Is games industry collapsing? More than 1000 people lost jobs in across Valve, GoG, Blizzard and so on.

[Blitzwing]

2019
Activision Blizzard lays off nearly 800 employees after 'record' 2018
https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/12/18222096/blizzard-layoffs-february-2019

Massive layoffs at EA's Australian studio
FireMonkeys will refocus on live services as up to 50 staff prepare for redundancy
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-22-massive-layoffs-at-eas-australian-studio

CD Projekt is laying off around a dozen GOG staff (approximately 10% of the digital storefront’s workforce).
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/02/26/gog-layoffs/

Valve laid off 13 full-time employees and 'a portion' of its contractors in February
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-laid-off-13-full-time-employees-and-a-portion-of-its-contracts-in-february/

Guild Wars 2 Developer ArenaNet Plans For Mass Layoffs
https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-developer-arenanet-plans-for-mass-layoffs-1832799804

2018
Telltale with at least 250 people dismissed, the company is a shell of what it once was.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-09-27-more-than-1-000-jobs-lost-to-studio-closures-over-the-past-year

Electronic Arts' decision to close Dead Space developer Visceral Games with PC Gamer reporting at least 80 employees affected.

Gigantic developer Motiga saw significant layoffs - reportedly around 70 people

Marvel Heroes developer Gazillion Entertainment was forced to close down, making approximately 200 employees jobless.

Cliff Bleszinski's studio Boss Key Productions was forced to shut down, less than a year after releasing its debut title LawBreakers. At peak, the developer had 60 employees.

A further 150 people were lost later that month when Wargaming closed its Seattle studio, formerly known as Gas Powered Games.

Capcom Vancouver was closing down. The Dead Rising studio had 158 employees


Considering the recent big flops like Anthem and Fallout 76.
It doesn't look good for our entertainment.

What you think? Just a weird coincidence or is there a massive problem upcoming?

[Sleepy Yoshi]

引用自 Si-Fi：

Anthem would in a sense be EA's fault even with Mass Effect because they dictate the time and changes that their developers must put into their work.

Their games had more potential, even back a decade ago considering they did not cut content from so many games but they did alot of damage.

Yes, EA certainly shoulders some of the blame, but that doesn't absolve BioWare for archaic and/or poor design either. The game being unoptimized and/or lacking content can certainly be a sign of rushing to meet a deadline, but there are some fundamental design issue's that were decided fairly early on.

[Si-Fi]

I can, highly give Bioware credit for Knights of the Old Republic, such a masterpiece.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

引用自 Si-Fi：

I can, highly give Bioware credit for Knights of the Old Republic, such a masterpiece.

Agreed, they've made some great games and that's certainly one of them, as well as Dragon's Age and Mass Effect, but people like Muzyka, Zeschuk, Hudson, Ohlen, Gilmour, Laidlaw and others that held key positions for these games, have all left the company over the years.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

引用自 Blitzwing：

引用自 T♥r♥u♥n♥d♥l♥e：

It's kinda ironic that microsoft not on the list.

em
Robot Entertainment is a video game development and publishing company created by the founders of the defunct Ensemble Studios, after being shut down by Microsoft.

On January 7, 2019, Robot Entertainment announced they would be closing servers for Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Hero Academy, and Hero Academy 2, due to the games being run at a financial loss; players would receive in-game currency for the final weeks of live play "at least once a day". The company also announced that two new games were in development.

Number of employees
30 employees

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Entertainment


And there are probably much more people, who loose their jobs in gaming industry.

Its pretty obvious why it getting shutdown, it even stated why it was happening, it wasn't a popular enough to keep it going, nor was it going to help keeping people twiddling their thumbs all day paying them to do nothing, or offer nothing that will make them money, which is just going to be a lost of profit.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Dr.Shadowds 🐉：

引用自 Blitzwing：

em
Robot Entertainment is a video game development and publishing company created by the founders of the defunct Ensemble Studios, after being shut down by Microsoft.

On January 7, 2019, Robot Entertainment announced they would be closing servers for Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Hero Academy, and Hero Academy 2, due to the games being run at a financial loss; players would receive in-game currency for the final weeks of live play "at least once a day". The company also announced that two new games were in development.

Number of employees
30 employees

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Entertainment


And there are probably much more people, who loose their jobs in gaming industry.

Its pretty obvious why it getting shutdown, it even stated why it was happening, it wasn't a popular enough to keep it going, nor was it going to help keeping people twiddling their thumbs all day paying them to do nothing, or offer nothing that will make them money, which is just going to be a lost of profit.

Which is a shame. I actually wanted to try that game buut by the time I upgraded my system to handle it comfortably. this happened. Same for Wildstarr but that's how it goes. I heard from others that it was just a little too grindy.

[PocketYoda]

Lets hope so.. They've had it way to good for way too long.

[Start_Running]

引用自 DanteYoda：

Lets hope so.. They've had it way to good for way too long.

So have gamers.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

FWIW the question shouldn't just be "are people getting laid off", but also "where are these people going?".

For example, recently, XSEED let go some people from its (already pretty small) team. At least one of those people has ended up working for NISA on the game series that XSEED had been localizing.

[dynastystar]

引用自 Quint, as you otter know：

FWIW the question shouldn't just be "are people getting laid off", but also "where are these people going?".

For example, recently, XSEED let go some people from its (already pretty small) team. At least one of those people has ended up working for NISA on the game series that XSEED had been localizing.

correction, she ended up having to pull out of localizing Trails of Cold Steel III for personal reasons(as I recall).

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Oh, that's unfortunate. (Though based on your description it seems to not be a business-related decision.)

[dynastystar]

引用自 Quint, as you otter know：

Oh, that's unfortunate. (Though based on your description it seems to not be a business-related decision.)

yeah, it isn't from what I heard. Still, I wouldn't want her reputation to take a hit at all if NISA ♥♥♥♥♥ it up and people didn't know she didn't work on it. MAYBE she'll be able to jump back on it later on into the localization process for all we know though.

[Clarence Boddicker]

Indie devs are taking big piece of pie.

[Blitzwing]

引用自 Ganger：

When it comes to anthem and crackdown 3, the numbers are skew to say the least. Both games are available on their own subscription model.. anthem on origin pass and crackdown 3 on xbox games pass. So people who subscript to these services wouldn't of bought the games anyway.

Even I have both games on thoses subscription.

Also there is a big problem that new games are made worse than the old ones.
Crackdown 3 is an extreme example if you compare it vs Crackdown 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwA2OaVsbts

[dynastystar]

引用自 Blitzwing：

引用自 Ganger：

When it comes to anthem and crackdown 3, the numbers are skew to say the least. Both games are available on their own subscription model.. anthem on origin pass and crackdown 3 on xbox games pass. So people who subscript to these services wouldn't of bought the games anyway.

Even I have both games on thoses subscription.

Also there is a big problem that new games are made worse than the old ones.
Crackdown 3 is an extreme example if you compare it vs Crackdown 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwA2OaVsbts

there is also comparing the modern Starwars Battlefronts to the classic Battlefronts.

[PocketYoda]

引用自 Start_Running：

引用自 DanteYoda：

Lets hope so.. They've had it way to good for way too long.

So have gamers.

Its sad the base level people lose their jobs but these corps have been raking in ridiculous amounts of money for so long sooner or later a crash is unavoidable because big companies expect stupid amounts permanently..

I hope some of the top corps die along with these poor underlings..they are the ones that deserve it.