Adam Creighton’s Post

Streamline Studios CEO & Co-Founder, Alexander Fernandez, interviewed by BFM 89.9 to explore why layoffs are becoming more prevalent in the gaming sector, how has this impacted game development companies, keeping in mind the fast rise of AI as well as what needs to be done before it’s game over. Listen the interview here: https://lnkd.in/eRMsbNXz

📌 Did you know that over 9000 professionals in the video game industry have been laid off in 2024 alone? 📌 We are not even halfway through 2024 and almost on the verge of crossing 2023's number, 10500. 📌 Various behemoths in the Industry have closed more studios in 2024 than they have released titles. 📌 Studio leads are expressing their grief over the matter, but the layoffs DO NOT seem to stop. 📌 Whether you are a gamer, a video game journalist, a professional in the industry, or an indie developer! 📌 Professionals in the industry are losing their livelihoods. 🔲 We need to come together and spread awareness; otherwise, the day when a job in the industry will be considered a suicide mission is inevitable! 🔲 Otherwise, No one passionate about games will want to work in the industry anymore! 👉 Look at my editorial on FandomWire Gaming and how the industry is slowly turning into a cold business. 📢https://lnkd.in/g7zk3QQs 🙏 Read the stats for yourself and share them. Speak up! This HAS to stop.

Roll7 and Intercept are both good developers with cool people, the kind you want making games. Take Two didn’t *need* to do this unless something major changed recently and someone in finance had to reconcile new information, then searched for the most vulnerable people to easily cut. Implies a strong imbalance on their balance sheet - a new “glitch.” These decisions get made by pub-side bankers removed from the details of quality and morale, without respecting or caring about downstream effects or quality of life, these are good jobs for sociopaths and order-followers, and then HR gets to clean up. I think we need a new kind of accountability and measuring stick for behavior.

Every day it feels like we see very talented and extraordinary individuals being affected by the AAA studios, with the mountain of layoffs, it breaks our heart to know that fellow gaming enthusiasts, developers, and just good people all around are experiencing this very real, and very hurtful period. We might be just another studio, but we are also filled with people who want to excel in this industry, do what they love to do, build on that, overcome that mountain top, and create amazing work to say "Hey, I did that!". We want to see people who love working on games being supported 100% of the way through, especially as many of our members would love to have that same support when they leave our studio. And as our dream is to build that community, no matter how small it is right now, we hope that the people who are currently being faced with hard decisions get the necessary break they need, either through that dream job opportunity, starting their own business, or valuing time with friends and family. #gaminglife #gamedevelopment #motivational #PSA #indiegames #layoffssuck #gamestudio

Save: bit.ly/NeoEpicLoot We're saddened to hear about the recent layoffs at Bossa Studios, the team behind I Am Bread and the Surgeon Simulator series. The studio has reportedly let go of 19 employees, which accounts for approximately one-third of its workforce. This decision comes amidst cited reasons such as rising operational costs, funding delays in the industry, and competitive challenges from big holiday games. The studio's focus now turns towards the development of Lost Skies, a cooperative survival-adventure game. With 40 people left, the team is doubling down on their efforts for Lost Skies, a game slated for release this year. The industry-wide impact of such layoffs is substantial, making it a challenging year for game developers. Read more about this impactful development in the gaming industry on Neotizen News here: https://ift.tt/sjzC1Yi

Some Brilliant Data for European Tech Artists from Monika Michalak post in 8Bit - Games Industry Recruitment, here is five takeaways from the report! 🌍 Kyiv, Ukraine is a Tech Artist hotbed! 💼 Tech Artists don't hang around and switch jobs every 1.7 yrs 👫 It is not the most gender diverse skill with over 80% of Tech Artists being men 🏢 Studios like Scopely & Playtika love Tech Artist's employing the most in Europe 🎓 Bournemouth University produces the most Tech Artists in Europe! For more info on Tech Artists check out the report below 👇 or check out gamejobs.work for tech artist

