Tag Archives: lay-offs

A post over on fansite WipEoutZone has revealed that SCEE plans to make a cut in staff at Studio Liverpool with the WipEout HD team rumored to be on the list of redundancies.

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Yesterday, we reported that Red 5 Studios had cast a number of its employees back into the choppy seas of unemployment, and today, the developer released a statement that more or less amounts to “Yeah, we laid-off some people, but look! There’s a butterfly – over there, right behind that giant stack of normalcy and never-been-better!”

According to Kotaku‘s ever-useful sources, however, something’s amiss.

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You may never have heard of Red 5 Studios, but trace its lineage a bit and you’ll find a treasure trove of talent. Sporting a large number of ex-Blizzard staffers, the developer was all set to become one of the industry’s brightest rising stars.

But, as they say, whatever goes up must come down.

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More bad news for the British development community. Following news yesterday of Rebellion Derby sailing into rough weather, we’ve just been told by a solid source that veteran Yorkshire studio The Code Monkeys has made most – if not all – staff redundant.

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Warner Bros. has made a number of layoffs at Monolith Productions, Surreal Software, and Snowblind Studios.

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The worldwide industry has been hit by up to 11,500 job losses since late 2008, a new study claims.

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Update: An MTV spokesperson has told IndustryGamers that the lay-offs “was a process and business decision unrelated to the performance of any MTV Games or Harmonix products” and that “Harmonix staffed up its QA department and support positions based on the 2009 worldwide release schedule. At this time, Harmonix will shift to a combination of temporary/part time help, outsourcing and support from external partners (which is in line with how other game developers manage their QA departments.)”

Original: Rumors were circling Twitter all morning that staff members over at Harmonix were laid-off this morning, and MTV Games has confirmed the news to Joystiq.

According to a rep speaking with the site, 39 positions were made redundant as part of a restructuring process to “better align [the] staffing to best suit [Harmonix's] product development plans and schedules moving forward.”

Most positions were in QA, while some administrative and various other positions also suffering the loss of a job, along with one designer as well.

These redundancies are not associated with the lay-offs at EA, as it’s a “totally and completely unrelated” issue.

We’re very sorry to hear this, and wish those affected the best of luck.

More through the link.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for EA. First came the announcement that the publisher plans to bolster the unemployment line’s numbers by 1,500, and today, Pandemic joined the list of casualties. So, Industry Gamers wondered, how’s BioWare faring? Pretty well, as it turns out. Though the normally verbose developer didn’t exactly give us much to go on.

“There’s no reaction to report from BioWare; it is business as usual,” said a BioWare rep.

Now, now guys, don’t tell us your life’s story or anything.

More through the link. But it’s not from BioWare, in case you were wondering.

EA released its Q2 earnings report today, and – as you can probably guess – it wasn’t exactly written on gilded paper. Net losses continue to pile up, now sitting at $391 million – a fairly substantial increase over last year’s $310 million. As the stinging cross in this bank-breaking combo, sales are also down at $788 million, compared to last year’s $894 million. EA CEO John Riccitiello, however, insists that the situation is under control.

“EA is performing well, with quality, sales and segment share up so far this year,” he said. “We are making tough calls to cut cost in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses.”

“Tough calls,” indeed. EA also confirmed that it’s laying-off 1500 employees as part of a “cost reduction plan.” This confirms earlier rumblings that EA was getting ready to cut a few employees loose. Well, except for the “a few” part.

Best of luck to all affected.

Activision’s confirmed that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows developer Shaba is now more, following rumour reports earlier this week.

“Activision continually evaluates the resources at our studio properties to ensure that they are properly matched to our product slate and overall strategic goals,” said a statement from the publisher.

“As part of this process, we recently made the difficult but necessary decision to close Shaba Studios. We are grateful for the studio’s contributions and wish this talented team success in their future endeavours.”

All the best, chaps. More on GI.

Kotaku’s reporting that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows dev Shaba’s been closed by Activision.

Apparently some 30 staffers were dropped in the move, which follows similar cuts at 7-Studios earlier this week.

To those that no longer make Spider-Man games: we salute you.

Update: We’ve just had Codemasters on the phone to reiterate that no permanent staff have been affected by this in any way, and the 70 QA positions were held by temps reaching the end of contracts.

