Bummer, Laid Off Whole Staff?

[Adam]

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hyper-light-breaker-studio-will-end-the-games-development-and-lay-off-staff-162941243.html

Hard to support devs when they can no longer see a cent from a game.

[inRemote]

now that the whole team has been laid off

will anyone who actually worked on this game see a penny from its sales? because as harsh as it is to let their work go to waste, i have no intention of giving money to a company that thanked them for that work by kicking them out before the game even launched

[Brixxter]

I think the problem is that there is no money left for anything. They sunk years worth of resources into developing their 2 current games and Hyper Light Breaker undersold significantly, maybe the studio is even in debt. It definitely sucks for the actual devs but I don't think this is down to greed, probably more so mismanagement

[HARRISZONE]

Hi everybody - Harris from Devolver Digital here. We’re saddened to hear the news of layoffs at Heart Machine and we wish the best for all of those affected.

Heart Machine has confirmed to us that all revenue-share eligible team members who contributed to Possessor(s) will continue to receive their share. The full quote is shared below:

“All team members on Possessor(s) who are scheduled to receive profit share on the title - regardless of if they are no longer here or remain at the studio - will still receive it.”
Alx Preston, Heart Machine Creative and Design Director

[Bacchus]

Well, "members who are scheduled to receive profit share" are the corpo suits, not the actual people who made the game. Your run of the mill employee doesn't get "scheduled profits" as they're not a stakeholder

[Paraborne]

One of their previous games had SBI involvement, since they had made no such statement about NOT working with them on this game, I'm just going to assume sweet baby is all over this one too.
Perhaps this is a "pre-emptive" layoff because they already know what's about to happen... lol

[awfulTyler]

Originally posted by Paraborne:

One of their previous games had SBI involvement, since they had made no such statement about NOT working with them on this game, I'm just going to assume sweet baby is all over this one too.
Perhaps this is a "pre-emptive" layoff because they already know what's about to happen... lol

Hi! I'm the Narrative Director of this game. Please do not attribute the hard work of everyone on this team to other people. I worked very hard on this story. We did not use any consulting companies to make this story. All of the writing and story in this game comes from me, our other writer and team members who wanted to collaborate on story.
Thank you for your time.

[Anthem of Grimm]

So the real question is, do we not buy this game to send a message to the publishers for corpo behavior and "Streamlining" or do we buy it so that the developers that were fired can receive pennies on the dollar?

[awfulTyler]

Originally posted by Anthem of Grimm:

So the real question is, do we not buy this game to send a message to the publishers for corpo behavior and "Streamlining" or do we buy it so that the developers that were fired can receive pennies on the dollar?

As a developer who is slated for lay off - PLEASE BUY THIS GAME!
There is so much to love about this game and I am really proud of it.

I'm not a spokesman for the team, but I'll say what I think.

Here are the reasons I think buying this game is the best way to actually support the developers:

1) Everyone on this team makes games because we want people to play them. I view video games as modern day Cathedrals; it's the culmination of hundreds/thousands of hours of work from combined expertise and disciplines all coming together to build something greater than the parts combined. Buying/Playing this game is a celebration of those talents. Like I said, we make games because we want people to play them and have fun. IF no one does that... I really just wasted 3 damn years of my life. Damn!

2) If this game does well... it actually makes it easier for everyone on the team to find new jobs or get new projects funded. Potential Employers/Publishers/Nepo-Babies with too much money will be like: "Oh you worked on Possessors? That game made a bajillion dollars. Please have a stable job with my company. Or Please have a bunch of money to make a new video game."

3) Devolver rules. They are a great publisher, and they are not in any way responsible for the layoffs at Heart Machine. I think they have gone above and beyond to support this project and the dev team. No one needs to "send them a message" unless it is: "THANK YOU FOR BEING AN AMAZING PUBLISHER!!"

4) I am owed profit share. I don't actually know what members of the team are "scheduled to receive profit share." I know that I am supposed to - at some point I signed a contract for it. Do I know what that contract says? No. I just blindly signed it because I am an idiot and when I see a bunch of business legalese in front of me, I start reading it and my brain goes: "i.... fugggkkkgggginngnng hattteeee thisss...." I then proceed to skim through and try to read because I am meant to be a responsible person. Eventually, I just sign it. My understanding is that other full-time employees on this project should have received the same. I don't know about contractors. I don't know what percentage anyone gets. I don't really know anything about the financial structure at HM. I am not a lawyer or any sort of financial expert. So, maybe, if the game does well... I will get some money. That would be nice.

