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:

https://www.theverge.com/24048636/ebay-layoffs-1000-employees-january-2024

https://arstechnica.com/google/2024/01/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-promises-another-year-of-google-layoffs/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/24/tech/sap-restructuring-ai-jobs-intl-hnk/index.html

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

https://www.brokentoys.org/ludum-mortuus-est/

All in all, rough seas ahead for the techbros.

 

[TowinKarz]

Oh good, another one to the ever-growing list of devs getting eaten by the big EA monster.

Waiting for the day when EA themselves finally die.

They'll never die, if it ever comes to that? They'll just be eaten by the likes of Microsoft.......

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

https://twitter.com/ballmatthew/status/1768068969095721014?ref_url=

[I don't know how to embed twitter links on a forum so that you can see the tweet or whatever the fuck its called nowadays].

Basically the industry is either going to decline another 2% on top of the 4% decline last year, as the best case scenario. The most likely is a decline of 10% this year, before inflation.

 

[GunCar Gary]

Hahah oh wow, I totally missed this.

A short(er) clip:

Direct link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zdLsx1am9TU

this has come up in other news articles before, but what the fuck is wrong with everyone's faces, body types, hair styles, etc? in that video clip of the protestors every person is some ugly, misshapen monster creature. that woman who told the guy that they were just laid off is so unattractive, she's like that Pat character from SNL. what's happening with zoomers/younger millenials?

i also kind of wonder if the fact that the woman seems to be wearing pajama bottoms to a city council meeting is some way connected to why those people don't have jobs anymore

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

https://twitter.com/ballmatthew/status/1768068969095721014?ref_url=

[I don't know how to embed twitter links on a forum so that you can see the tweet or whatever the fuck its called nowadays].

Basically the industry is either going to decline another 2% on top of the 4% decline last year, as the best case scenario. The most likely is a decline of 10% this year, before inflation.

As it should be. All the big players in the industry spent 2023 with consistent back to back commercial flops. Critics can seethe all they want, Consumers simply didn't want most of the shit that was being made. The only successes of the last year were the people doing shit different, whether it be AC6 and their adherence to having actual design principles, BG3 proving that focused expert studios rather than studio names you trade about matters more than budget, or the Dead Space remake showing that its not rose tinted glasses and that the old concepts really were just better. And the mid/indie scene as a whole performed really well.

2023 meanwhile gave us Forespoken, Redfall, Starfield, and probably the worst call of duty since Ghosts dropped. Big players are shitting the bed, and they're going to be shedding dead weight for a while because of it.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

i also kind of wonder if the fact that the woman seems to be wearing pajama bottoms to a city council meeting is some way connected to why those people don't have jobs anymore

Some office jobs are REALLY lax on the whole "casual" of "business casual", especially if you're in a medical field. I've seen people that work on weekends (like 99.9% of office jobs are your typical mon-fri 9-5'ers) that look like they rolled out of bed (take a guess on what race'n'gender do this stuff constantly)

At worst the guys just wear logo-pattern T's, but TECHNICALLY everything is supposed to be plain and jeans is like the most you can get away with.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

As it should be. All the big players in the industry spent 2023 with consistent back to back commercial flops. Critics can seethe all they want, Consumers simply didn't want most of the shit that was being made. The only successes of the last year were the people doing shit different, whether it be AC6 and their adherence to having actual design principles, BG3 proving that focused expert studios rather than studio names you trade about matters more than budget, or the Dead Space remake showing that its not rose tinted glasses and that the old concepts really were just better. And the mid/indie scene as a whole performed really well.

2023 meanwhile gave us Forespoken, Redfall, Starfield, and probably the worst call of duty since Ghosts dropped. Big players are shitting the bed, and they're going to be shedding dead weight for a while because of it.

This year, neither Microsoft or Sony have any AAA first-party game launching. None. 3 years into a generation. Maybe selling nothing is more profitable than selling shit?

