• Veraxus@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    97
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I am so happy for them and proud of them. This is the correct response to unnecessary layoffs or any other worker abuse. I hope more people in the industry will follow their example!

    • Doc Blaze@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      38
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      unnecessary

      I hate to have to justify layoffs but it’s at least true that lots of studios are unexpectedly (from a couple years ago) hemorrhaging cash right now. anytime inflation is so high for so long, discretionary spending on entertainment is near the first to get cut from consumers budgets. people aren’t sitting at home like we were in 2021 only buying digital entertainment anymore.

        • Fraylor@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          While you fought for workers rights, I studied the blade.

          While you were attending strikes against America’s true citizens, I mastered the block chain.

          While you wrote to your government, I cultivated inner wealth

          Now that the world is on fire and we’re at fault for it, you have the audacity to come to me for a living wage?

          • june 🌿@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Kind of? Idk it’s not the most accurate meme for the situation, and possibly a little mean spirited.

      • Wirrvogel@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        26
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        EPIC is laying off 900 people so Tim Sweeney can follow his stupid dream of a Meataverse. He even said this in his “apology letter” where he writes, that he spends too much on metaverse, so he has to lay off people, but then he ends with the promise to continue to overspend on the same thing going forward.

        He lays off 900 people, 1/3 of them even core people making his game(s).

        It is stupid decisions like this that make the layoffs “necessary”, not anything actually related to the development of games, when it comes to these big developers/publishers.

        Don’t let them fool you that this could not have been prevented.

        https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/layoffs-at-epic

        For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.

        and

        About two-thirds of the layoffs were in teams outside of core development. Some of our products and initiatives will land on schedule, and some may not ship when planned because they are under-resourced for the time being. We’re ok with the schedule tradeoff if it means holding on to our ability to achieve our goals, get to the other side of profitability and become a leading metaverse company.

        He is totally fine with crunch because he on purpose understaffed his core development teams, he is happy for an upcoming community event while having laid off all the staff for that and will continue to make the same mistake again, while laying off 900 people at a time where getting a new job is hard and where many of them rely on finding a new job or losing their working visas.

        Fuck him! Do not defend him!

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    79
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well that’s nice. Games industry is not known for treating it’s employees fairly. Or even humanely. I don’t know what the situation is in Poland, but I hope this is a positive development for them.

    • magikmw@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Reports of months of crunch before Cyberpunk’s release make the image pretty clear. There’s bunch of small indies and some midsized contractor companies in Poland, but not many on AAA level. Techland, CDP and People Can Fly (I think they are independent from Epic again?) are the only ones I can think of. Oh 11bit maybe.

  • kux@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    50
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    good news for developers means good news for players too so: good news all round

    • Grumpy@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      31
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I’m all for unions. But I’m not sure how it translates to good for players. Unions exist for fair wages and working environment, not direction of how games should be made.


      Edit: People sure seem to get the wrong impression with my question. As I said in the very first line, I am for unions. They’re great and we should strive for fair working wages and hours, especially in 2023 where wages are stagnating while having massive inflation. We should have happy employees and I prefer my games made by happy employees. Failure to keep the wages up is creating shit ton of societal problems.

      Issue is the delusion people are presenting here. Unions are not magic. It doesn’t automatically improve unrelated things. What people are missing is that there is no evidence the union has ever advocated for a better product. If one exists, despite my desperate attempt to find one, then it’s clearly a fringe case. All the replies are making a huge logical leap of simply saying happy worker produces better product with no reasoning behind it. Unions never argue for better product. That’s just not what unions do. It argues for the betterment of workers.

      Unionizing increases productivity for some sectors. But they’re usually rare and only seen in specific industries. They generally have no significant impact on productivity based on research. If it straight up increased productivity and made better products, every company would love it. The argument is counter-logical. Companies do what is efficient. Even if we assumed individual productivity is increased, there’s still no evidence that these individuals would have the capacity to change the direction in which the product is being made in the upper tier.

      We need unions. But unions aren’t magic.

      • jaywalker@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        26
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Seems like people who are being fairly compensated in a comfortable work environment will make a better game than people being underpaid and overworked?

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don’t think that’s necessarily true. The reason wages are low is because the games industry attracts a lot of talent, so companies can get good talent for less. So I don’t expect unionizing to help in terms of quality of work produced, but it should improve wages and working conditions.

          • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Quality of a product is not just a result of quality of talent (see: “I hate sand.”). Management, direction, and quality of life of the talent has a profound impact. If you want the highest quality product, especially in an industry that requires collaboration, you want your talent to be happy.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Maybe, but I feel like any quality gains would be minimal since people are already passionate about their roles (else why would those roles be so desired?). Then again, the Valve model really works, so it really depends on whether unions can change company culture, or if they’ll just secure better working hours and pay. The culture is the problem, and I’m not convinced a union can fix that.

          • jaywalker@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            With or without a union, improving wages and working conditions will improve productivity and the quality of the products being produced. This is an almost universal truth in research on the topic.

        • Derproid@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Realistically this just means games get released with less or unfinished features/content.

          • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            No, it doesn’t. Pushing people to burn out doesn’t make more or better products, it just burns people out. People are more productive when they have work life balance

          • adriaan@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            As someone in the industry I feel the opposite. A lot of features that are almost finished but cut despite being integral to the experience come from higher up pressure. The expectation to always overwork leaves no room to commit a little bit extra when it’s necessary because you’re always drained to begin with. There is also no room for creativity, playing around, or polish, because the deadlines are based on the bare minimum that will sell.

      • Haywire@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        They have the ability to raise the standards of quality of the finished product.

      • KillAllPoorPeople@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        not direction of how games should be made

        Of course unions can and do have more power in the direction of the game. Employees can also voice concerns to managers and owners without the fear of a bullshit termination. They’re pretty awesome for everyone.

      • pny8gb@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I love how this thread grouping is essentially argueing that the ends justify the means. Yeah, lets give a pass to companies in the name of capitalism.

        • Grumpy@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I do not think end justifies the means. And companies should not be given a pass in the name of capitalism. Where are people coming up with this?

        • Grumpy@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I said I’m for unions. Strangely people replying to me seems to be ignoring my very first line.

          But there’s no evidence that unionized workers wouldn’t make shit games just as well.

      • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Somehow they think less work means more game. I dunno, we’re way too deep into a circle jerk to hear any other opinions. Good for you to actually speak the obvious. Unions actually cure cancer too.

  • Bappity@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    good for them!! glad to see more and more places forming unions these days

  • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    That’s great, I hear CD Projekt has some real problems with overworking their employees.

    Edit: (right before cyberpunk released)

    Employees at CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio behind the game, have reportedly been required to work long hours, including six-day weeks, for more than a year.