Business Big Tech Layoffs Megathread - Techbros... we got too cocky...

Since my previous thread kinda-sorta turned into a soft megathread, and the tech layoffs will continue until morale improves, I think it's better to group them all together.

For those who want a QRD:


Just this week we've had these going on:

1706112535506.png

1706112610401.png

1706112702576.png

But it's not just Big Tech, the vidya industry is also cleaning house bigly:

1706112854585.png

All in all, rough seas ahead for the techbros.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
  • Winner
Reactions: UERISIMILITUDO, The bearer of arms, King Vidiot and 22 others
Click to expand...
FedPostalService said:
I’ll be laughing when Trump wins the election, forces these companies to hire US staff, and the rehired staff call him a fascist and keep voting the party that will outsource their jobs again.
Click to expand...
I'm sure part of it is California costs. But you have to assume that the other part is the nationality of the management chain and the usual flow of work to their countrymen when they're hired. Plus Mexico I guess...
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: UncleTusky, Marvin, Falcos_Commisar and 1 other person
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Justa Grata Honoria, The Hardest R, sadrefrigerator and 6 others
Ahriman said:
View attachment 5952790

...yea I'm thinking that we're seeing the beginning of the end of Silicon Valley and all its hyper-inflated bullshit as we know it.

The common denominator has been moving jobs elsewhere, that is, somewhere cheaper than Commiefornia.
Click to expand...
Just before releasing its impressive first-quarter earnings report on April 25, Google implemented layoffs affecting at least 200 employees from its “Core” teams, as part of a reorganization that includes relocating some roles to India and Mexico, according to CNBC.

The Core unit is responsible for constructing the technical framework for the company’s flagship products and ensuring users’ online safety, as described on Google’s website.
Click to expand...
Documents show that at least 50 of the eliminated positions were in engineering at the company's Sunnyvale, California offices. Many of these roles will be replicated in Mexico and India, based on internal documents seen by CNBC.
Click to expand...
Just more new Genericans replacing old Genericans. There's a couple billion Genericans waiting to take those jobs next as well. The cycle of Generica spins eternal.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: N Space and SIMIΔN
Absolutego said:
.Unfortunately, they also purged HR in the midst of this contraction, and now nobody knows how to operate the dogfood frankenstein monster they built in-house (it's a Ruby on Rails app, pretend to be shocked) to process job applications and are auto-denying everything coming in
Click to expand...
What's the unfortunate part?
 
  • Like
Reactions: VorpalAnvil-, ApeBass, Malodorous Merkin and 7 others
Ahriman said:
View attachment 5954389
Click to expand...
"People familiar with Musk's thinking..."

Huh. Haven't seen that one trotted out since Trump was in office. It translates directly to "pulled directly from my ass in a way that still sounds authoritative and I think you can't sue me for," but this is a sign the press is taking off the gloves with him. It makes sense since they've hated Musk ever since he bought their biggest propaganda platform, but I think they're switching to "serious mode" now.
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Falcos_Commisar, Marsh Rabbit, Marvin and 5 others
1715094876493.png1715095049844.png
Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.
Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to make any purchases in the game.
Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today.
Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world that millions of players call home.
Click to expand...

1715095283647.png
Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox gaming division will shut down four subsidiaries, including the game studio Arkane Austin, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg.

Arkane Austin’s most recent game, Redfall, was one of Microsoft’s biggest flops last year. The company said it will end development on the game and “provide make-good offers” to players who prepurchased content that will never be released.

Xbox will also shutter subsidiaries Alpha Dog Studios, Roundhouse Games and Tango Gameworks, the Japanese studio behind critically acclaimed hits such as Hi-Fi Rush. Roundhouse Games will be absorbed by ZeniMax Online Studios, the maker of The Elder Scrolls Online.

“These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades,” wrote Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, in an email to employees Tuesday.

Booty did not say how many people will lose their jobs as a result of the shutdowns. He also noted that, “Bethesda remains one of the key pillars of Xbox” with upcoming titles, such as a Starfield expansion and a new game based on Indiana Jones, planned for later this year.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Falcos_Commisar, Coo Coo Bird, CansOfCant and 1 other person
That Arkane studio dying is no surprise at all, but I am surprised they're axing Tango. All of their games have been commercial successes, critical successes, and didn't have any real evidence of crippling dysfunction internally. At worst, they seemed to have a lack of unique studio identity, but there's nothing wrong with being a B+ jack of all trades studio, as long as your aware of that. If you voluntarily give up trying to form too much of an identity, you can actually keep salaries down and treat it as a 'weeder' studio for more serious ones - Bring in unproven talent cheap here, make whatever happens to be interesting, and then shuffle the now experienced talent off into the specialized studios that better make use of whatever talent they've shown.

