is getting screwed over this, which is pretty much sad and unfair.

The future may prove me wrong, I don't know.

 

[Fursnake]

Wow this went from bad to WAY WORSE really quickly. It's a shame to see so many folks lose their jobs and probably get screwed over even more by all this.

I blame Schilling for trying to jump into the big name game development too quickly and overstepping his bounds. Given the talent involved in KoA it was rather a letdown, I got bored with it about halfway through as it really started to drag on and get kind of monotonous. After KoA came out the talk started about turning it into an MMO and this was a mistake. The original game was not strong enough as a single player game to warrant turning the IP into an MMO already. Schilling's studio needed to get some more games under their belt before they started trying to make an MMO out of KoA.

I don't think KoA would have made that great of an MMO anyway.

 

[godofallu]

In before "They made a game that sucks therefore deserved to be fired" comments start drowning the thread.

You are the only one, doesn't that make you feel stupid?

I said "In before". Before you start throwing insults around, I suggest you learn how to read.

Must be my hatred for pointless "in before" posts talking.


...and they are pointless. Do you think anyone thinks you're clever by predicting what others will post?

But he is clever because I wanted to post that Kingdoms was a crappy game, and that the MMO they are making looks to be crappy too. Hence the company should go out of business so our economy doesn't waste resources creating product that noone wants!

 

[Epona]

In before "They made a game that sucks therefore deserved to be fired" comments start drowning the thread.

You are the only one, doesn't that make you feel stupid?

I said "In before". Before you start throwing insults around, I suggest you learn how to read.

Must be my hatred for pointless "in before" posts talking.


...and they are pointless. Do you think anyone thinks you're clever by predicting what others will post?

But he is clever because I wanted to post that Kingdoms was a crappy game, and that the MMO they are making looks to be crappy too. Hence the company should go out of business so our economy doesn't waste resources creating product that noone wants!

It's not really clever to guess that someone will say the game sucks.