Tragedy Continues to Strike the Gaming Industry as Even More Layoffs Come To 2K Games | MMORPG.com

System · February 9

Tragedy Continues to Strike the Gaming Industry as Even More Layoffs Come To 2K Games | MMORPG.com

2K Games has laid off yet another round of staff, but this time, we have no idea on how many were actually affected this time around.

Read the full story here

cheezyweasel · February 9

such a tragedy that there isnt just infinite money everywhere all the time, those poor, poor software developers, how could the world be so cruel?

DeskMonkey13 · February 9

Most are losing their grahpics artists and content creators from what I can surmise.

Kyleran · February 9

DeskMonkey13 said:

Most are losing their grahpics artists and content creators from what I can surmise.

A lot of customer service as well.

hovsep56 · February 9

good, too many chefs ruin the soup as they say.

coziness creates laziness.

Scot · February 9

I am not sure I would call this a tragedy, losing your job is something people need to expect could happen in their life and realise that most bounce back. However, you always hope they land on their feet, it will be a tough time.

maskedweasel · February 9

Scot said:

I am not sure I would call this a tragedy, losing your job is something people need to expect could happen in their life and realise that most bounce back. However, you always hope they land on their feet, it will be a tough time.

I think what we're looking at here is a little more than just losing a job though. We're looking at around a dozen or more companies cutting jobs in the industry.

That means developers are either not doing as well as people think. Projects aren't as profitable as they used to be. Or in the case where they are, they're attempting to choose profit over staff.

But in the case of workers it also shrinks the number of jobs available for those that just lost theirs.

In gaming devs should expect to lose their job, especially during times where studios are between projects. But with so many all around the same time, it's completely different than a normal cycle.

It's definitely a worrying trend at the moment.

Kyleran · February 9

Scot said:

I am not sure I would call this a tragedy, losing your job is something people need to expect could happen in their life and realise that most bounce back. However, you always hope they land on their feet, it will be a tough time.

Agreed, as one who suffered through a number of corporate tech lay-offs it was definitely a time of uncertainty and duress, but tragedy is a word normally reserved for more serious, often life threatening situations.

What's happening today is simply normal economic course corrections, there really is no escaping the business cycle.

As I mentioned in another post, maybe there really are too many new games being delivered today which is oversaturating the market.

Angrakhan · February 9

First of all the gaming market is clearly in a correction. I can't speak for the gaming industry, but the software I write is directly related to the housing market. Inflation and the Fed's subsequent corrective attempts of raising interest rates put the brakes on the whole industry as buyers dried up due to people not being too keen on paying 7% interest on their mortgage. Fewer home sales means less budget for things like software which is what the company I work for sells. Fewer software sales means less budget for salaries. Point being is inflation has ripple effects and it wouldn't surprise me if those ripples aren't what is driving all these layoffs. It seems unlikely that it's just lower quality as that would be restricted to a few shops and this seems to cut across a larger number of studios.

That being said I have worked in the software industry for over 25 years now and I've only been involuntarily out of work for two weeks. If you're even passable in this industry and want to work you can find a job. There's always been way more work than people capable of doing the job. I've been laid off twice in my career and voluntarily quit twice. Every time I've ended up in a better, higher paying situation than before. I would go so far as to say you're actually severely hamstringing your career if you work at the same place for more than a few years because the amount your salary can jump in a job change far exceeds the 1% to 3% raise most companies are willing to hand out. I've increased salary as much as 50% in a single job change. No corporate bean counter is ever going to sign off on that.

All this TLDR to say this is an opportunity for the folks laid off if they'll view it as such. They may need to reset expectations and look at opportunities outside of gaming, but there's work out there for them if they are at all good at their job. The chaff, of course, will struggle but they need to find something else regardless.

Tiller · February 9

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

Slapshot1188 · February 9

Not gonna lie @Tiller When I first saw your post and the imbedded link I thought it was an AI bot until I saw who posted it

Mawnee · February 9

The NBA 2k games have been awful for years. I still play 2k16 when I feel like playing. The new ones somehow got worse.

ValdemarJ · February 9

Free money is gone, for now, until the Fed drops interest rates again. Free money programs and projects are getting cut. It's sad but not tragic. The only tragedy here is the rapidly declining quality of content this site is issuing and their crack addiction to SEO.

We're a small company and hired someone during this last fiscal year period. Not all companies are shrinking, just mainly those who had a lot of VC and free loan money that's now dried up.

In the US, this is an election year. This always causes turmoil, pullback, and restraint until companies figure out how things will unfold for them in the new landscape. Normally it doesn't happen so early, but we're already feeling it as several of our clients (and potential clients) are already making more conservative plans and putting stuff on hold for the time being.

So, it isn't all doom and gloom. It's a bit of temporary skittishness. When free money starts flowing again, so will the hiring for fluff positions.

Kyleran · February 9

Tiller said:

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

You know it's going to be a very different future when normally level headed corporate executives predict things like 3.5 day workweeks.

They also say there will be a real need for wholesale workforce retraining as ML and AI eliminate the once more lucrative roles in technology, finance and other white collar industries which is where I found my safe haven in about 35 years ago.

I look at what I get paid to do and realize 30 years ago most of it didn't even exist in terms of being a career.

Unfortunately in the future the demand for my skills will be much less I'm sure.

The wheels of change roll on and on.

BTW, trades are still where it's at, my 31 year old son in law makes as much, if not more money as a contract window installer than I do as a Tech Senior Program Mgr who is by no means underpaid.