Original story:

Codemasters has confirmed to VG247 that it’s just dropped “around” 70 QA staff, temps designed to push through DiRT 2 and Op Flash: Dragon Rising.

We’ve just been told that those cut free today were “never on permanent contracts”.

We’re actually hearing a slightly different story from dev contacts, but hopefully details will become clearer later today.

Age of Conan dev Funcom is to drop 20 percent of its workforce, according to E24, resulting in a “significant delay” to upcoming MMO The Secret World.

The game had never been officially dated, but was expected in 2010.

The company employs around 300 staff, so 60 jobs look set to go.

Funcom’s currently in the process of relocating to Quebec and it’s debatable legal games-related tax breaks. It lost $34 million last year.

Thanks, GI and EG.

GRIN has just refused to comment on overnight talk that it’s in danger of closing.

“At the moment we have no comment to anything [related to] that matter,” said a rep for the Swedish developer.

When pushed, the response became flatter.

“No,” said the spokesperson when asked if they could confirm any truth in the initial report.

“We’re not commenting.”

Another staffer told VG247 that all GRIN staff returned from a vacation yesterday. If this Gamasutra report is to be believed, they were met with bad news.

The story said that the Bionic Commando developer has seen “significant layoffs” and may be “facing difficulty staying afloat.”

GRIN’s Barcelona and Gothenburg offices have now apparently closed. Gama sources claim the company’s main Stockholm office may also be in jeopardy.

The company was rumoured to have laid off between 100-160 staff in May, following Bionic Commando’s release.

Gama’s reporting that Bionic Commando developer GRIN has seen “significant layoffs” and may be “facing difficulty staying afloat.”

The news comes from “reliable development sources,” apparently.

The company was rumoured to have laid off between 100-160 staff in May, following Bionic Commando’s release.

20 per cent of troubled company Midway’s staff have been given two month’s notice, reports Edge.

According to the Chicago Tribune, among those to be let go is chief executive Matt Booty.

Hard times indeed.

Warner recently paid $49m for the Mortal Kombat developer, as was reported last week.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it is to lay-off 41 full-time employees, which equals 5 percent of the workforce.

SOE says that it will not be providing any interviews or further comment on the matter, according to a statement sent to Massively.

“In a move to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs, Sony Online Entertainment has eliminated 5% of its full-time workforce, equaling 41 people.

“SOE looks forward to continuing its leadership role in the online games industry as it celebrates the highly successful launch of Free Realms, the 10-year commemoration of its ground-breaking EverQuest franchise, and the continued performance of the company’s other games.”

No word on which positions were eliminated.

Hit the link for more.

Kotaku’s rumouring that Rockstar New England’s “entire QA department” has been laid off, along with some other staffer from different departments.

Rockstar apparently wants QA kept to a central studio.

Estimates are that “at least 10 percent of the studio” was made redundant.

Rockstar New England was rebranded from Mad Doc Software after being acquired in February last year.

Despite recent lay-offs, Crystal Dynamics is hiring for a Senior Art Director for “one of the most prestigious AAA franchises in the industry”, according to a job post on Gamasutra.

According to the listing:

“Crystal Dynamics has a rare opening for a Senior Art Director on one of the most prestigious AAA franchises in the industry. We are looking for an exceptional talent to bring onto the team and continue the long tradition of visually stunning and award winning titles from Crystal Dynamics.”

Job requirements include having shipped a “minimum of 2 video games as Art Director demonstrating a high visual bar”, seven years in the industry, a proven track record of “working with an established AAA franchise”, and next-gen console expertise.

We have put a word in with Crystal Dynamics for further information.

Who knows. This could be the reinvented Tomb Raider game Ian Livingstone was chatting about last month.

Via Joystiq.

Alienware is to close both of its manufacturing plants, based in Miami and Ireland

Production will be moved to parent company Dell’s facilities.

The news comes from an internal memo, cited in this ExtremeTech report.

Alienware spokeswoman Winnie Wong has apparently confirmed the memo as authentic, but would not say how many employees would be affected.

The memo said that the changes, including the layoffs, would be completed by the end of Dell’s third fiscal quarter, which ends October 31.

More through there.