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Just Cause developer Avalanche closing two studios and laying off 50 workers

Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Avalanche_Header.png

Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios Group has closed its studios in New York and Montreal and laid off 50 employees.

In a brief statement on its website, Avalanche said the layoffs will impact roughly 9 percent of employees worldwide. "This is an exceptionally difficult decision, but we believe it's necessary to ensure a stable and sustainable future for the company," it wrote.
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"Our focus is now on supporting all Avalanchers through this challenging time. We're grateful for the invaluable contributions of those leaving and remain committed to creating incredible gaming experiences for our players."

Avalanche was formed over two decades ago and previously boasted five studios in Stockholm, Malmo, Liverpool, New York, and Montreal. It has worked on franchises including Just Cause, Rage, Mad Max, and theHunter.
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www.gamedeveloper.com

Just Cause developer Avalanche closing two studios and laying off 50 workers

The company will be shuttering its studios in New York and Montreal to ensure a 'sustainable future.'
www.gamedeveloper.com www.gamedeveloper.com
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Avalanche Montreal officially opened its doors in October 2023 after Avalanche acquired and integrated Monster Closet's development team into its studio hierarchy. The Montreal team was tasked with "joining the development of current and future IPs," but has now been put out to pasture.
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They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
 
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Dr. Wilkinson

Dr. Wilkinson

Member
adamsapple said:
They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
Click to expand...
They probably got ahead of themselves and the studio opened and was staffed before they realized they didn't have the work or the cashflow to justify it. Happens all the time.
 
N

Neilg

Member
adamsapple said:
They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
Click to expand...

They might have had a plan that went to shit. A situation I've seen first hand is that it's hard to hands-on manage a team in a different time zone, you have to trust the already established team there and maybe the owner of the original studio over sold their capabilities and morale went to shit, making them dead weight.

In the case I saw, the owner got a fat pay out and started driving an aston martin to work, turned up the obnoxious behavior a bit more, would only show up for a few hours from noon to 4pm, while the rest of the team felt undervalued (nobody got a bonus in the buyout) and collectively checked out. Keeping the staff in a creative studio inspired and turning up with the energy to do great work every day is a serious task.
 
N

Neilg

Member
acm2000 said:
how many were we at this time last year?
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2023 - Game Industry Layoffs - Obsidian Publish

2023 - Game Industry Layoffs - Powered by Obsidian Publish.
publish.obsidian.md publish.obsidian.md

Maybe a little under half? it's june and the number for 2024 is about to overtake the 2023 total.
2022 was 8500 total.

The main reason behind the layoffs is that the entire games industry is financed 5 years at a time. Loans are not cheap anymore. And really, a lot of what we're seeing is still largely a correction - the overhiring over the last 5 years was at an insane, unsustainable scale, only justified by it not costing much to carry debt.

Here's a good stat - while there have been a lot of layoffs, the overall number of people in the industry is still increasing
www.statista.com

U.S. video gaming employment 2023 | Statista

As well as being one of the leading gaming market in terms of revenue in 2020, the United States is also considered by many as the birthplace of gaming as we know it today.
www.statista.com www.statista.com
 
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SEGAvangelist

SEGAvangelist

Member
2 studios is only 50 people? Maybe I'm reading it wrong. Hopefully this doesn't affect Contraband. We've seen nothing yet on it, though.
 
rhodesianshepard

rhodesianshepard

Banned
Thief1987 said:
Seems like Contraband is certainly dead.
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Not necessarily. The internet says Avalanche has over 500 employees. If true, I have so many questions. Their last big release was Rage 2 back in 2019, which was a massive bomb. There is no way Microsoft is keep them afloat with 500+ employees to make one gaas game. That would be crazy. How are they not shut down yet? 5 years of nothing for a pretty mediocre studio coming off a massive misfire with Rage 2
 
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JCK75

JCK75

Member
Pretty sad.. I Love their games but was getting to a point where it was just the same game over with some minor tweaks and slightly better looking.. being locked into one franchise repeatedly is not a recipe for success.
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
HL3.exe said:
YES!

2024 - Game Industry Layoffs - Obsidian Publish

2024 - Game Industry Layoffs - Powered by Obsidian Publish.
publish.obsidian.md publish.obsidian.md

We've hit 10.000 layoffs since january. Great job video game industry 👍
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Yeah and then add in the vfx and cg industries….

My livelihood has imploded.

Word on the street since last year is “survive til ‘25” saying the jobs will bounce back but i think thats just bullshit jargon…
 
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Miyazaki’s Slave

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
adamsapple said:
They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
Click to expand...
Everybody has a plan until your funding dries up. Looking at the Sony business presentation and what 6 games generate 52% of their revenue I am sure every studio out there is cutting everything they can to make it* through the next few years.
 
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ahtlas7

ahtlas7

Member
Looking at their game lineup, this company’s been swirling the toilet for a while. The recession is taking the weak first.
 
SodaZA

SodaZA

Member
At least Expansive worlds is still kicking
I'd hate to see them not churn out more half baked DLCs for theAngler and theHunter...
 
