Layoffs in the Game Industry

If you stay in the game industry long enough, you will be part of a layoff. If you are in leadership in the game industry for long enough, you will have to execute one. It is one of the hardest things in the world. After growing your team, person by person, carefully over years, cultivating each of them and supporting them to integrate and flourish - you have to let them go. There is only one choice. You can let some go, or you can let all go.

And then you have to choose which ones. Who is essential to the future of the project or the company? Who gets paid more than they contribute? Who are the ones who've been on the bubble for a while? Who's going to really suffer without any income? Who's going to be easy to replace six months down the road if things do turn around?

It's hard to look at people in these terms. None of this defines them. There is no abstract "value". The chemistry of the team is a key part of their capability, and there's no easy way to capture who is the "glue" that holds the team together and who is the chisel that drives them apart.

My first layoff was classic - Atomic Games, back in 2000. Atomic had some success with Close Combat 2, and Microsoft was bullish on games, so with some potential contracts dangling, Keith (the owner and head of studio) decided to expand and took a lease on the second floor of a building with something like 100 offices. Needless to say, they never filled even half that. The contracts never materialized.

By the time I got there, they were shipping Close Combat 5: Invasion Normandy (my first shipping title for some minor edits and updates to the manual). And the project they were bringing me on was the next big thing, which should have been a red flag. No one brings on an inexperienced lead designer for a bold new project, much less the one that an entire studio depends on. At least, no one who knows what they're doing does.

Within about 5 months, they stopped being able to make payroll. Just before the holidays, we went in and ransacked the offices, sure that the landlord was going to chain the doors for lack of rent payment. We took machines and monitors in lieu of paychecks. Someone even took the server racks, because those cost a few hundred dollars, and we weren't getting anything else out of the company. No severance. We didn't even expect back pay, although Keith did eventually make that right.

I did the calculation at some point, and I'd spent about 20% of my career out of work. Besides Atomic, I took layoffs at THQ, Tencent Boston, Gameloft, Magic Leap, and Backflip. Some of those were more voluntary than others, but none of them was how I wanted it to go. That 20% of my lifetime earnings could have gone to retirement; it could have gone to travel; maybe if I'd felt more financially secure, I would have had kids earlier in life.

I'm okay with my path. I've been on both sides. I've made my sacrifices consciously, and I have regrets, but I wouldn't have done it any differently. I made the best choices when I could. Collectively, it's cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I can live with myself. I can look in the mirror and not be ashamed of the person I see there.

There are better and worse ways to do this. I've seen both. When Hasbro closed Backflip, they were very good. They were generous; they were kind. They provided services and support as well as money. They actively sought out other roles for folks. When other opportunities came up, they didn't try to roadblock anything. There were no claw-backs. They were a solid partner, and they allowed me to pull off one of the greatest coups of my career. I will always be grateful to Hasbro, in spite of the fact they laid me off. I will always be proud of my time at Tencent, in spite of multiple layoffs.

It matters how you treat people. People notice, not just the ones directly affected. The game industry pulls in a lot of money, but it's still a small industry, especially at the senior levels. Not many of us have been willing to pay the tolls it takes to make it to that level. We talk to each other, through various channels, and if you think we don't see how companies behave?

You're wrong.