It's always quite saddening to hear about developers losing their jobs. A reasonably grim reminder that video games aren't just fun and, er, games, layoffs tend to happen after a title's been completed - and that's what's happened with Avalanche Studios.
The developer has two offices - one in Sweden, and one in New York. Earlier this year, the Swedish side launched Mad Max on PlayStation 4, which by most accounts is a pretty enjoyable sandbox romp. Meanwhile, the studio's American arm is currently gearing up for the December release of Just Cause 3.
It was after Mad Max's completion that the European office began cutting staff, and just recently, more have lost their jobs in New York. A representative told GameInformer that "the transition between major projects is always challenging, especially for independent developers."
"In starting up our new projects, we were not able to perfectly match the team sizes and skill sets of the previous ones, and we unfortunately had to let some talented developers go. 12 developers were given notice in New York," the statement explains. "There was a similar number of notices given this summer in Stockholm, but right now we are in the process of rehiring some of those who left. We expect to keep hiring in the new year." Some good news there, at least.
Naturally, our sympathies are with those who have lost their positions.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 6
Whoops, Just Cause 3 officially went gold recently. I've changed the tagline to reflect this.
Not unexpected really is it. Unless the studio is rotating an annual franchise I suspect this is common, and even then no doubt plenty of people get the chop during the early days of development.
Yeah was wanting to seek a career in this when I was younger but found outnabiut the terrible turnover rate . I'd rather have a job reviewing games as a side hobby at somepoint.
But I suppose doing what you love is worthwhile ,even with the territory it comes with.
Sadly not unexpected, im pretty sure this happens at a fair amount of studios once a game goes gold, but sucks for those affected nonetheless. I was looking forward to this until i heard there would be no mp. The multiplayer mod on just cause 2 got me to buy the game and get a ton of time out of it, but whats the point of blowing stuff up in crazy ways if you cant share it with a friend.
It's a reality for most studios, but I think it's bad management. Can't they rotate people onto new projects or DLC or something? It's really harsh for people that work really hard on the game to not even hold onto their position until its in stores.
It's pretty normal after a big game drops. But i'd imagine those laid off are temp or contract staff. Regardless with this game under their belt I hope they can land somewhere else soon.
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