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-   -   Well, there goes that. (http://www.gametavern.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19245)

Dyne 01-29-2009 05:11 PM

Well, there goes that.
 
Propaganda Games just fired its Turok team. I'm super depressed. Even my old bosses were fired. And yes, Turok 2 has been cancelled.

So much for wishing to graduate so soon....

Fox 6 01-29-2009 05:21 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
I assume for economic reasons?

BreakABone 01-29-2009 05:23 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fox 6 (Post 244076)
I assume for economic reasons?

And cuz Turok sucked...

But yeah, that is terrible. This is just been a hell of a month.
I believe last estimates has jobless in the States at about 200k for the month.
And everyone is being hit hard now.

The Germanator 01-29-2009 05:32 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Yeah, this economy is effed. Sorry for the loss, man. It's strange when I feel grateful to be a self-employed college dropout. I'm still not making much money, but at least I can't fire myself. Well I could, but I don't want to.

Aladuf 01-29-2009 06:32 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Just saw this on GAF and wanted to come back here and say that it sucks Dyne. You know I had a hell of a time playing Turok with you and was anticipating the sequel. :(

Good luck.

Teuthida 01-29-2009 06:33 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Sorry. :(

There will always be more dinosaurs in need of hunting.

BlueFire 01-29-2009 06:48 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Sorry, Dyne.
Don't give up, though.

Bond 01-29-2009 07:29 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
:(

Just remember that down times such as these always create new opportunities!

Combine 017 01-29-2009 08:00 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Propaganda kind of sucks anyways.
Maybe someone better will hire the Turok team and make a sequel. Or does propaganda own the rights to Turok?

thatmariolover 01-29-2009 09:03 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
I actually liked Turok >_>

Much more than I thought I would, anyway. I mean, it wasn't top tier or anything but I thought it was pretty decent.

Sorry to hear about the layoffs, though :-/

Professor S 01-30-2009 08:49 AM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by The Germanator (Post 244079)
Yeah, this economy is effed. Sorry for the loss, man. It's strange when I feel grateful to be a self-employed college dropout. I'm still not making much money, but at least I can't fire myself. Well I could, but I don't want to.

I don't think you can blame the economy for this decision. Gaming is one of the few areas of the economy that is still performing well.

The truth kind of hurts, but this decision was likely due to the fact that Turok failed to meet expectations either in sales, and apologies, artistically as well. In the end, its a business, and when your profits don't exceed your investment, people lose their jobs regardless of how well the economy is going.

thatmariolover 01-30-2009 09:05 AM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor S (Post 244112)
I don't think you can blame the economy for this decision. Gaming is one of the few areas of the economy that is still performing well.

The truth kind of hurts, but this decision was likely due to the fact that Turok failed to meet expectations either in sales, and apologies, artistically as well. In the end, its a business, and when your profits don't exceed your investment, people lose their jobs regardless of how well the economy is going.

I respectfully disagree. I think your interpretation of the data is skewed and that the economy is very much to blame. Gaming is not performing that well as a whole, rather the larger companies are reporting profits (mainly Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony reported a 95% loss of profits in 4'th quarter which they partially have blamed on poor PS3 game sales). Everybody has to explain to their investors what they're doing to protect their investments, and I think smaller studios are going to see more and more cuts.

Professor S 01-30-2009 02:12 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
TML, the market is still doing VERY well, regardless of who is profiting.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/...me-sales_N.htm

Its the industry's responsibility to stay relevant in a changing market, and sales were up BIG even in a down market last year.

People are still out there buying games, and the one's that don't sell fail and those who develop those games will suffer. IMO, even if this game was released in a hot economy the sales would have been lackluster at best. It never got any industry buzz and and the consumer base honestly never cared about this game even in development. Thats not necessarily all the devloper's fault, but the publishing side never really ot behind the product and there was no grassroots support.

To me it doesn't matter who makes the games (large or small company), it matters that there is still a market for them so there is no reason to blame the market for a a game that failed.

Not only that, but development teams are blown up like this all the time in the videogame world, even in good economies. The industry tends to be task oriented.

They made a game, it didn't sell, and they lost their jobs. There is no reason to find some convoluted explanation. Its simple math.

KillerGremlin 02-04-2009 05:03 AM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=2937

EA cuts 1,100 jobs.

Dyne 02-04-2009 03:56 PM

Re: Well, there goes that.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Also, the official word is that no Turok II had ever been announced.. so my work is safe. :)

Also..

Quote:

The truth kind of hurts, but this decision was likely due to the fact that Turok failed to meet expectations either in sales, and apologies, artistically as well. In the end, its a business, and when your profits don't exceed your investment, people lose their jobs regardless of how well the economy is going.
Sales of the last game had nothing to do with it. It sold over a million across three platforms. They made more than enough - enough to hold two projects at once. However, Disney got greedy with money. (DISNEY of all people.) I think it's just in fashion to ruin people's lives in the Vancouver game industry right now.

Also, curiously, they only fired the artists and level designers. The expensive programmers were kept. It goes to show you, I'm in the right field.

This doesn't exactly mean the end of my career, but it hurts my plan B, which was to get back in Development Support again. But I didn't know if they'd want to lower my wage back down to Dev Support level again since my programming salary was so high. But I might have an opportunity in June again for another Coop.. cross your fingers. :)


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