UTSD: Game Developer Daybreak Trims 140 Workers
At the risk of dwelling on bad news, we now have some solid verifiable numbers on last month’s layoffs at Daybreak Games. This news is also up on MassivelyOP. Some excerpts from the San Diego Union-Tribune article:
The new owners of the former Sony Online Entertainment video game studio have laid off 140 workers from its San Diego operation.
New York investment firm Columbus Nova acquired Sony Online Entertainment – the maker of EverQuest, PlanetSide 2 and other multiplayer online computer games – in early February for an undisclosed price. The studio was renamed Daybreak Game Co. and now operates as an independent game developer.
The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) document with the California Employment Development Department that revealed 140 workers were let go in San Diego, with the effective termination date April 13.
Daybreak Spokeswoman Michele Cagle declined to say how many workers remain at the San Diego location, but added the company still has a significant workforce in the city. When asked how many workers were let go in Austin, Cagle declined to comment.
It is also our understanding that a voluntary severance package was offered (bizarrely after the layoffs), with the most prominent departures being Matt Higby, Creative Director of Planetside 2 and Joe Shoopack, Director of Artistic Development for SOE. It’s possible these voluntary departures may have allowed some of those laid off to come back under different employment terms.
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Comments (10)
Omence
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Any time I see, “declined to comment” I find myself distrusting of the person who said it.
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Charn
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Or mistrusting the company that person works for (and not necessarily the person him or herself), who may be bound by an order from those higher up the corporate ladder as to what the spokesperson can or cannot comment on.
On par with “Don’t Kill the Messenger” . . . of course that doesn’t mean the messenger isn’t untrustworthy as well . . .
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mithreal
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They didn’t have to file something similar in Austin then?
My local McDonald’s has a significant workforce as well, just ask them.
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Lateana
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Texas doesn’t give a hoot about workers or consumers. It is a “right to screw the worker” state.
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Alethus
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Actually, This would fall under the WARN act, which is federal law, and only deals with each individual job site, and it is percentage based (40% – 60% but its been a while since I’ve had to deal with it so don’t remember the threshold) so it may be Austin didn’t meet the threshold, or it did, but just didn’t make the news…
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Eric T Lewis
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No wonder the cs team is taking 7 days to get to a ticket, We probably only have 2 devs, and one cs person
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Karofin
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It does feel like a sompany that is wrapping up operations rather than the great future I thourght the franchise would enjoy. Its very sad and I hope to see a glimmer of hope soon.
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GriffonLady
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At least a little faith in humanity is restored when a couple of the higher ups quit voluntarily so some of the people lower on the ladder can keep their jobs. I raise my glass to them. At least there is still some honor and good in the world.
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Rebelde
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Worse customer service, worse servers, more lag, no raids, worse support, forums down atm… DB must say if that game has or not a future. I don’t see myself playing in December…
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Striinger
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Having been on the receiving end of an interview before, “declined to comment” can mean a lot of different things. For my case, I was asked a question I didn’t know an answer to. Another time it was something I want able to answer because the involved people weren’t notified yet. I was honest both times but the story said I “declined to comment” both times.
As for DGC service, servers, lag, etc. being the worst; I guess I’ve led a cursed gaming life. It’s currently not great, but it could be worse. They could hire HP to do their service and servers! LoL
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