Disturbance in the Force: Telltale Edition "Telltale confirms layoffs after Wolf Among Us 2 dev's claim "most of" team affected. But studio insists "all projects currently in development are still in production." (Matt Wales) (Oct 5, 2023) "Telltale Games, the resurrected studio behind the likes of The Expanse: A Telltale Series and the upcoming The Wolf Among Us 2, has confirmed layoffs at the studio, after a former employee shared a message on social media claiming "most of" his team had been let go last month. News of layoffs at Telltale began circulating after cinematic artist Jonah Huang - who's worked at the studio in both its current and original incarnation, which closed down in 2018 - claimed the studio "laid most of us off early September". Huang also appeared to imply further troubles for The Wolf Among Us 2 - which was originally due to release this year before Telltale pushed it back into 2024 to avoid burnout and crunch - saying he couldn't comment on the status of its development due to a binding NDA. "Our team was very small," he added, "and I was genuinely excited for the game. Telltale has yet to publicise any of what has happened." Now, though, responding to a query from Eurogamer, Telltale has confirmed job losses at the studio. "Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently," it explained. "We did not take this action lightly, and our commitment to storytelling and finding new ways to do so remains the same. We are grateful to everyone for their dedication along this journey, and we are working to support everyone impacted." Telltale did not reveal the number of employees affected by the layoffs, but did provide comment on the status of its games. "All projects currently in development are still in production," it confirmed, "and we have no further updates at this time." That would at least imply The Wolf Among Us 2 remains in production despite recent job losses at the studio. "I want to end on this note," Huang concluded, "I do not want Telltale to fail. I genuinely want to see it succeed. Telltale gave me a good deal this time around, but still, it ended the same way most jobs in games end: a layoff, not a retirement. I ask my fellow game devs to fight for better." Today's news follows Telltale's announcement in August that it had acquired narrative adventure developer Flavourworks, the UK-based studio behind FMV game Erica." EuroGamer: https://lnkd.in/gTTu-t-z ----- Meanwhile just 2 months ago... "Telltale buys Erica developer Flavourworks" (Tom Phillips) (Aug 10, 2023) "Narrative adventure developer Telltale has snapped up Flavourworks, the UK-based studio behind FMV game Erica." "This is, of course, the more recently-reborn version of Telltale which sprung back to life in 2019 under new management, after the original Telltale went under. EuroGamer: https://lnkd.in/gPy5Hymb #gameindustry #videogames #gamedev #gamelayoffs #disturbanceintheforce #telltale

Spot on! It's not the first time a successful game has faced difficulties managing its multiplayer backend and it will not be last. Every team goes through this challenge at some point in their product. We did too! - You can't hire too many people only to let them go later. - You can't build everything in-house. - You can't allocate all your resources to fixing the issue, as it requires specialized skills. The issue is common across all types of games, whether AAA or casual. You simply can't build and maintain every aspect of the product yourself. It's essential to find someone who can work alongside your team when things go awry. Article: https://lnkd.in/gA-fQ6Yd #gamedev #multiplayer

To the people in the industry who believe that layoffs will create new studios: Please cut the BS and stop being delusional Those who are doing the layoffs are the ones that are ALREADY invested in games. How come this will attract new investors and create new studios/job opportunities. Games are not only made with goodwill and hardwork. Studions/People run on money to live and if you dont have enough to buy your security. You simply can't make good enough games. And no we can't talk about 2-3 lucky breaks when there are more than 10K people that has been laid off.

This week Arrowhead Game Studios, the developer of the popular title Helldivers 2, has experienced unexpected success with the game, leading to persistent matchmaking and login issues. It’s hard to truly know where the challenges in the process lie (likely with matchmaking in PlayFab), but I was most struck by CEO Johan Pilestedt remarks about the situation. 1️⃣ He has praised the studio's backend engineers for preventing the game from completely collapsing under the demand. 2️⃣ He acknowledged the challenges of onboarding new developers. Even if Sony sends devs today, it'll probably be a few days before they're effective. In the meantime onboarding new devs would take current devs away from fixing the issues at hand. 3️⃣ He warned against “over-hiring to then do layoffs,” tipping his hat to the current gaming environment and making an important point about hiring teams that you can keep. I respect Johan's healthy approach to managing his team & their focus in this stressful time. One of the advantages studios get with working with 3rd party platforms that offer white glove support, is that we augment your team in your time of need without having to have the expertise on hand at all times. I’ve got plenty of friends who have gone through these challenges, are there parts that I’m missing? What would you add? #gamedev #launchday #prep