this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024

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Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Larian's Publishing Director Calls Games Industry Layoffs an 'Avoidable F*ck Up' (www.ign.com)

submitted 6 months ago by nanoUFO to c/games

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

Are game journalists just hanging out at Larian studios every single day now? Like, I get it. I've heard their opinions on this and a couple other things relentlessly since BG3 came out.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 6 months ago (1 children)

They have free coffee and croissants in the mornings and their chairs are decadently plush.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

[–] [email protected] 26 points 6 months ago

It feels more like the Onion reposting the same article about mass shootings with nothing but the date changed.

Every time there's another layoff announced we should turn to someone else at Larian and ask their opinion.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

I like to think they got one interview with him but are turning every comment into a different article to milk it as much as they can.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Maybe you're used to seeing news filtered through the eager throats of big publishers...?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

More likely they've been inundated for years with complaints from developers in the big studios about how fucked they feel, and they feel the industry has gone to hell with microtransactions, so they keep on propping up Larian as an antidote to the general rot.

Not sure it will make a difference until big studios games stop selling, some government intervention in the microtransactions (likely) or work conditions (unlikely), developers unionize properly, or the field is seeded with more studios like Larian so that more developers and gamers have more choices and the big studios are starved.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Common Larian W

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

BG3 was my first game from them, but you bet I'll be going to play their other stuff.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Based

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

On what, exactly?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNu-SuFF_o

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

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[+] [email protected] -88 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

Surprisingly narrow minded and incorrect viewpoint.

Layoffs are inevitable, including at Larian studios. Otherwise they're saying all video game studios just have linear growth forever which is stupid.

People downvoting have no idea what they're talking about lol. One flop and Larian Studios will do mass lay-offs like every other studio. And no studio will make continual success after success.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Not true. They could have a decently stable developer base. That is, they don't overhire and don't "need" to have layoffs as a result.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I swear this comment was a trolling attempt or one of the bloodsucking stockholder asshats that think linear growth is a bad thing.

[+] [email protected] -35 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well luckily every game studio only ever makes successful games and Larian will never make a flop. Right?

Just like other great studios like CPDR. Or Blizzard.... Oh...

I swear people are just idiots or have zero memory.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago (1 children)

See, your examples are all publically traded companies that basically only serve as moneymaking schemes for shareholders. Larian is still privately owned and founder & owner Swen Wincke recently stated in an interview that they had enough cash reserves to handle at least 1 total flop without the need to mass layoff people.

I'm much more inclined to believe him with the track record of Larian Studios recently over your armchair analysis.

[+] [email protected] -28 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Phew! So they just have to make good enough games to avoid two complete flops in a row. Which is impossible but feel free to try and argue that it's possible.

It's also an extremely privileged view. "Just have lots of money and you'll be fine lol! Dumb studios who don't make enough money to weather flops are bad!"

It's the equivalent of the rich billionaires saying if you want a house just work hard and buy one. It's not hard! Why are the poor people complaining?

It would be nice to not have Layoffs but it's just reality it will happen. If you think it's impossible you are a child or are completely blinded by corporate interests.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago

So they just have to make good enough games to avoid two complete flops in a row. Which is impossible

BG3 made a lot of committed repeat customers for Larian, I don't think it's impossible their next game will sell very well based on name recognition and good will alone. A guarantee? No. But a safe bet.

It’s the equivalent of the rich billionaires saying if you want a house just work hard and buy one. It’s not hard! Why are the poor people complaining?

If this is the source of your rage posting, that's a lot of misguided anger to point it toward Larian. Are we gonna complain about the one-man developer who quit his job to develop Balatro? Yes he was privileged enough to have savings to dig into, but neither him nor Larian are anywhere in the same ballpark as EA, Microsoft, Ubisoft, etc. They're just the wrong people to get mad at.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago

Phew! So they just have to make good enough games to avoid two complete flops in a row. Which is impossible but feel free to try and argue that it’s possible.

Are you saying it's impossible not to have two flops in a row?

Divinity original sin 1, 2, bg3. No flops.

Old timey blizzard had hits from Warcraft 1 through WoW, and then I stopped paying attention to them.

FromSoft has put out very good games consistently.

This is just big names off the top of my head.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

I feel like you just want mass layoffs to happen. Of course it is not possible to guarantee any number of games wont flop. But the fact is that they budget in a way that allows them to occasionally flop completely without having to strip their teams bare.

Where most companies (especially publically traded) just dump their earnings into bonuses or mass hirings (in the case of sudden success) some companies budget responsibly in a way that allows them to continue to have success without having to go through hiring/layoff-cycles.

Larian Studios currently seems to be one of those as does Pocket Pair.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Shit tier take

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Seriously?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

The vast majority of these recent layoffs have taken place at wildly successful companies that were all profitable and had strong sales.

The sales just weren't as high as they were expecting due to their own aggressive post-covid targets, so for c-levels to unlock their full bonuses they needed to harvest skulls.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

I think the narrow minded perspective is coming from this comment. Yes. Of course layoffs are inevitable in business. That’s not what the discussion is about. Take a look at how short-sighted these companies behaved during the lock-down. People are stuck at home, and they’re buying more games? OMG let’s just pretend this is a trend that will never end and start expanding as much as possible! Nope. Anyone with two brain cells could tell you that was going to drop as soon as the lockdowns lifted and people could go outside again.

Avoidable? Abso-fucking-lutely.

However, I agree with you that it’s not at all a fuck up. I believe it is flat out malicious. Publishers have more than two brain cells, and they knew this was going to happen, so they took advantage of an obvious opportunity to get rid of costly, experienced employees in favor of cheap, new blood. Smart, and evil.