"We should be humbled by this period. It doesn't feel like we're humbled by this period as an industry."
  •  Philote   ( @Philote@lemmy.ml ) 
    3•7 months ago

    I don’t work in the industry and I could be way off here. But aren’t some of the developers hired on as a type of contract worker to finish a big game and well aware that if the next project isn’t lined up perfectly, it’s impossible to house that many employees. That’s how our construction industry is. Companies have to hire on and then trim the fat as needed.

    •  MoonMelon   ( @MoonMelon@lemmy.ml ) English
      5•7 months ago

      This is true. Some things are completely outsourced to vendor companies with their own employees. You rarely interact with these people at all, or even know their names. All communication goes through a telephone game. Then the primary studio itself will have contract employees and also “permanent staff”.

      Management likes to go on and on about how staff are “family”, but then treat them like shit and lay them off anyway. They also like to be subtly shitty to contract workers whenever possible, like free donuts in the break room! ~(for staff only)~

      Really, management is just shitty to everyone. Having been in both positions I honestly prefer contract. At least then I’m not expected to participate in their “corporate culture”.

    •  lad   ( @sukhmel@programming.dev ) 
      1•7 months ago

      As far as I know, it’s usually not so in gaming and in software in general. But since software is easier to abandon when you feel like it (I know buildings, too, sometimes stand incomplete for decades) so it is easier to suddenly close the project and say goodbye to everyone working on that project.