Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn and Art Director Neil Thompson Address Layoffs and Changes to Nightingale

System · November 3

Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn and Art Director Neil Thompson Address Layoffs and Changes to Nightingale Team | MMORPG.com

After the recently announced layoffs and UK brand closure, Inflexion Games' Aaryn Flynn and Neil Thompson addressed the disappointing studio changes and work on Nightingale.

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mitech616 · November 3

So they're bothered by the community blowback after sacking large amounts of staff while claiming they'll "do their best" to keep developing the game. What about all the money players poured into your early access indie title? Was that somehow so bad you couldn't keep up the development you had going BEFORE people threw money at you for your unfinished product?

Seriously, it seems like game developers just can't be trusted. There are still PLENTY of game successes and titles making millions in profits. YES, there is a lot of competition. YES, the video game market in general could be described as oversaturated. There are hundreds of games "coming out" or opening to early access EVERY MONTH. Is that an excuse to use staff and players as your personal gambling plan?

The fact that the game isn't even out, it was made as an early access title, then AFTER they got a fair bit of money they start cutting people, seems to mean they could care less about players and really just want to maximize their bottom line.

It's sad. But the more players get FED UP and stop funding countless "early access" messes, and the more these half-cooked projects simply FAIL, the better it will be for the overall market. I'd rather have a dozen excellent and well thought out projects than a thousand pieces of trash that basically just steal my money with their unfulfilled promises.

Angrakhan · November 3

"What about all the money players poured into your early access indie title? Was that somehow so bad you couldn't keep up the development you had going BEFORE people threw money at you for your unfinished product?"

Pretty much yes, I think that's exactly what happened. The team was too big and at the rate of early access sales they were losing money. Their choice was lay off staff or go bankrupt. Usually these projects get some amount of funding from investors and that's how development starts. However that money is finite unless the investors see results and choose to give more. Sounds like that didn't happen here, so once the initial investment money was gone and EA sales were not enough to make payroll then it's time for some hard decisions.

mitech616 · November 3

Well, early access isn't "pay to keep our company alive". It's supposed to be a way to be involved directly with the testing and development of a game that has every intention of becoming a complete project. It's not a loan for them to default on when they don't get as much as they wanted.

Sovrath · November 3

mitech616 said:

Well, early access isn't "pay to keep our company alive". It's supposed to be a way to be involved directly with the testing and development of a game that has every intention of becoming a complete project. It's not a loan for them to default on when they don't get as much as they wanted.

Actually, early access is "pay to keep our company alive."

That is how the player is involved. It's not like they take the money and put it in a box.

Having said that, they shouldn't be looking for money when things are dire. I work in a small company that's a few years out of being a startup. Our CEO has gone to get funding. His reasoning is that we are currently doing very well so NOW is the time to look for funding for growth. Not when things are dire and if we don't get funding we crash.

But many game companies don't seem to do this. They see "dire straits" coming very soon so they try to do early access to keep that at bay.

And in the case of this company, they didn't get enough.

MaxBacon · November 3

mitech616 said:

Well, early access isn't "pay to keep our company alive". It's supposed to be a way to be involved directly with the testing and development of a game that has every intention of becoming a complete project. It's not a loan for them to default on when they don't get as much as they wanted.

On early access you buy games "AS IS" on the moment of purchase, you are not specifically buying a future "out of early access" version, or a list of features on the roadmap of X or Y early access game.

When considerign buying any early access, people need to realize there ain't no garantees about future deliveries beyond the product as is when you bought it.

So a dev not being able to sell enough and can't maintain the development is about how many games tend to go, either that or they rush a version out of early access and call it a day.

kitarad · November 3

Yeah it is totally buyer beware.

Abimor · November 5

kitarad said:

Yeah it is totally buyer beware.

I mean this your told like 50 different ways its early access and may never launch or get better. On the flip side you usually get a discount and some input so you gotta roll the dice.

harken33 · November 5

Early Access is basically supporting development, no guarantees on the final released version or if it even makes it to a final released version and maybe you get some input on systems they are implementing in the game.

Sometimes early access can be *abused* however. I remember Ark Survival was in early access forever, you could play it and it sold very well, but they released a PAID DLC while it was still in early access.

That seems a bridge too far at least for me, release the final version of the game, then the paid DLC.

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Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn and Art Director Neil Thompson Address Layoffs and Changes to Nightingale

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Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn and Art Director Neil Thompson Address Layoffs and Changes to Nightingale

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