Tiller · February 9

Kyleran said:

Tiller said:

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

You know it's going to be a very different future when normally level headed corporate executives predict things like 3.5 day workweeks.

They also say there will be a real need for wholesale workforce retraining as ML and AI eliminate the once more lucrative roles in technology, finance and other white collar industries which is where I found my safe haven in about 35 years ago.

I look at what I get paid to do and realize 30 years ago most of it didn't even exist in terms of being a career.

Unfortunately in the future the demand for my skills will be much less I'm sure.

The wheels of change roll on and on.

BTW, trades are still where it's at, my 31 year old son in law makes as much, if not more money as a contract window installer than I do as a Tech Senior Program Mgr who is by no means underpaid.

Yeah trades, medical, hospitality and some manufacturing and logistics are somewhat safe for now until they can figure out how to automate everything. Watch Amazon to be the first ones to try and reduce more and more workforce through automation and in the future AI driven delivery.

ZenJelly · February 9

Tiller said:

Kyleran said:

Tiller said:

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

You know it's going to be a very different future when normally level headed corporate executives predict things like 3.5 day workweeks.

They also say there will be a real need for wholesale workforce retraining as ML and AI eliminate the once more lucrative roles in technology, finance and other white collar industries which is where I found my safe haven in about 35 years ago.

I look at what I get paid to do and realize 30 years ago most of it didn't even exist in terms of being a career.

Unfortunately in the future the demand for my skills will be much less I'm sure.

The wheels of change roll on and on.

BTW, trades are still where it's at, my 31 year old son in law makes as much, if not more money as a contract window installer than I do as a Tech Senior Program Mgr who is by no means underpaid.

Yeah trades, medical, hospitality and some manufacturing and logistics are somewhat safe for now until they can figure out how to automate everything. Watch Amazon to be the first ones to try and reduce more and more workforce through automation and in the future AI driven delivery.

Amazon has a lot of automation and at many sites they are adding automation, but it's not reducing their workforce at all. The only thing it's doing is allowing their current workforce to get more out the door.

Alverant · February 9

Not as many people were buying rushed games so the execs fired a bunch of people to make next quarter numbers look better and keep their unearned bonuses.

ominator · February 9

Maybe stop pending development money on graphics, more on game mechanics, and maybe you have something that people are willing to pay for?

Or you could pump yet another NBA 2008975 iteration and expect people to purchase it at full price.

Arglebargle · February 9

Alverant said:

Not as many people were buying rushed games so the execs fired a bunch of people to make next quarter numbers look better and keep their unearned bonuses.

Corpo Town BS indeed. Unrealistic expectations of the top brass leading to someone else getting fired for their CEO/investor cupidity.

Sovrath · February 9

Kyleran said:

Tiller said:

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

You know it's going to be a very different future when normally level headed corporate executives predict things like 3.5 day workweeks.

They also say there will be a real need for wholesale workforce retraining as ML and AI eliminate the once more lucrative roles in technology, finance and other white collar industries which is where I found my safe haven in about 35 years ago.

I look at what I get paid to do and realize 30 years ago most of it didn't even exist in terms of being a career.

Unfortunately in the future the demand for my skills will be much less I'm sure.

The wheels of change roll on and on.

BTW, trades are still where it's at, my 31 year old son in law makes as much, if not more money as a contract window installer than I do as a Tech Senior Program Mgr who is by no means underpaid.

A friend of mine who has his PhD, from Harvard no less, said that if he could do it over he’d go into the trades.

The thing is that his mentality has always been more “Trades” than heavy academia.

Slapshot1188 · February 9

ZenJelly said:

Tiller said:

Kyleran said:

Tiller said:

Gaming industry is not as big a cash cow as it used to be for sure. As for the rest of the US, Job reduction is happening across all industries right now. Some of it is simply Agile transformation, and in some cases a lot of companies are downsizing US work force in tech and offering the same jobs in places like India and The Philippians, or consolidating their footprints to what they call strategic locations, return to office mandates ect. I don't like to call it political but it happens more often in election years. I hope these folks find new decent paying jobs for sure, as I know most have families to take care of.

You know it's going to be a very different future when normally level headed corporate executives predict things like 3.5 day workweeks.

They also say there will be a real need for wholesale workforce retraining as ML and AI eliminate the once more lucrative roles in technology, finance and other white collar industries which is where I found my safe haven in about 35 years ago.

I look at what I get paid to do and realize 30 years ago most of it didn't even exist in terms of being a career.

Unfortunately in the future the demand for my skills will be much less I'm sure.

The wheels of change roll on and on.

BTW, trades are still where it's at, my 31 year old son in law makes as much, if not more money as a contract window installer than I do as a Tech Senior Program Mgr who is by no means underpaid.

Yeah trades, medical, hospitality and some manufacturing and logistics are somewhat safe for now until they can figure out how to automate everything. Watch Amazon to be the first ones to try and reduce more and more workforce through automation and in the future AI driven delivery.

Amazon has a lot of automation and at many sites they are adding automation, but it's not reducing their workforce at all. The only thing it's doing is allowing their current workforce to get more out the door.

Not quite true. It’s performing tasks faster or cheaper than humans. They are just reassigning the humans to non automated tasks for now. Thats works when you have astronomical growth. Once the growth slows or the automation moves into the other tasks, the headcount will drop. It’s kind of done so already as they close their more manual hubs and open their more automated ones.

Howdy, Stranger!

Tragedy Continues to Strike the Gaming Industry as Even More Layoffs Come To 2K Games | MMORPG.com

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Tragedy Continues to Strike the Gaming Industry as Even More Layoffs Come To 2K Games | MMORPG.com

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV