Where I work , which the papers hate we can make 2-3K people redundant and never gets in the press. There was always hope if you were a really decent techie you could survive most cullings. That is until our place has now created an enhanced location strategy and people have now been made redundant based on there unwillingness to commute for say 5-6 hours a day, 2 days a week, rather than walk into the office they have worked at for last 20+ years. Outsouring you could take a gamble, this one has been brutal. I personallly know people with young children that now have to to commute for 6 hours instead of an hour a day, they even walk past the office they used to work at. Our offices are not closing they have chosen which teams can now work at which offices. I just wish some company could create an app that could be used to work anywhere and maybe call it "teams" or something.
Sony studio London shut
- Thread starter Retroman839
- Start date
L_____E_____T
Active member
The London Studio were there mostly to build family-targeted peripheral games. I think it's quite telling that they've closed that side now, they are making most of their money (from 1st party titles at least) on the open world action adventures. Sounds like there's little room then to keep the eyetoy/singstar/VR teams in house.
It's a lot of people to lay off, and while the industry is suffering from the squeeze, thoughts are with those talented folks who are now on the lookout for new roles.
It's a lot of people to lay off, and while the industry is suffering from the squeeze, thoughts are with those talented folks who are now on the lookout for new roles.
Del Griffith
Active member
Tell me more
Del Griffith
Active member
In all honesty jokes aside, Hate to see people actually put out of work and made to struggle
Retroman839
Senior Member
Wow!900 is worldwide, also affecting studios like Insomniac Games, Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Firesprite, etc.. in the States.
Sony London had been focusing on VR titles and a kind of multiplayer online London Getaway, to try and rival GTA Online.
Microsoft also laid off 1900 a month ago.
It's a brutal time to be tech:
View attachment 16585
The impact of 16,000 games industry layoffs, in one chart
Game developers share personal stories of how the 2023-2024 layoffs have affected them.uk.finance.yahoo.com
Retroman839
Senior Member
the best ever game i played on pc was probably "KingPin"
how many games do you know where characters say "Hey! you looking at my bitch?"
on console i love Black on OG xbox,
and Dishonored on PS3
It was brutal
I worked in the games industry as a senior and lead programmer between 2000 and 2012, most of my titles were on Sony platforms like the PS2 and PSP.
Let me tell you, you need very strong will power to work in that industry for any length of time, or to get yourself into a cushy 'boots on the table' management style job telling others to do your work because it's not much of a fun job at all. At least it wasn't for me.
I could only hope it was a better environment in the London studio in the last decade, I knew a few people who seemed to like it there. I did actually have an interview at the Sony Cambridge studio mid 2000's which was a soulless cube farm where my interview went spectacularly badly. I thought I had dodged a bullet but no, I still ended up working on Playstation games via third party developers.
It was a nightmare dealing with Sony for any support, management was so bad I eventually had to quit my job and turned my back on programming games. These job losses don't really come as any surprise to me from my historical dealings with them. Certainly not limited to Sony though IMHO, they are ALL pretty bad.
Let me tell you, you need very strong will power to work in that industry for any length of time, or to get yourself into a cushy 'boots on the table' management style job telling others to do your work because it's not much of a fun job at all. At least it wasn't for me.
I could only hope it was a better environment in the London studio in the last decade, I knew a few people who seemed to like it there. I did actually have an interview at the Sony Cambridge studio mid 2000's which was a soulless cube farm where my interview went spectacularly badly. I thought I had dodged a bullet but no, I still ended up working on Playstation games via third party developers.
It was a nightmare dealing with Sony for any support, management was so bad I eventually had to quit my job and turned my back on programming games. These job losses don't really come as any surprise to me from my historical dealings with them. Certainly not limited to Sony though IMHO, they are ALL pretty bad.
CMYKhazi-Dan
Saikyo Style 💪
I had a job interview at Codemasters straight out of university, 1999. Was very strange, almost sterile, seemed like nobody there played video games. My brain left me that day and I f*kkd up the interview up anyway 🤣 I like to think it was for the best!
Retroman839
Senior Member
Originality of Creativity in games could
Be lost if AI makes generic copy’s of
Generic games ..
to much rinse repeat in the industry.
Sony etc.. don’t want Small indie dev
Making Ico type games .
Like from software making dark souls
Was nice - then it kept getting churned out in different cloths ..
Protagonist is a knight
Then next game .. protagonist is a samurai ..
Let’s make a prediction next game he will be a cyborg in the future ..
It all just becomes soo predictable and repetitive .. that’s why I didn’t buy a ps4
Switch , ps5 , switch 2 , xbxox what ever,
Amd as the games industry slips down this slippery slope games don’t
Exprsss original ideas
Games don’t show the edgenuity That they did years before under a more free and open environment thst allows originally
Be lost if AI makes generic copy’s of
Generic games ..
to much rinse repeat in the industry.