Terrifik said:
1715095283647.png
Click to expand...
This is probably going to turn out to be a mistake. They keep trying to force successes financially in a creative field, rather than acknowledging that you need to play the numbers game for most titles - You have a handful of reliable success studios critically, but you're overbudgeting them and guaranteeing fiscal failure. Shave them down to reasonable budgets on slightly extended timelines, and play the middle with 2-3 year projects from 50ish head studios with the capital you saved, and stick 'em as gamepass meat. Your goal is for most of them to break even, but maximize the odds that one or two turns out to be a breakout success that way overperforms, and looks amazing for your gamepass marketing. Space around the releases so you have a new first party, AA game coming out every 1-2 months to keep subscription numbers up, and you're golden.

Cancelling the wider project space to pool resources into games that already realistically can't make back their budget is just burning your capital pool on sink projects with no real benefit. You only really need one or two huge loss leader platform games every generation, one in the launch window and one near the end of life cycle. That's your Halo or your Gears where you give them a budget of "Yes" and just accept that its gonna burn 3 games worth of resources to get out the door. Its not sustainable.
 
  • Like
  • Agree
  • Dumb
Reactions: ltlftp, Falcos_Commisar, Gutless and 5 others
stealing from the Sweet Baby Inc thread

Game Studio that Designed the new Pokémon GO Avatars hit with Layoffs​

Trainers, we noticed an interesting post on Reddit today, and went ahead to verify if it was true – turns out it is. An independent game studio from Seattle, called Very Very Spaceship (VVS), is a long running game development partner employed by Niantic to work on various aspects of the game.
Click to expand...
Today, several VVS employees announced that they have been laid off by the company. One of the laid off VVS employees, Kelsey Martin, is a 3D Character Artist that worked directly on the new Avatars system.
Click to expand...
Martin shared his thoughts on LinkedIn, among several other recently laid off employees:
After 4 orbits around the sun, my time at Very Very Spaceship has come to an end. I am very proud of the work we did on Pokémon Go’s Character Creator to add features to make it more inclusive and expressive for players. But now it’s time for my next adventure. If you know of any opportunities for a Senior Character and Game Artist, please let me know. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

this is even funnier when you pull up Kelsey Martin's picture
kelsey.png 622d230138fb6.jpeg

even funnier still when you pull up the team picture for Very Very Spaceship
65b18fe7c6db4c2062abf5bc_IMG_1933_20(1).png

and even funnier yet again when you go to their team page and check out their profile badges. it looks like they spent more time finding token niggers, drawing cutesy images of themselves, choosing pronouns, and coming up with quotes than actually working on the Pokemon Go character creator

vvs1.png

vvs2.png

vvs3.png
 

Attachments

  • pokemongototheunemployementoffice.png
    pokemongototheunemployementoffice.png
    458.8 KB · Views: 18
  • Like
  • Winner
  • Informative
Reactions: VorpalAnvil-, Falcos_Commisar, Fatsuit Shinji and 5 others
Ahriman said:
View attachment 5969029
Click to expand...
Welp, that whole Tesla fad sure was neat. I have doubts though as to whether giving Tesla the Twitter "fire the deadweight" treatment will turn the company around.

Locking down the electronics in their cars and selling fucking DLC (sorry, "subscriptions") for some features sure didn't help them either.

I was mildly interested in their rooftop solar tiles idea (instead of traditional solar panels, the whole roof gets covered in shingle-like tiles -- it doesn't really look any different from a normal roof and doesn't require the usual permissions from HOA dipshits and such), until I saw the price tag ($30k about 5 years ago for a 1,500 sq. ft. house, now up to $70k!).

Meh. Maybe someone else can do it better and cheaper.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: Falcos_Commisar, N Space and Lobster Cult High Priest
  • Agree
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Disagree
Reactions: Marvin, N Space, Bugman's Burden and 1 other person
The Hardest R said:
What the fuck kind of innovation would ever be happening in Lagos?

Still feels like most tech companies are trimming all the excess bullshit. I know several niggas in project management and engineering roles at Tesla and they are continuing to hire and expand.
Click to expand...
These layoffs are only being reported on because it's the woke foot-soldiers being purged from these companies.
 
  • Optimistic
  • Feels
  • Agree
Reactions: Justa Grata Honoria, Baroque, Fatsuit Shinji and 2 others
Kuritan Deplorable said:
That Arkane studio dying is no surprise at all, but I am surprised they're axing Tango. All of their games have been commercial successes, critical successes, and didn't have any real evidence of crippling dysfunction internally. At worst, they seemed to have a lack of unique studio identity, but there's nothing wrong with being a B+ jack of all trades studio, as long as your aware of that. If you voluntarily give up trying to form too much of an identity, you can actually keep salaries down and treat it as a 'weeder' studio for more serious ones - Bring in unproven talent cheap here, make whatever happens to be interesting, and then shuffle the now experienced talent off into the specialized studios that better make use of whatever talent they've shown.
Click to expand...
Axing Arkane should have been done years ago, but the guys who made Ghostwire and Evil Within? I have no idea what they did to deserve the chop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Falcos_Commisar
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back