Comments 313

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off Nearly 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

@Zidentia Epic had, and from I hear from friends still has those issues. They tried their best to predict, but of course no one can really do that. They aren't holden to stock holders, so they at least didn't struggle with that as much. They definitely became more corporate as they grew, which is understandable and natural as a company grows in size. One of the reasons I left was it lost its family feel, I think I was like employee 113 or something.

What do you do in the industry? Programmer, art, design or something else?

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off Nearly 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

@demacho No Argument taken. I can't divulge all of the initiatives since some of them are still en route. But an example would be the musical events, where the leads and the team both collectively wanted to do something amazing but burned themselves out and needed help the next time. I say this to clarify that a lot of internal Epic employees are highly motivated and driven to deliver the next big thing. Topping every experience wasn't something coming from above as much a within the teams pushing themselves and then realizing they couldn't do it without more help.

Additionally, there were several projects that they tried to spin up internally but didn't work out. Epic hired to make good on the vision and in the process got overstaffed when the projects fell through. This is no different than a lot of companies that staff up to make a product or game and the game ends up failing, resulting in studio closures. In this case, they had several of these that occured internally without announcement. Until this round of layoffs, Epic generally shifted people to other internal projects (mostly Fortnite) when the side initiatives fell through.

One final part would be Fortnite as a whole became so much bigger than the team could have the manpower to maintain. The content production couldn't keep up with demand. There were a lot of contract workers, but over time conversions would happen. A lot of times the bulk hires came in the form of support for teams like: QA, CS, more producers hired to manage the organization.

I should also clarify that I don't take greed enitrely off the table, I just don't think it was a factor in the layoffs necessarily. But it isn't a blanket application. There were a lot of employees that came on after Fortnite's success that wanted a bite of that pile of gold. Conversely there were a lot of people that wanted to be part of something big and different. I do take caution at leveling the criticism at Tim, specifically. Greed and Tim aren't really adjacent. He is far more concerned with technology and making technology that is accessible to the masses. It is difficult to explain but, he is not cut and dry. A lot of folks saw his attack on Apple as greed vs greed. It was more like Don Quixote. While at Epic, I couldn't talk about it, so it is weird to be able to now. Tim wasn't a teddy bear, but he tried to do right by his company, that are very much his family, and right by the future. I could go into more details but I hope this adds more nuance...???

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off Nearly 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

@tanasten yeah it bums me out. I just found out a couple of friends got hit from it.

For context we were at about 700 employees when Fortnite launched and about 5 to six years later they grew to over 5000. It just couldn't sustain itself under the weight. It was a tough situation because all the departments were always wanting more help, while they took on more initiatives. Trying to make hay while the sun shined.

From Tim's email to the company, it sounds like they found some equilibrium. I hope so. It's really rough out there now.

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off Nearly 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

@LadyCharlie I just want to clarify something. I understand that a lot of companies do what you are talking about. But that is not Epic. They got rid of past board members, because those board members wanted to take larger portions of bonus pools (50% and divvy them amongst the board). I will not name names but they were jerks.

Tim Sweeney on several occasions went to the mat with the board saying that all profits needed to be split evenly between the devs. He was only talked down because the rest of the board said that they needed to keep money in the bank for a rainy day. Tim consistently gave as much bonus money and stock options that he could without compromising the security of the company (and by extension everyone's jobs).

In the games industry there are a lot of jerks, misogynists, shady people, greedy shysters and everyone else you sense there are. That was not my experience at Epic. To my surprise any time a bad actor would show up in management, they had only a little amount of time before they were escorted out of the company.

Tim is a lot of things, like all humans, he is multifaceted and complicated. But he is not Mr. Burns, or any caricature of devious tycoons.

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off About 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

@Not_Soos @Not_Soos That is a great question. I left because:
1. My kids were getting older and I wanted to spend more time with them.
2. I lost my mom to cancer and went through a pretty dark time, Epic was very supportive in that time, but I reviewed a lot of what I valued in life then.
3. I wanted to do something besides Fortnite, and their vision of the metaverse. As an artist I wanted to explore new places.