Sony etc.. don’t want Small indie dev
Making Ico type games .
Like from software making dark souls
Was nice - then it kept getting churned out in different cloths ..
Protagonist is a knight
Then next game .. protagonist is a samurai ..
Let’s make a prediction next game he will be a cyborg in the future ..
It all just becomes soo predictable and repetitive .. that’s why I didn’t buy a ps4
Switch , ps5 , switch 2 , xbxox what ever,
Amd as the games industry slips down this slippery slope games don’t
Exprsss original ideas
Games don’t show the edgenuity That they did years before under a more free and open environment thst allows originally
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L_____E_____T
Active member
The industry can be pretty brutal. I've clocked up 15 years and been through so many crunch periods it feels natural. But I found a way to keep my soul young!
Retroman I think you got a pretty good description of Ubi's model right there.
PS4 I loved - some real gems even for a retro gamer like me. Fell in love with Sekiro, Hitman, and plenty of indie titles like Nuclear Throne.
It's the modern shooter drivel I'm not into. You know, stuff that it seems everyone and their Nan need to have a Twitch account to stream from (Valorant, Apex, etc.)
Retroman I think you got a pretty good description of Ubi's model right there.
PS4 I loved - some real gems even for a retro gamer like me. Fell in love with Sekiro, Hitman, and plenty of indie titles like Nuclear Throne.
It's the modern shooter drivel I'm not into. You know, stuff that it seems everyone and their Nan need to have a Twitch account to stream from (Valorant, Apex, etc.)
Retroman839
Senior Member
I can see Microsoft teaming up with sega again ( Dreamcast ) in a future that actually requires IP
Because what is a console without unique ip to the console.
But sega farm out all their io to dev houses. Creative assembly etc.
I would love to see a time when games where all developed back in house
Other wise where will the next Shigeru Miyamoto
Hideo , Suda 51 , minter , gunpie yokoi,
,John carmack, Keita Takahashi
etc..etc…
They won’t exist
Because what is a console without unique ip to the console.
But sega farm out all their io to dev houses. Creative assembly etc.
I would love to see a time when games where all developed back in house
Other wise where will the next Shigeru Miyamoto
Hideo , Suda 51 , minter , gunpie yokoi,
,John carmack, Keita Takahashi
etc..etc…
They won’t exist
Unfortunately, in my opinion it seems that the gaming industry is going the same way as the film industry at present but in a more accelerated manner. As Retroman 839 says:
Where will the next Shigeru Miyamoto
Hideo , Suda 51 , minter , gunpie yokoi,
,John carmack, Keita Takahashi
This is the same in film industry now: Where is the next Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, Lean, Scorsese, Zemeckis etc. With the gaming industry copying the film industry in nearly every way with over inflated budgets, endless sequels from existing and legacy IP, agenda driven politics being inserted constantly into every part of a game, not using the inhouse talent and outsourcing to other dev houses so that new and upcoming in house talent cannot make there mark/grow in a company so we can get the next Miyamoto etc,
Where will the next Shigeru Miyamoto
Hideo , Suda 51 , minter , gunpie yokoi,
,John carmack, Keita Takahashi
This is the same in film industry now: Where is the next Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, Lean, Scorsese, Zemeckis etc. With the gaming industry copying the film industry in nearly every way with over inflated budgets, endless sequels from existing and legacy IP, agenda driven politics being inserted constantly into every part of a game, not using the inhouse talent and outsourcing to other dev houses so that new and upcoming in house talent cannot make there mark/grow in a company so we can get the next Miyamoto etc,
Black was great times. So much fun by quite literally blowing shit up for a living.
33 years and counting. I genuinely have plenty of T-shirts.
Retroman839
Senior Member
Is it a coincidence that nvidia are the world AI guru.
Sony will not only have been made aware of how AI is going to shape the new landscape.
It’s most
Likley its already been implemented.
The comparison with the film industry
Only highlights the lack of any
Kind of route for employees in the game industry to hold a body accountable ?
Like in Hollywood i think it’s the actors guild or writers guild that went on strike.
What could the gaming industry do ?
Could it or would it be able to strike ?
I hope the people who were made redundant were given a fair redundancy.
How ironic that nvidia made gpu.
When a new good game was
Made we all wanted a good new powerful gpu to play that special new game .. But it was the game that was most special .. it was the clever people at valve / sierra , Konami capcom etc ..
that had made the game we all wanted to play .. but we needed the silicon to play it!