H

HL3.exe

Banned
acm2000 said:
how many were we at this time last year?
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an estimated 11,250 over a whole year, which was already a lot for the industry standard. Last time it was this big was around 2014, but at that time new companies emerged due to new capital. Which isn't the case this time. A lot of institutional knowledge will be lost unfortunately.

www.statista.com

Gaming layoffs worldwide 2024 | Statista

In 2023, the gaming sector experienced a significant number of layoffs, as a consequence of post-COVID industry contraction which has led to studio consolidation and ultimately, an estimated 11,250 video gaming employees losing their jobs.
www.statista.com www.statista.com
 
Laptop1991

Laptop1991

Member
That's a shame, i;m a big fan of Just Cause 2 and 3 was ok aswell and the Mad Max game, but it seems to be common now that studios don't make the games they use to as the higher ups don't want to let them make the games they are good at making.
 
Denton

Denton

Member
adamsapple said:
They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
Click to expand...
I once got hired, and then 10 months later got laid off, because the company decided to start saving due to covid. Last in, first out. Things can change quickly in business. Maybe they had some deal and that deal was canceled. Maybe their current game made less than anticipated. And so on..
 
recursive

recursive

Member
adamsapple said:
They closed a studio that was opened last year October. Kinda weird to open a new studio then close it in less than a year. Why open it in the first place without a plan?
Click to expand...
I don't k ow. Seems to be standard for the I dusty. MS spent billions to then later close some of they studios they bought.
 
bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
winjer said:
The market is in bad shape, but it's like all these companies think they can make game with just AI and almost no people.
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And nobody wants to address the elephant in the room of diversity hires vs real developers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry has gotten so bad that they sack developers over diversity staff.
 
ProtoByte

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
winjer said:
The market is in bad shape, but it's like all these companies think they can make game with just AI and almost no people.
Click to expand...
That's not the idea.

GHG said:
They're about to find out the hard way.
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It's 50 people out of more than 500.

Isn't it clear by now that more people doesn't mean faster, better work or a more efficient pipeline?

bitbydeath said:
And nobody wants to address the elephant in the room of diversity hires vs real developers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry has gotten so bad that they sack developers over diversity staff.
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What do you mean? It's brought up almost every thread now.

Anyway, Insomniac, probably the "wokest" of high profile devs, internally targeted "low performers" for layoffs. So I don't think people hired solely for their intersectionality have been safe from the firings. This isn't comic books.
 
bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
ProtoByte said:
What do you mean? It's brought up almost every thread now.

Anyway, Insomniac, probably the "wokest" of high profile devs, internally targeted "low performers" for layoffs. So I don't think people hired solely for their intersectionality have been safe from the firings. This isn't comic books.
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A lot of companies (not just gaming) intentionally hire people that aren’t qualified, all so they can put a tick in the diversity box. We’ve been seeing the impacts of that hitting in recent years, it is especially bad in gaming because learning and understanding code isn’t easy.
 
phant0m

phant0m

Member
Laptop1991 said:
That's a shame, i;m a big fan of Just Cause 2 and 3 was ok aswell and the Mad Max game, but it seems to be common now that studios don't make the games they use to as the higher ups don't want to let them make the games they are good at making.
Click to expand...
Ding ding ding.

The last legit great game they made was JC2. Mad Max was solid but just good, as was JC3. JC4 stank as did RAGE 2.
 
SportsFan581

SportsFan581

Member
adamsapple said:
A lot less. Total in 2023 was 10,500. We're at 10,200 and haven't gotten through half the year yet.
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Yikes. With the profit numbers of most of the big players being what they are, it's hard to imagine that many cuts. Hopefully they all land other positions.
 
bender

bender

What time is it?
Not great news but not surprising either. Their output since JC2 has been mostly underwhelming.
 
Shits_McGiggles

Shits_McGiggles

Member
ProtoByte said:
That's not the idea.


It's 50 people out of more than 500.

Isn't it clear by now that more people doesn't mean faster, better work or a more efficient pipeline?


What do you mean? It's brought up almost every thread now.

Anyway, Insomniac, probably the "wokest" of high profile devs, internally targeted "low performers" for layoffs. So I don't think people hired solely for their intersectionality have been safe from the firings. This isn't comic books.
Click to expand...
Here is the thing though, what does “low performers” mean to Insomniac leadership? Is the leadership at various levels objective enough to give fair and accurate performance reviews, or are they fully subjective? I’m betting it is most likely the latter, and the low performer status could just as easily be designated to those who don’t like participating in the “woke” corporate culture as much as it could be for people who screw up or make repeated errors. You can’t underestimate the corporate politics that make or break a company.
 
ProtoByte

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Shits_McGiggles said:
Here is the thing though, what does “low performers” mean to Insomniac leadership? Is the leadership at various levels objective enough to give fair and accurate performance reviews, or are they fully subjective? I’m betting it is most likely the latter, and the low performer status could just as easily be designated to those who don’t like participating in the “woke” corporate culture as much as it could be for people who screw up or make repeated errors. You can’t underestimate the corporate politics that make or break a company.
Click to expand...
I think that's a big stretch. I get where you're coming from, but you're making the same mistake that's made on the other side of assigning everything to politics. Occam's razor suggests that low performance means not meeting the standard game industry deliverables on time or at sufficient quality. Again, this isn't comic books. There's actual risk and reward and a lot of money and time being thrown in the air here.

Anecdotally, many of the people I've seen talk about getting laid off and generally making a moralistic stink about layoffs on social media are the ones with the flags and the pronouns in the bio.

It's not to say that the industry doesn't have a problem when ot comes to this, but when you're talking about sweeping layoffs, it's probably sage to assume that good old corporate shrewdness prevails over far left nonsense. Not entirely, but mostly.
 
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