And the flops didn't just start in 2023. Diablo 4, Spiderman 2, All of the console>PC ports have been flops, with the exception of Helldivers 2, which would have flopped had it not been for PC.

Microsoft are putting games on rival hardware to cover the cracks. Playstation are doing similar. The PS5pro will flop and the Switch 2 will flop.

The game that the industry is betting the farm on is GTA 6, releasing next year, 12 years after GTA 5 and they think GTA 6 will sell better than GTA 5, with longer legs, while not launching it on PC. lol, good luck.

 

[Kane Lives]

As it should be. All the big players in the industry spent 2023 with consistent back to back commercial flops. Critics can seethe all they want, Consumers simply didn't want most of the shit that was being made. The only successes of the last year were the people doing shit different, whether it be AC6 and their adherence to having actual design principles, BG3 proving that focused expert studios rather than studio names you trade about matters more than budget, or the Dead Space remake showing that its not rose tinted glasses and that the old concepts really were just better. And the mid/indie scene as a whole performed really well.

2023 meanwhile gave us Forespoken, Redfall, Starfield, and probably the worst call of duty since Ghosts dropped. Big players are shitting the bed, and they're going to be shedding dead weight for a while because of it.

I legitimately cannot name a successful AAA game in 2023 off the top of my head. Does Hogwarts: Legacy count?

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

I legitimately cannot name a successful AAA game in 2023 off the top of my head. Does Hogwarts: Legacy count?

Ah, good one, yes actually - over ten million units in the first month, I think its up to 25 now. With budgets up where they are, the bare minimum seems to be around 4-6 million units in the first month (implied - full price) for a game to be fiscally successful. And that's why they're failing so hard, really

For comparison of how impressive 25 million copies are, and how insane it is for 4-6m to be "minimum", we can look at Skyrim, the game basically everyone owns, and many of us own 2-3 times over now. In its lifespan so far, its sold something like 60 million copies, probably more. And it achieved 7 million of those in its first few weeks.

So basically, the average AAA game today has a bare minimum expectation of Skyrim level success to break even. Framed like that its really no wonder why they're shitting the bed, because Justice League, Starfield, Forespoken, they're certainly nowhere near to the impressiveness or impact of Skyrim in its time.

 

[Ahriman]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-blasts-execs-behind-brutal-industry-layoffs-they-can-all-eat-s-i-think-theyre-horrible-greedy-greedy-people/

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

View attachment 5832477

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-blasts-execs-behind-brutal-industry-layoffs-they-can-all-eat-s-i-think-theyre-horrible-greedy-greedy-people/

Remember, the Adams are autistic speds who spend damn near all their waking hours making DF, not engaging with the rest of the industry. They similarly assume that most game developers are like them, not like most of the devs in the industry who manage to spend years achieving basically nothing. Their perception of the value and necessity of layoffs is going to be heavily influenced by this one-two punch of "Hasn't played the trite shit coming out" and "Assumes all devs are enthusiast angels".

 

[moocow]

Remember, the Adams are autistic speds who spend damn near all their waking hours making DF, not engaging with the rest of the industry. They similarly assume that most game developers are like them, not like most of the devs in the industry who manage to spend years achieving basically nothing. Their perception of the value and necessity of layoffs is going to be heavily influenced by this one-two punch of "Hasn't played the trite shit coming out" and "Assumes all devs are enthusiast angels".

They also baked homosexuality and trannies into DF in recent years as well, and cast a foul glare in the direction of anyone who gives advice on the forums on how to mod that shit back out.

It's worth noting that having homosexuals and trannies in a round of DF can be a significant detriment to the functioning and general health of a fortress. For obvious reasons, they don't reproduce (which can be crippling early on and can negatively impact population growth even in mid-to-late game) but they're also more likely to cause insanity spirals since "wants children" is a trait any dwarf can have but a gay or tranny couple can never reproduce, so such couples wind up less happy and more susceptible to going nuts when other stuff around the fort goes wrong.

