38 Studios and Big Huge Games Lay Off All Staff, Shutdown Imminent

[News Portal]

According to multiple sources, Kingdoms of Amalur developers 38 Studios and Big Huge Games are now shutting down. Staff affected are complaining of poor communication from management, with many of them only finding out after being told by doctors that their medical insurance was running out shortly.

An email sent to staff members, retrieved by Gamasutra, explains that "The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary." Many staff have taken to Twitter to confirm their departures, including world designer Colin Campbell, community manager Charles Dane, and product manager Ryan Geddeswhich. Read more information at Polygon or Kotaku.

Read full article by GON News

[James Pinnell]

This is what happens when:

- You base your studio's location, business model and project on a $75 million loan from a state government

- Purchase another developer rather than grow your studio with smaller projects and gradual hires

- Build an incredibly expensive AAA game as your first project which needed 3 million copies sold to cover your ridiculous costs and loan payments

I have a lot of sympathy for Big Huge Games, they were a great team of talented developers who I have no doubt will find great jobs at other places.

[a3gis]

Is this the first dev to belly-up with products on Steam? - curious to see what happens there.

[iambeanie]

This is what happens when:

- You base your studio's location, business model and project on a $75 million loan from a state government

- Purchase another developer rather than grow your studio with smaller projects and gradual hires

- Build an incredibly expensive AAA game as your first project which needed 3 million copies sold to cover your ridiculous costs and loan payments

I have a lot of sympathy for Big Huge Games, they were a great team of talented developers who I have no doubt will find great jobs at other places.

I really enjoyed Amalur and i thought it sold well, kept wondering why they were going broke! I have my answers now =-P.

[Bane Williams]

Sad Face.

Everyone I knew of involved in that project was awesome and amazing.

[Bane Williams]

I'm actually kinda angry. Amalur was a GOOD game. The studio working on it were pretty great, I met five people from the studios over the years and each and every one of them were amazing and came from amazing backgrounds. I know they're not Australian, but this is a big deal, and it is sad to see them go.

Amalur will be the example publishers point to as to why they don't take risks with new IP for years and years to come.

[InAUGral]

A lot more to running a game studio than just making games. The game making part this studio did a good job of but everything they did not.

[Joshsux]

Was this a lame MMO or a single player game ?

[Nekosan]

This is what happens when:

- You base your studio's location, business model and project on a $75 million loan from a state government

- Purchase another developer rather than grow your studio with smaller projects and gradual hires

- Build an incredibly expensive AAA game as your first project which needed 3 million copies sold to cover your ridiculous costs and loan payments

I have a lot of sympathy for Big Huge Games, they were a great team of talented developers who I have no doubt will find great jobs at other places.

It's also what happens when the development cycle on a game finishes, Amalur is finished, they don't need to staff any more. Without knowing what staff were laid off and who was moved where there's just no way to know if it was really a legit issue with the company or they're just following standard practice.

Video game development seems to draw the most incompetent, dodgy set of management types for some reason.

[a3gis]

It's also what happens when the development cycle on a game finishes, Amalur is finished, they don't need to staff any more. Without knowing what staff were laid off and who was moved where there's just no way to know if it was really a legit issue with the company or they're just following standard practice.

FTA

"The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary

ALL the staffs were laid off - that's not a mere cyclical thing, that's a bloodbath.

Video game development seems to draw the most incompetent, dodgy set of management types for some reason.

I think it's because in many cases the devs themselves are the business managers - which isn't necessarily a great move. I think Marius wrote an article about this very issue(?)

[James Pinnell]

It's also what happens when the development cycle on a game finishes, Amalur is finished, they don't need to staff any more. Without knowing what staff were laid off and who was moved where there's just no way to know if it was really a legit issue with the company or they're just following standard practice.

Video game development seems to draw the most incompetent, dodgy set of management types for some reason.

This wasn't a post game employee cull, this is a studio wipeout. No more studio.

[Nekosan]

It's also what happens when the development cycle on a game finishes, Amalur is finished, they don't need to staff any more. Without knowing what staff were laid off and who was moved where there's just no way to know if it was really a legit issue with the company or they're just following standard practice.

Video game development seems to draw the most incompetent, dodgy set of management types for some reason.

This wasn't a post game employee cull, this is a studio wipeout. No more studio.

I must have been high or something when I read that article, I could swear i remember reading that it was only a cull of x amount of employees. Maybe I was reading another thread and then posted in this one because it's pretty damn clear on re-read haha.

[Marius]

I think it's because in many cases the devs themselves are the business managers - which isn't necessarily a great move. I think Marius wrote an article about this very issue(?)

Yeah I did... back at the start of the year.

In this case, it's purely an over-extending issue. You can't start a business and gamble on a big sale.

I'm sure the management was competent, just the strategy was way off.

[Krogan]

This is what happens when:

- You base your studio's location, business model and project on a $75 million loan from a state government

- Purchase another developer rather than grow your studio with smaller projects and gradual hires

- Build an incredibly expensive AAA game as your first project which needed 3 million copies sold to cover your ridiculous costs and loan payments

I have a lot of sympathy for Big Huge Games, they were a great team of talented developers who I have no doubt will find great jobs at other places.

I really enjoyed Amalur and i thought it sold well, kept wondering why they were going broke! I have my answers now =-P.

Actually I believe the game sold somewhere around 200k copies world wide, that is incredibly bad. Personally I enjoyed the game for about 2 hours and then I realized how incredibly shallow the game was and I started to really hate the world design, nothing worse then when you go in to a game hoping to play an open world game and then realize it's actually a corridor based world.

[Shinanigans]

Actually I believe the game sold somewhere around 200k copies world wide, that is incredibly bad.

330k in the US in the first month, 600k total according to VGChartz (pinch+salt).

I have a lot of sympathy for Big Huge Games, they were a great team of talented developers who I have no doubt will find great jobs at other places.

That's one thing you can usually always count on - the industry looks after its own and while studios may collapse, most scatter to new locations & opportunities.