Insomniac games post statement about layoffs

Insomniac carried this gen on their backs for Sony and still got hit with layoffs. Imagine how sad Sony's first party output would be this gen without them. I'm not even the biggest fan of their games but if anyone should've dodged the axe it should've been them. Shutting down Media Molecule would've been smarter than pissing these guys off.
 
Sucks. I bought the 3 Spider-man games and R&C day 1. I did my part.
This "Similar threads" section below is gonna need more than 5 results.
 
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Ratchet and Clank 2016
Spider-man
Miles Morales/Spiderman remastered
Ratchet and Clank A Rift Apart
Spider-man 2


A company which produced the above content is subject to layoffs. This fucking industry feels so gross right now.
 
BennyBlanco said:
Insomniac carried this gen on their backs for Sony and still got hit with layoffs. Imagine how sad Sony's first party output would be this gen without them. I'm not even the biggest fan of their games but if anyone should've dodged the axe it should've been them. Shutting down Media Molecule would've been smarter than pissing these guys off.
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well, they apparently revived their blog for a total of 3 posts last september:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/blog

other than that? while the front page of their website says 'we're expanding!', the 'show me the jobs!' section is blank:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/careers

oddly enough, the most detailed section of the website is the 'our kitchen' page. mmm, tasty:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/about/kitchen

& that's about it. quite the little studio, alright. what is it they do, again?...
 
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I wonder if they canned this lady:

WzzKUdc.png
 
semiconscious said:
well, they apparently revived their blog for a total of 3 posts last september:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/blog

other than that? while the front page of their website says 'we're expanding!', the 'show me the jobs!' section is blank:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/careers

oddly enough, the most detailed section of the website is the 'our kitchen' page. mmm, tasty:
https://www.mediamolecule.com/about/kitchen

& that's about it. quite the little studio, alright. what is it they do, again?...
Click to expand...

Real estate in Surrey is expensive, meaning a lack of local vegetable growers, and so we choose to work with small independent suppliers – a family run greengrocer and a local butcher. Our dry goods come from Suma, an ethical, vegetarian cooperative with clear policies on sourcing, workers' rights, equality and fair tax. Our fish comes from Brixham Harbour in the southwest, from day boats where possible. In short, we always work to understand our supply routes and strive for improvement.

Our policy for the kitchen is straightforward. Across the course of a week, we aim for:

  • Nutritional balance. We might have chicken wings on a Friday, but the day before will have been a nourishing broth piled high with finely-sliced crunchy veggies.
  • Everything cooked from scratch on site, with the exception of delicious bread which comes direct from a nearby bakery. This keeps the additives low and the nutrients high. We avoid processed food.
  • At least two, maybe three days with an entirely vegetarian menu, allowing us to both reduce our meat consumption and manage our costs.
  • Minimal waste, with a proactive packaging reduction programme in place. We link with our local food bank, community fridge and day centre to provide accessible meals if we do have leftovers.
  • An inclusive setting, where lunch is a delight for everyone.
Click to expand...

my brother in Christ, what the fuck did I just read?
 
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Salty Popsicle said:
If a studio whose game sold 10+ million copies in less than 6 months isn't safe from layoffs, then no studio is.
Click to expand...
And not just being big sellers. Insomniacs's leaked roadmap literally has around 10 years of game plans from more Spiderman to Wolverine to each game having MP modes etc.... Its not like Insomniac is running out of work to do.

But to be fair, business is business. Doesn't matter if youre Apple or Bob's Bakery. If there's employees around who arent worth keeping they they get gutted. Unless a company is going broke and needs to shut down a factory or something, most layoffs are typical of what weve seen lately in tech.... 5% or 10% kind of thing. Which means the vast majority of people are still kept which is good news.
 
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BennyBlanco said:
Insomniac carried this gen on their backs for Sony and still got hit with layoffs. Imagine how sad Sony's first party output would be this gen without them. I'm not even the biggest fan of their games but if anyone should've dodged the axe it should've been them. Shutting down Media Molecule would've been smarter than pissing these guys off.
Click to expand...
They did. However, they were charging Sony an insane amount of money for each game.

Apparently the Miles DLC cost $157 million. That 7 hour DLC set in the same damn city cost $157 million?

Ratchet a 10 hour game cost $81 million? What?

And Spiderman 2 cost $300 million while they developed Wolverine in the background. So in 5 years they have spent north of $600 million of Sonys money. Thats way too expensive for any studio.
 
Damn......this needs to be reminder for all of us, we are only counted as profit, the very moment we are not profitable we become dead weight.
Reminds me of Roman & Egyptian society...straight up SLAVORY society & nothing changed last 5 centuries...they only rename it in capitalism & democracy !!!
 
dragonyeuw said:
Ratchet and Clank 2016
Spider-man
Miles Morales/Spiderman remastered
Ratchet and Clank A Rift Apart
Spider-man 2


A company which produced the above content is subject to layoffs. This fucking industry feels so gross right now.
Click to expand...
"Thanks for making a big hit that earned us millions! Now pack up your desk by the end of the month. 👋"
 
SlimySnake said:
Apparently the Miles DLC cost $157 million. That 7 hour DLC set in the same damn city cost $157 million?
Click to expand...
They have to pay insane amount of license fees to Marvel.
According to this they had to pay $106mio to Marvel alone.

The development of the game itself was $82Mio, which sounds like quite a lot but overall reasonable. I guess doing it fast (must be finished for PS5 launch) during covid increased the price a bit.
 
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The post Covid hiring spree has come to it's distribution phase it seems. Still a few rounds of layoffs required to get back to a sustainable level…
 
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Mahavastu said:
They have to pay insane amount of license fees to Marvel.
According to this they had to pay $106mio to Marvel alone.

