Tim Schafer Frustrated at 'Routine' Game Industry Layoffs
Revolving door system does not result in employer loyalty.
Tim Schafer is frustrated. Why? He's made countless classic titles, and enjoyed huge success with a recent Kickstarter programme. But none of that amounts to anything without loyalty - something he feels the industry is losing, thanks to the fickle manner in which studios are disbanded after game completion.
Speaking to Wired, Schafer bemoaned the revolving door system that's currently prominent in the industry today. "One of the most frustrating things about the games industry is that teams of people come together to make a game, and maybe they struggle and make mistakes along the way, but by the end of the game they’ve learned a lot – and this is usually when they are disbanded.
"Instead of being allowed to apply all those lessons to a better, more efficiently produced second game, they are scattered to the winds and all that wisdom is lost."
The comments are pretty timely, as companies such as Zynga move to disband studios and fire countless talented developers left, right and centre. In particular, the response was in light of the recent layoffs made at Lionhead following completion of Fable: The Journey - a process that Microsoft announced was 'routine'.
Schafer noted that he could have laid off half of his team at Double Fine after work on Psychonauts was completed, in order to have more money and time to work on Brütal Legend. "But doing so would have meant breaking up a team that had just learned how to work well together. And what message would that have sent to our employees?
"It would say that we’re not loyal to them, and that we don’t care. Which would make them wonder ‘Why should we be loyal to this company?’ If you’re not loyal to your team you can get by for a while, but eventually you will need to rely on their loyalty to you and it just won’t be there."
Something for the bigger companies to think about.
Speaking to Wired, Schafer bemoaned the revolving door system that's currently prominent in the industry today. "One of the most frustrating things about the games industry is that teams of people come together to make a game, and maybe they struggle and make mistakes along the way, but by the end of the game they’ve learned a lot – and this is usually when they are disbanded.
"Instead of being allowed to apply all those lessons to a better, more efficiently produced second game, they are scattered to the winds and all that wisdom is lost."
The comments are pretty timely, as companies such as Zynga move to disband studios and fire countless talented developers left, right and centre. In particular, the response was in light of the recent layoffs made at Lionhead following completion of Fable: The Journey - a process that Microsoft announced was 'routine'.
Schafer noted that he could have laid off half of his team at Double Fine after work on Psychonauts was completed, in order to have more money and time to work on Brütal Legend. "But doing so would have meant breaking up a team that had just learned how to work well together. And what message would that have sent to our employees?
"It would say that we’re not loyal to them, and that we don’t care. Which would make them wonder ‘Why should we be loyal to this company?’ If you’re not loyal to your team you can get by for a while, but eventually you will need to rely on their loyalty to you and it just won’t be there."
Something for the bigger companies to think about.
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Comments
DrkStr 24 Oct 2012 12:38
1/2
It's the Hollywood business model, a new production company per film with staff contracting for the length of the production.
Somebody wanted game to be more like films, there you go.
Somebody wanted game to be more like films, there you go.
Ergo 24 Oct 2012 18:42
2/2
@DrkStr Bingo! Someone gets it!
Gamers, developers, and publishers *wanted* this model, only they actually thought they could have their cake and eat it, too (at least the developers did, who decided that making manageable games with manageable budgets was *so* '90s). Alas real life--unlike games--doesn't work like this and now they're reaping what they sow.
And there is nothing for "bigger companies to think about"--this is a natural out-growth of cheering on a biz model that, as DrkStr noted, does not function in this manner. Now that the devs have stumbled on the seedy underside to the Hollywood model, they're screaming like stuck pigs.
Gamers, developers, and publishers *wanted* this model, only they actually thought they could have their cake and eat it, too (at least the developers did, who decided that making manageable games with manageable budgets was *so* '90s). Alas real life--unlike games--doesn't work like this and now they're reaping what they sow.
And there is nothing for "bigger companies to think about"--this is a natural out-growth of cheering on a biz model that, as DrkStr noted, does not function in this manner. Now that the devs have stumbled on the seedy underside to the Hollywood model, they're screaming like stuck pigs.