Anyway, it's a privilege to work in games. I love my job, and I love that I have gotten to contribute to so many cool projects and work with extremely talented and passionate people.
I spent years of my life writing mind-numbing and soul crushing legal/medical/financial database software, I don't want to go back to that. I made video games and comics during my free time, because I knew that is what I really wanted to do. It took a long time for me to get to be a person who gets to do fun stuff like "tell the story in a video game" and gosh... I really hope I get to keep going.

So, thanks for playing games. Thanks for caring about games enough to post on an internet forum and worry about if the right thing to do is buy this game or not. Thank you for spending hours of your life playing through games, seriously. I am extremely grateful I get to live in a world where people care about video games as much as I do. AND enough people care about video games that I get to have a job making them (ok... I did... I plan on trying to get another job, fingers crossed.)

[Anthem of Grimm]

Originally posted by awfulTyler:

Originally posted by Anthem of Grimm:

So the real question is, do we not buy this game to send a message to the publishers for corpo behavior and "Streamlining" or do we buy it so that the developers that were fired can receive pennies on the dollar?

As a developer who is slated for lay off - PLEASE BUY THIS GAME!
There is so much to love about this game and I am really proud of it.

I'm not a spokesman for the team, but I'll say what I think.

Here are the reasons I think buying this game is the best way to actually support the developers:

1) Everyone on this team makes games because we want people to play them. I view video games as modern day Cathedrals; it's the culmination of hundreds/thousands of hours of work from combined expertise and disciplines all coming together to build something greater than the parts combined. Buying/Playing this game is a celebration of those talents. Like I said, we make games because we want people to play them and have fun. IF no one does that... I really just wasted 3 damn years of my life. Damn!

2) If this game does well... it actually makes it easier for everyone on the team to find new jobs or get new projects funded. Potential Employers/Publishers/Nepo-Babies with too much money will be like: "Oh you worked on Possessors? That game made a bajillion dollars. Please have a stable job with my company. Or Please have a bunch of money to make a new video game."

3) Devolver rules. They are a great publisher, and they are not in any way responsible for the layoffs at Heart Machine. I think they have gone above and beyond to support this project and the dev team. No one needs to "send them a message" unless it is: "THANK YOU FOR BEING AN AMAZING PUBLISHER!!"

4) I am owed profit share. I don't actually know what members of the team are "scheduled to receive profit share." I know that I am supposed to - at some point I signed a contract for it. Do I know what that contract says? No. I just blindly signed it because I am an idiot and when I see a bunch of business legalese in front of me, I start reading it and my brain goes: "i.... fugggkkkgggginngnng hattteeee thisss...." I then proceed to skim through and try to read because I am meant to be a responsible person. Eventually, I just sign it. My understanding is that other full-time employees on this project should have received the same. I don't know about contractors. I don't know what percentage anyone gets. I don't really know anything about the financial structure at HM. I am not a lawyer or any sort of financial expert. So, maybe, if the game does well... I will get some money. That would be nice.

Anyway, it's a privilege to work in games. I love my job, and I love that I have gotten to contribute to so many cool projects and work with extremely talented and passionate people.
I spent years of my life writing mind-numbing and soul crushing legal/medical/financial database software, I don't want to go back to that. I made video games and comics during my free time, because I knew that is what I really wanted to do. It took a long time for me to get to be a person who gets to do fun stuff like "tell the story in a video game" and gosh... I really hope I get to keep going.

So, thanks for playing games. Thanks for caring about games enough to post on an internet forum and worry about if the right thing to do is buy this game or not. Thank you for spending hours of your life playing through games, seriously. I am extremely grateful I get to live in a world where people care about video games as much as I do. AND enough people care about video games that I get to have a job making them (ok... I did... I plan on trying to get another job, fingers crossed.)

Yeah, I'll buy it. Thank you for all your hard work.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by Paraborne:

One of their previous games had SBI involvement, since they had made no such statement about NOT working with them on this game, I'm just going to assume sweet baby is all over this one too.
Perhaps this is a "pre-emptive" layoff because they already know what's about to happen... lol

Imagine actually wishing failure on hardworking, talented devs because you're still jumping at these shadows. Keep chasing dated culture war BS instead of focusing on the things that matter, bud.

[ofcthatwaslag]

Originally posted by Paraborne:

One of their previous games had SBI involvement, since they had made no such statement about NOT working with them on this game, I'm just going to assume sweet baby is all over this one too.
Perhaps this is a "pre-emptive" layoff because they already know what's about to happen... lol

Not everything has to be about your boring culture wars. You don't have to shoehorn it in at every given opportunity.