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Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees
(www.theverge.com)
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this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
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I mean, given the quality of product they'd been churning out, I don't know if I'm going to loose sleep knowing we won't get another Diablo Immortal or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III or Candy Crush Saga any time soon.
Like, if Larian or Nintendo was hemorrhaging talent, I'd be a bit more upset. But between these guys, EA, and Riot turning out flops... Idk, man. Maybe a shakeup that pulls people out of the Micro-transaction Factory isn't the worst thing for the industry as a whole.
you seem to be blaming the workers for turning out flops but in general it's the managements lack of planning and micromanagement that's the general cause.
no one who's a developer, artist, designer wants to add micro transactions, that comes from top down because it's a revenue generator. they want to polish the games so they can be proud of the work, but are not given time.
executives are not the ones generally being let go and the ones that are will be cashing out from the acquisition. expect those IPs to get worse and have more enshittification because that's what makes money and that's all corpos care about.
you don't get a larian studios from laying off talent, you get it from good management and giving your talent time to deliver.
I'm sorry if I came across that way. No. I firmly pin this on the dipshits in management.
That said, the worker bees of the gaming industry don't get to decide what a future game looks like. If Microsoft wants Microtransactions, you're making a game with Microtransactions whether that was what you wanted to be doing with your time or not.
These companies falling into disrepair and going into layoff mode means they aren't giant magnets for development talent. In theory, that means fewer games with all the predatory DLC / casino mechanics crap. Smaller staffs mean fewer releases and less of the market clogged with this low effort drivel.
Blizzard hemorrhaging talent has already produced a number of new studios. I'm sure Larian has potched talent from its competitors, particularly during the big '00 and '08 layoff waves.
It sucks for the industry as a whole. But getting people out of the old toxic employers and into younger and more ambitious studios is critical in revitalizing a stagnant industry.