The mod to get rid of this dumb shit is so "offensive" to these idiots that it had to be hosted on basedmods.com.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

I legitimately cannot name a successful AAA game in 2023 off the top of my head. Does Hogwarts: Legacy count?

Nintendo, all their titles still do extremely well. Tears and Mario Wonder are still some of the highest grossing titles in their catalog/respective series.

Microsoft are putting games on rival hardware to cover the cracks. Playstation are doing similar. The PS5pro will flop and the Switch 2 will flop.

I think Switch 2 will do fine. Nintendo would have to really screw up to kill their current momentum of everything sells well. It will not do as well as Switch 1, but I cannot see it being a Wii U either, especially with the competition killing themselves.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

I think Switch 2 will do fine. Nintendo would have to really screw up to kill their current momentum of everything sells well. It will not do as well as Switch 1, but I cannot see it being a Wii U either, especially with the competition killing themselves.

I don't think any of it is in the hands of Nintendo. The whole idea of the switch is cheap graphics, cheap hardware. Offering expensive graphics on expensive hardware seems backwards to me, considering the Switch 2 will have to have exclusive games.

Unless Nintendo announce Switch 2 is 100% backwards compatible and your purchases carry over, I can see it being a flop. The majority of Wii gamers never bought a second console. Will the majority of switch owners buy another handheld at £300+?

 

[moocow]

Unless Nintendo announce Switch 2 is 100% backwards compatible and your purchases carry over

If I'm not mistaken, they're sticking with the NVidia Tegra architecture (but a newer version of it of course) which should make backwards compatibility a realistic possibility. It's unknown whether they're changing the physical cartridge design, but I don't know of any real complaints about the existing one (speed and capacity seem to be perfectly adequate) so it would make sense for them to either retain the exact same form factor (maybe changing the cartridge shell's color to distinguish between Switch and Switch 2 games) or at least the same connector so original Switch carts will still "fit."

They'd be stupid to ditch backwards compatibility. If they include it, they'll catch people who never bought an OG Switch because the Switch 2 will play both libraries. That's a pretty tempting proposition given the current Switch library.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

I don't think any of it is in the hands of Nintendo. The whole idea of the switch is cheap graphics, cheap hardware. Offering expensive graphics on expensive hardware seems backwards to me, considering the Switch 2 will have to have exclusive games.

Unless Nintendo announce Switch 2 is 100% backwards compatible and your purchases carry over, I can see it being a flop. The majority of Wii gamers never bought a second console. Will the majority of switch owners buy another handheld at £300+?

Assuming the leaks are accurate, backwards compatibility is on the table, and the specs are roughly comparable to last-gen consoles. The ones that released in 2013, although with modern advantages in code and possibly functionality, so think closer to late PS4 in capability rather than launch PS4. If leaks about it having DLSS or an equivalent are true, they might eke out more performance.

Considering the Switch is already seven years old, its really not that unrealistic that people upgrade. The early core adopters are probably running those machines right down to the end of their feasible hardware life in regards to batteries and other short life components in the machine. Most people who have a switch either got it so long ago that its not going to be a case of "I have to buy a new one already?", and those who did buy it so late are likely not the main audience in the first place.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

I don't think any of it is in the hands of Nintendo. The whole idea of the switch is cheap graphics, cheap hardware. Offering expensive graphics on expensive hardware seems backwards to me, considering the Switch 2 will have to have exclusive games.

Unless Nintendo announce Switch 2 is 100% backwards compatible and your purchases carry over, I can see it being a flop. The majority of Wii gamers never bought a second console. Will the majority of switch owners buy another handheld at £300+?

The Switch 2 will technically still be cheap, outdated hardware. It is rumored to be probably more PS4 Pro range, likely worse than Steam Deck. It is also rumored to be backwards capable and I highly doubt they would snub that feature in a sequel console as 3DS and Wii U both had it, along with Wii and DS. Switch was the outlier given it used cartridges, and didn't have dual screen.