Re: Epic Games Is Reportedly Laying Off About 900 Employees

NintendoJunkie

Before more people spout off about what is happening. I was in senior Leadership for more than a decade Epic before I left this last January. This has nothing to do with corporate greed or shady business deals. Epic was very charitable to all of it's employees. Their benefits were bar none the best.

What really happened... they grew too fast and brought on lots of people. They started a lot of initiatives that pulled them too thin. Tim Sweeney's email to the company explains a lot. They are providing generous severence packages to all people leaving. I love Epic and they always treated me and my teams great. It is devastating to see realized, but a lot of us internally were feeling this coming a long time ago.

The games industry is in a really brutal time right now from big to little company's. Any speculation like the one above couldn't be further from the truth about Sweeney. You have no clue about what goes on inside. You just have conjured narratives.

Re: Mythforce Developer Hit By Layoffs As Embracer Continues To Restructure

NintendoJunkie

It is sad. That said, their game didn't sell well or get great reviews. I'm surprised they are keeping them open considering how the bottom fell out of all game invested. It is down 85% since last March. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we will probably see more stories like this. The industry is really tough across the board. Especially for startups and investing firms. A lot of startups have shuttered already.

Re: Genshin Impact Zelda "Clone" Accusations Had Dev Team In Tears

NintendoJunkie

@Anachronism @AstroTheGamosian That is exactly the same story I have heard from so many of my friends. People who couldn't get into BOTW but loved Genshin, and vice versa. I am more of the latter. I tried but just didn't feel Genshin. So, I think people that dish out the hate, saying Genshin is a clone really don't know what they are talking about. I think Mihoyo has really done their homework and established themselves as a top tier developer. Star Rail only proves Genshin wasn't a fluke.... respect to Mihoyo where credit is due.

Re: SNK Shares First Look At Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves

NintendoJunkie

This looks awesome! No way it coming out on the switch unless Nintendo goes all in on the Apple/Sony model of retro-compatibility. Would be brilliant if they did.

After doing a little more research, the ties of SNK to the Saudi government, makes this a head scratcher. I respect people either buying or not buying this game based on their moral position. It's a tough one: giving money to an authoritarian government or punishing the devs amd IP that are stuck in the middle.

Re: Video: What Would A 'Master Mode' In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Be Like?

NintendoJunkie

BOTW's DLC was literally like Nintendo read my mind on what the game needed. For TOTK, I'm really not sure, all I can think of is bringing Guardians back, or making it feel like the depths aren't just giant wastelands of boredom. As for a Master Quest, I honestly don't care. TOTK already feels a little more tedious than BOTW. I would hate for the enemies to become damage sponges.

Re: Top 100 Best Nintendo Games Of All Time

NintendoJunkie

This list is a travesty that completely undermines my fragile opinion of what games I personally enjoy most..... (sarcasm)

It's just a list folks, a data point, a curiosity. It is kind of like arguing over what the best flavor of ice cream is, when everyone knows it's Pistachio

BTW If the list were mine, there wouldn't be a single JRPG. (grenade thrown, and runs away)

Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's New Update Targets Item Duplication Glitches, Unsurprisingly

NintendoJunkie

If it was PVP I would understand, but this seems a little overcontrolling. If people want to "break" the intended curve, let them, if they hate it after that is their prerogative. It is not like there are microtrans they are circumnavigation.

Just so we're clear, I have never used a dupe glitch, couldn't care less if others do. It seems almost obsessive/compulsive to go after them all.

Re: Anniversary: Two Years On, Here Are Some Amazing Game Builder Garage Creations

NintendoJunkie

@Maxz @DwaynesGames I worked on Fortnite for years and that is a FTP game. Even with no financial barrier to create games on the platform, we found that a very small, small, minority of players made games. Even fewer published those games to the masses.

Given that experience, I wouldn't be surprised if Game Garage has a similar problem of a vast percentage of players haven't even made one game let alone publish them. And then you take that small proportion and only a minute amount of those are even fun.

It is a hard problem to solve, especially when the initial financial barrier limits the audience size.

I guess this a long way of saying we are all in agreement. (high fives all around)