Episode 88
Massive lay-offs at Bandcamp by way of Epic Games
Industry News:
Bandcamp dismisses 50% of its staff amid Epic Games mass layoffs | GamesIndustry.biz
Half of the workforce in Bandcamp is affected by a mass of layoffs by parent company Epic Games.
Bandcamp was acquired in March last year, but in September this year Epic announced that they would be laying off 16% of the total workforce in the company.
Epic Games is also finalising the sale of Bandcamp to Songtradr, announced at the same time as the layoffs. Songtradr has said that Bandcamp became too bloated to manage and needed to "be adjusted".
Kotaku has reported that dismissed employees will receive 6 months severance while the Bandcamp United union is still negotiating better terms.
We are back on the news-recycling train again with Microsoft confirming the Activision Blizzard acquisition, so here's what we're seeing already.
Industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto believes that Sony will be considering an acquisition of a similar size after the conclusion of Microsoft's merger. It's acquired Bungie and a bunch of other studies in the interim, and let's not pretend that these reports have been popping up ever since the ActiBlizz merger last year. Likelihood? Who knows, but let's take this with a grain of salt!
Phil Spencer says not to expect new games from ActiBlizz on GamePass any time soon, and yet Video Games Chronicle tantalises us with the Bethesda Games drop upon the purchase of their company in 2021.
Papa Phil also says that the timed exclusives for Call of Duty across consoles will no longer be the case - there will be content parity across all manufacturers in future.
The spicy CEO of Analogue, a company making an N64-alike console, has been quoted as indicating that Nintendo itself couldn't make a better experience of the classic console if it tried.
His quote: "To me, it's either this, or buy a fucking original N64 and a CRT. End of Story."
Despite Christopher Taber's posturing, there is still no price point and a release window in 2024 for the Analogue 3D console.
Players frustrated with Nintendo's emulated experience on Switch may be delighted to hear his confidence, though!
The UK games industry pays juniors more but seniors less than other tech sectors | GamesIndustry.biz
GamesIndustry.biz and XpertHR have been working on data analysis of salaries in UK Games Studios, and found that the average salary for an entry-level position is almost 20% higher than in tech, but senior directors are paid 15% lower.
While the data set is small, across 25 studios and 3000 employees, the data will become available in summary for free, and in-depth by paywall, to companies interested in the analysis.
Revealed: The 2023 GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards US winners | GamesIndustry.biz
Also, the 2023 US GamesIndustry.biz Best Places to Work Awards have been announced! Designed to showcase the best of the industry and make games a better place to work, EA teams took the most awards, including Cliffhanger Games, Ripple Effect and Maxis.
Honourable mentions include Bad Robot Games, Iron Galaxy and Uplift Games. For a full list, see the show notes.
These awards were picked by a judging panel, employee surveys and additional checks by the organisation.
GAMES:
Here’s the first look at Hogwarts Legacy running on Nintendo Switch | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)
Hogwarts Legacy has revealed a first look at the Switch version to be releasing shortly. We'd surely expect to see framerates, performance, graphic fidelity… we got screenshots.
Sorry Digital Foundry, you'll have to wait! The game is set for release November 14, after being delayed earlier this year.
Despite the lack of Acti-Blizz titles, we can still expect some new games on GamePass! Included in the next wave on PC, console and cloud are:
- Like a Dragon: Ishin!
- City: Skylines 2
- F1 Manager 2023
- Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery
- And Dead Space Remake, as part of EA Play so only on PC and Ultimate.
FuturLab, developer of Powerwash Simulator, has thanked Square Enix for opening up the crossover opportunities that have been released through DLC.
Co-CEO Kirsty Rigden mentioned that without Final Fantasy 7 and Tomb Raider cross-over content in the game, they wouldn't have been able to include Spongebob Squarepants and Back to the Future in more DLC.
They are now at the point where they are turning down potential partnerships, which is great to see for the Brighton-based studio as an indie-turned-giant that I myself have thoroughly enjoyed!
Review: Spider-Man 2 is undoubtedly one of the best superhero games ever (videogameschronicle.com)
And lastly, Spider-Man 2 appears to be reviewing very well! To be released in a couple of days, the title seems to be heralded as one of the best superhero games of all time!
The developer has also urged fans to download the Day 0 patch for the game, as it contains considerable improvements.
And I know, you can't take off a work for this but you CAN avoid your friends and family, and order pizza. You have my permission.
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