Amd now it’s the silicone developer that holds all the chips
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when the globalists and their corporations have finally managed to replace everybody with robots and computers,
they will wonder where all the customers went and why they arent selling anything.
these uneducated a-holes have no idea how an economy works or how money needs to flow in a full circle for society to function in a capitalist form!
they think i'm gonna give crApple or Samsung almost 2k just for a phone? they are gonna have to re-think that marketting strategy in the comming years!
they will wonder where all the customers went and why they arent selling anything.
these uneducated a-holes have no idea how an economy works or how money needs to flow in a full circle for society to function in a capitalist form!
they think i'm gonna give crApple or Samsung almost 2k just for a phone? they are gonna have to re-think that marketting strategy in the comming years!
It's been a horrific time for the industry as a whole, the big corps are all invested in little but service games from a longevity perspective, which all eventually copy each other with a different skin or target audience attached churning out mind numbing OCD boredom. It is the way it has been going and will continue to go for some time.
It's the way the music industry went, and like others have said the film industry, I even saw a trailer for a film based on Borderlands tonight (bet @shaunholley will love that 😂).
Musicians used to make a primary income off selling records, the big corps got greedy, the distribution model changed and then few could make a suitable living from their work unless they hit it big, right place, right time. I've seen increasing numbers of bands having to tour way longer than people ever used to, simply to make a living because they earn so little from streams. The masses sadly like having their £8 a month subscription to listen to everything care free - it's a situation the mass population created for itself by wanting it all, now, forever, instead of cherishing an experience, approaching things one entity at a time.
As I see it the future from a games industry perspective, is twofold:
1) Truly independent developers, making smaller scale games that innovate or just provide an incredible experience, to simply earn a reasonable living doing what they love
2) Huge global studios churning out (via AI or crunch) what I consider to be map packs, once a year with OCD gameplay grinding content just designed to keep you on there for as long as possible (yes call of duty I'm looking at you). That originally came about as a way to get people to keep their physical copies for longer, same for big DLC too.
In recent years I've felt like I'd been falling out of a love for modern gaming, turns out I was just looking in the wrong places though. Next on my list is Tacoma I've not played yet.
I've enjoying playing Portal Revolution which is a free community created game/add-on based on portal 2 engine. It essentially could have been an official portal 3 it's insane and it's creative on top of the originals, but I can only assume, no one is making any money from it, it's been done for passion.
(...think that's the longest post I've ever done 😂 wake up, you can read the next post!)
Edit...
Borderlands trailer (@shaunholley) -
Portal: Revolution - https://store.steampowered.com/app/601360/Portal_Revolution/
It's the way the music industry went, and like others have said the film industry, I even saw a trailer for a film based on Borderlands tonight (bet @shaunholley will love that 😂).
Musicians used to make a primary income off selling records, the big corps got greedy, the distribution model changed and then few could make a suitable living from their work unless they hit it big, right place, right time. I've seen increasing numbers of bands having to tour way longer than people ever used to, simply to make a living because they earn so little from streams. The masses sadly like having their £8 a month subscription to listen to everything care free - it's a situation the mass population created for itself by wanting it all, now, forever, instead of cherishing an experience, approaching things one entity at a time.
As I see it the future from a games industry perspective, is twofold:
1) Truly independent developers, making smaller scale games that innovate or just provide an incredible experience, to simply earn a reasonable living doing what they love
2) Huge global studios churning out (via AI or crunch) what I consider to be map packs, once a year with OCD gameplay grinding content just designed to keep you on there for as long as possible (yes call of duty I'm looking at you). That originally came about as a way to get people to keep their physical copies for longer, same for big DLC too.
In recent years I've felt like I'd been falling out of a love for modern gaming, turns out I was just looking in the wrong places though. Next on my list is Tacoma I've not played yet.
I've enjoying playing Portal Revolution which is a free community created game/add-on based on portal 2 engine. It essentially could have been an official portal 3 it's insane and it's creative on top of the originals, but I can only assume, no one is making any money from it, it's been done for passion.
(...think that's the longest post I've ever done 😂 wake up, you can read the next post!)
Edit...
Borderlands trailer (@shaunholley) -
Portal: Revolution - https://store.steampowered.com/app/601360/Portal_Revolution/
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i dont see a future for independant developers on anything other than pc and retro consoles.
they cant afford and in some cases couldnt even obtain console dev hardware and SDK's
and if they could lease that hardware they are at the mercy of the console maker over actually making finalised (protected / signed) media / downloads.
i dont see a new Jeff Minter in the future - selling tapes at computer shows is no longer feasable.
they cant afford and in some cases couldnt even obtain console dev hardware and SDK's
and if they could lease that hardware they are at the mercy of the console maker over actually making finalised (protected / signed) media / downloads.
i dont see a new Jeff Minter in the future - selling tapes at computer shows is no longer feasable.
CMYKhazi-Dan
Saikyo Style 💪
Spot on. I looked into it and just thought, nah. Hope they all get what they deserve 💪