Nintendo gets by on exclusives and having the Japanese market. Japanese like handhelds and a lot of Japanese companies refuse to move to Steam. If Sony goes under, they will have no competition. As for America, many still refuse to use PC, so Nintendo would have the handheld/console market.

The Wii to Wii U was a unique situation. Nintendo got pretty lazy late Wii and early Wii U, so exclusives were not worth a purchase when it is New Super Mario Bros. Gaming was also centered more heavily in favor of western developers late 7th-early 8th gen given the COD, Creed, and GTA fad. Finally, naming the consoles like an accessory such as Wii U was a terrible marketing strategy, along with rarely showing anything but a tablet which furthered the idea that it was just a tablet accessory.

 

[Back me up!]

I actually think he's right. 3D modeling/VFX art is one of those multidisciplinary skills that can't be fully automated away. It's like that silly push for self driving cars that only work in certain perfect conditions. There are a lot of nuances to the process from building assets and fine tuning a scene that a video generator can't do. This is yet another example of the uneducated and shortsightedness of MBA types in leadership positions.

Yes, but the dude needs to learn how to lean into it. His answer should have been:

"Pay me 25% more and I will work to figure out a pipeline to make 3D modeling/VFX art more efficient/less time consuming using available AI tools and resources. "

You gotta use the buzzwords against the CEO and get paid. Or at least sell them a dream while doing normal work.

 

[Ahriman]

https://fortune.com/2024/03/18/gilded-age-layoffs-ceos-shareholders-corporate-profits-inequality/

https://www.trustfinta.com/blog/how-do-startups-navigate-fundraising-and-new-hires

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

https://fortune.com/2024/03/18/gilded-age-layoffs-ceos-shareholders-corporate-profits-inequality/

"Why are the people who paid huge sums of money into these companies getting paid by these companies?"

Public perception of the concept of shareholders never ceases to amaze me. Its so incredibly two dimensional, and tends to ignore a lot of even the most basic details, such as "Companies sell shares to get money to do things" and "Selling shares is a completely optional activity that companies can ignore entirely" and "Companies can remove shareholders with buyback programs". Instead people seem to see them as this nebulous cloud of rich people that companies give all their money to because ??? and there's no further nuance beyond them stealing everyone's money.

Shareholders rake in huge dividends because shareholders put huge amounts of money into these risky ventures to help them become what they are today. They fixate on the profitable successes, and ignore the 90%+ startup failure rate. When you buy shares in that and it flops, that moneys fucking gone. Some 2022 estimates had startups in that year that failed wiping out over a hundred billion dollars of investor capital.

And there really isn't a great way to work around this - Try and limit shareholders ability to be paid out, and the economy implodes as people stop investing - why take all the same risks for a fraction of the reward? Try and limit startup capitalization to slow down this accumulation effect, and most market sectors explode because starting up anything bigger than a single shop is simply financially infeasible for the average person. You're not going to open a hundred million dollar factory off the back of a bank loan with a house as collateral, and a hundred million of factory isn't even all that big or profitable. Try and increase taxation on shareholders or companies instead and then that money still doesn't make it to workers, government just wastes and embezzles it instead. Not to mention that it'd still lead to the first scenarios issues of the system imploding as investment craters.

At the end of the day, this problem was both inevitable, and started quite literally generations ago as some people were successful or unsuccessful in business or investing, and rolled that wealth down to the next generation. A handful had back to back generational success, while some had generations that blew all their money and never saved or invested. Compound that over time, and you inevitably get this no matter what you did back then.

 

[Super Dilator Duel 3D]

The mod to get rid of this dumb shit is so "offensive" to these idiots that it had to be hosted on basedmods.com.

I don't mean to derail, but this post is how I discovered basedmods and I've already bookmarked it. Had a laugh scrolling through some of the mods for familiar games. Thanks!