The gaming industry continued to hit new revenue heights last year, but game developers couldn’t protect their jobs. Some of the people involved in making the games we love suddenly lose their jobs, go through periods of unfair treatment, and a union-free workplace protects them like the movie industry.
Successful game studios, which create globally beloved titles based on popular works like Marvel, Star Wars, and Batman, suffer the same fate. In its history, EA has closed dozens of game studios it has acquired, including Westwood, Maxis, and Black Box Games.
With Telltales Game’s closure bringing the total number of game studios completely closed over the past 12 months to 10. 275 Telltale employees lost their jobs suddenly and without compensation, however the remaining 25 will “fulfill their obligations” company with management and partners,” Telltale said of its future.
Here are the game studios we lost in the last 12 months, including the number of people who lost their jobs in that game studio (subject to information available)
Motiga
Gigantic Development
75 employees
— Visceral Games (@VisceralGames) October 17, 2017
Visceral
Developed Dead Space, Battlefield Hardline and an unreleased Star Wars project.
At least 80 members
Telltale Games
Developing The Walking Dead and its multi-chapter series.
275 employees
Boss Key Productions
Development of LawBreakers and Radical Heights
There was a time when 60 employees were at their peak
Runic
The Father of Torghlight and Hob
Carbine
Wildstar’s father
The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency
Drawn to Death development and an unannounced project canceled
Wargaming Seattle (predecessor Gas Powered Games)
Developing Supreme Commander, Dungeon Siege
About 150 employees
Unfortunately Capcom Vancouver shuttered today. I’m in a bit of a shock, but if you know of anyone looking for an 18 year experienced game designer send them my way. Spread the word!
— Aidan Scanlan (@aidanscanlan) September 18, 2018
Capcom Vancouver
Developing Dead Rising
158 employees
Gazillion Entertainment
The Father of Marvel Heroes
About 200 employees
Other notable layoffs over the past year include Big Fish Games, CCP’s VR division, Harmonix, Hangar 13 (Mafia 3), Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die!), Volition (Agents of Mayhem), and Twitch.
While the gaming industry lacks policy support for employees, we still see a culture of solidarity among developers around this issue. Many game studios have posted on social media to make their job listings stand out as #telltalejobs.
A list of 20 former Telltale members hit hard by this cut also appeared online, asking for donations. “One victim of Telltale’s unexpected layoffs that no one knows about is Delmis Luna, who has been cleaning offices for years,” reads a ko-fi.com donation page. “Last week, she lost her main source of income, and her mother just died. It was a bad week. Any financial support, to help feed her child and pay the rent, while she looks for a new job would be greatly appreciated.”
Source link: Compilation of the list of major game studios that have closed in the past year
– https://emergenceingames.com/