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Sad news. Bungie was recently bought out by Playstation and are considered the gold standard for the live service model. But even they can't escape layoffs.
Bungie is not the only Sony/PlayStation owned studio affected by layoffs.Do you think this gives more credence to the rumour that they are slowing down their GaaS initiative and teaming up with 3rd parties for more single-player exclusives?
Yeah, but I feel like if you're going all in on GaaS then the one studio you have that's experts in it and are supposedly supervising all the other ones would probably avoid layoffs, and if anything would actually grow.Bungie is not the only Sony/PlayStation owned studio affected by layoffs.
Not necessarily when you consider they spent all the money on Bungie, and their main project is GAAS by nature. Unless it's fully stated that other non-GAAS studio/titles was stopped from pivoting towards the other direction, there has yet to be concrete proof. If anything the situation with Bungie is more of bad project management with all the delays since the acquisition.Do you think this gives more credence to the rumour that they are slowing down their GaaS initiative and teaming up with 3rd parties for more single-player exclusives?
I don't necessarily think that it would make them immune from layoffs when this seems like a reaction to their gaming division's declining operating income. But we'll have to see which positions were affected.Yeah, but I feel like if you're going all in on GaaS then the one studio you have that's experts in it and are supposedly supervising all the other ones would probably avoid layoffs, and if anything would actually grow.
Not sure how reliable this guy is, but according to him quite a few positions were affectedI don't necessarily think that it would make them immune from layoffs when this seems like a reaction to their gaming division's declining operating income. But we'll have to see which positions were affected.
Not sure how reliable this guy is, but according to him quite a few positions were affected
Not sure how reliable this guy is, but according to him quite a few positions were affected
welcome to the family
Most of the developers who made the best games this years are indie developers or Japanese publishers who have not announced layoffs. I agree with what you're putting down tho. Has insomniac announced layoffs? I know Naughty Dog did.2023 is getting lauded as one of the best years ever in games, but there have been so many layoffs. What’s going to happen if the next couple years are as barren as they look?
Not sure how reliable this guy is, but according to him quite a few positions were affected
Next couple of years will be very interesting for gaming. Like you said, we are in the middle of a legendary year for gaming (as per Matt's tweet earlier today), but next year for games is looking to be less exciting off the bat. Hardware and accessories will probably be down, especially if Nintendo's next system is coming later in the year. Companies like Sony and Microsoft keep talking about record growth, but what if they have a year with negative growth? I hope it doesn't happen, but they might make bigger cuts, which would suck for everyone.This all sucks, and I think it’s making me even more upset because I just finished reading Press Reset which is all about how much the game industry screws over its developers. 2023 is getting lauded as one of the best years ever in games, but there have been so many layoffs. What’s going to happen if the next couple years are as barren as they look?
Pretty much. After Sony acquired Bungie, it was only a matter of time before these layoffs were announced.A lot of those positions make this look like your typical post-acquisition layoffs where they bring all of that stuff in house and "trim the fat". That is why I will never cheer on acquisitions, regardless of who is doing it.
Though Bungie employees said leadership has assured them there will be “absolutely no layoffs” and nothing “major” in terms of restructuring once the Sony deal closes, the acquisition represents a notable shift for the Washington-based game developers.
Playstation has not had serious competition for over a decade now.I remember when Sony was recovering from the PS3 disaster, and there was this moment when a lot of people hadn't yet noticed but they had really got their shit together despite the PS3 still being a bit of a meme. Meanwhile Xbox was starting to fuck around with Kinect and so on.
It was obvious that the PS4 would be a huge success if Sony could just keep their momentum going, and that's what happened.
Right now it kind of feels like the opposite. Playstation is thriving, but things don't seem... right. Feels like Wily Coyote running off the ledge, and for a while he keeps on running just fine, but the audience can see that something's wrong, and there's a fall coming.
I guess Sony will continue to downsize more in-house studios and rely more on third party to pick up the slack with their IP’s
Time for Nintendo to build a new studio or expand retro and pick up these laid off workers
what gets me was what's the 1.2 billion for staff retentions is it for the actual devs and not the cm and publishing when they sold to PlayStationReading this article from early '22
well
The company I work with (I am an outsourced employee) just bought another company for 20bill USD... A few weeks after a 10% global workforce cut was implemented as the business is not doing so "well" as expected...Ultimately, to companies like Sony these people are just numbers. They acquired 10 studios in the last three years and now they got a few more numbers to tweak because line must go up. Don't be surprised if they start closing down some as well. The same is happening to Embracer and it will also happen to Microsoft post-ABK acquisition. It's just what they do.
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To make it seem like it's purely an accident borne of necessity and not the plan the entire time.Why do companies seem to regularly say "no layoffs will happen" just a little bit before they begin?
Employees may as well take those words as a sign to head for the hills.
It's a pretty standard (and largely empty) promise when a merger occurs. I was part of a layoff following a merger a few years ago. We were told "nothing is going to happen" until things happened.Why do companies seem to regularly say "no layoffs will happen" just a little bit before they begin?
Employees may as well take those words as a sign to head for the hills.
Growth through efficiency. Making more with less so to speak.yeah sorry but with the success of playstation, this amount of layoffs is really baffling
serious WHAT is going on?
More info from Paul Tassi. Sounds like this was a Bungie management decision, not Sony.
More info from Paul Tassi. Sounds like this was a Bungie management decision, not Sony.
More info from Paul Tassi. Sounds like this was a Bungie management decision, not Sony.
More info from Paul Tassi. Sounds like this was a Bungie management decision, not Sony.
So Bungie's laying people off to steal their shares. I actually thought this might be down to leadership incompetence, but turns out it's just management worshiping at the feet of Mammon.But those shares revert to Bungie if you leave, even if you're fired