The development of the game itself was $82Mio, which sounds like quite a lot but overall reasonable. I guess doing it fast (must be finished for PS5 launch) during covid increased the price a bit.
Click to expand...
$81 is reasonable but again, $120 million for Venom DLC is nuts.
 
SlimySnake said:
They did. However, they were charging Sony an insane amount of money for each game.

Apparently the Miles DLC cost $157 million. That 7 hour DLC set in the same damn city cost $157 million?

Ratchet a 10 hour game cost $81 million? What?

And Spiderman 2 cost $300 million while they developed Wolverine in the background. So in 5 years they have spent north of $600 million of Sonys money. Thats way too expensive for any studio.
Click to expand...
Usually games are expensive because they take so long to make or the creation of a new engine, what I don't understand is how Insomniac seems so efficient with how fast they make games but at the same time have a ballooning budget I don't get it are open world games becoming unsustainable from a budget standpoint or is it a studio issue 🤔
 
xBlueStonex said:
Hopefully they layed off their DEI department that forced latinx nonsense and BLM into Spiderman 2.
Click to expand...
Do you work at an international corporation or government institution? If anything, they'll invest more in DEI. It's a booming business. I see more and more people from my team moving to DEI management positions across the company. You guys are in for a rough awakening if you think this is going anywhere.

DEI is only getting started.
 
tommib said:
Do you work at an international corporation or government institution? If anything, they'll invest more in DEI. It's a booming business. I see more and more people from my team moving to DEI management positions across the company. You guys are in for a rough awakening if you think this is going anywhere.

DEI is only getting started.
Click to expand...
Go woke go broke.
 
tommib said:
Do you work at an international corporation or government institution? If anything, they'll invest more in DEI. It's a booming business. I see more and more people from my team moving to DEI management positions across the company. You guys are in for a rough awakening if you think this is going anywhere.

DEI is only getting started.
Click to expand...
cjYsODn.jpg

ok sir
lfnuMsx.gif

oh sowrry, my bad.
 
tommib said:
Do you work at an international corporation or government institution? If anything, they'll invest more in DEI. It's a booming business. I see more and more people from my team moving to DEI management positions across the company. You guys are in for a rough awakening if you think this is going anywhere.

DEI is only getting started.
Click to expand...
DEI bubble has burst, thankfully it will be dissapearing like a stubburn turd that finally rounds the ubend after an epic struggle .
 
People forget just how many staff are temporary anyway, not to mention the various 'consultants' etc, chances are its QA and hope to fucking god its the Diversity hires/Sweet Baby who got laid off…
 
We had a collection of delayed game statements, now we are going to get a collection of layoff statements, that's pretty sad.

Doctor Who Reaction GIF
 
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Salty Popsicle said:
If a studio whose game sold 10+ million copies in less than 6 months isn't safe from layoffs, then no studio is.
Click to expand...
Except Nintendo.

Real estate in Surrey is expensive, meaning a lack of local vegetable growers, and so we choose to work with small independent suppliers – a family run greengrocer and a local butcher. Our dry goods come from Suma, an ethical, vegetarian cooperative with clear policies on sourcing, workers' rights, equality and fair tax. Our fish comes from Brixham Harbour in the southwest, from day boats where possible. In short, we always work to understand our supply routes and strive for improvement.

Our policy for the kitchen is straightforward. Across the course of a week, we aim for:

  • Nutritional balance. We might have chicken wings on a Friday, but the day before will have been a nourishing broth piled high with finely-sliced crunchy veggies.
  • Everything cooked from scratch on site, with the exception of delicious bread which comes direct from a nearby bakery. This keeps the additives low and the nutrients high. We avoid processed food.
  • At least two, maybe three days with an entirely vegetarian menu, allowing us to both reduce our meat consumption and manage our costs.
  • Minimal waste, with a proactive packaging reduction programme in place. We link with our local food bank, community fridge and day centre to provide accessible meals if we do have leftovers.
  • An inclusive setting, where lunch is a delight for everyone.
Click to expand...

These companies spend way too much on bullshit.
 
dragonyeuw said:
Ratchet and Clank 2016
Spider-man
Miles Morales/Spiderman remastered
Ratchet and Clank A Rift Apart
Spider-man 2


A company which produced the above content is subject to layoffs. This fucking industry feels so gross right now.
Click to expand...
We don't know what their P&Ls look like. I'm sure those tell a different story.
 
Salty Popsicle said:
If a studio whose game sold 10+ million copies in less than 6 months isn't safe from layoffs, then no studio is.
Click to expand...
Sony is a bigger company than it's Video Game division. Their movie division for example had far more misses than hits. So if the company at large is doing bad, the entire company will suffer.

Compare that to Nintendo who is 100% a video game company. As long as the games are selling, they are fine.
 
Honestly, Americans make too much money, or at the very least expect too much in a business that is built off of delayed revenue (ie most money comes during release, almost nothing after). What i mean is, they say they can make more at other companies, but those companies are software sub services, constant revenue client services(retainer, or hourly based pay serving a client), or they sell an annual product.

Video games take too long to make, if you want your 150k salary to be safe, and other employees to be safe you have to make games faster at less cost, but for you to spend 315MM on a game that only took 5 years, that's massive bloat imo, regardless of the licensing fee from Disney.

People say Nintendo is safe, yea, cause they don't make nearly as much as American game devs. It's really strange how devs are so flabbergasted this happens.
 
Nintendo will be safe, at least if they continue with their vision.

Nintendo mission about not focus into graphics fidelity, their games cost much less to make, some of their games don't even have voice actors, their games take ages to get a discount, sometimes don't even get a discount at all.
 
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