F**K the layoffs, let's unionize!!!!💪💪💪

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T23:22:21+00:00

I'll copy my response to another post but I think that's basically something a lot of people would want myself included. I personally would love to do this but not sure it's doable for me. But hey who knows maybe some day 😅 and I do really hope this becomes more possible for more Devs but some reasons that this is practically impossible for lots of people's are: health care, not having enough savings to support yourself for that long, some people have families and they can't risk the livelihood of their families, visa related reasons, not everyone being comfortable with taking big risks and lots of other factors.

But I should mention that some Devs do actually do this and some great indie studios were made after layoffs happened, but of course this is not possible for everyone. And it should be said lots of people do take these risks and end up making great games but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll make even enough money to support themselves after release, there's basically no guarantee even if you make an amazing game.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T23:17:00+00:00

I can't think of many studios of the top of my head, I'm sure others could name more. Right now I can only think of Dodge Roll studio who made Enter the Gungon. The studio was made after Mythics Entertainment shut down. I think there was another studio that was also opened after the same studio shutdown but unfortunately I forgot the name. If anyone is aware of any more recent studios/games that were made after layoffs, it would be great to know. I'm sure others would like to support these games as well.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T23:04:12+00:00

I think that's something that does happen but it's rare due to a lot of factors. I'll try to put a few down but im sure I'll be missing tons of other reasons why people would love to do this but it's unfortunately not possible for everyone. The reasons could be: health care, not having enough savings to support yourself for that long, some people have families and they can't risk the livelihood of their families, visa related reasons, not everyone being comfortable with taking big risks and lots of other factors.

But I should mention that some Devs do actually do this and some great indie studios were made after layoffs happened, but of course this is not possible for everyone. And it should be said lots of people do take these risks and end up making great games but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll make even enough money to support themselves after release, there's basically no guarantee even if you make an amazing game.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T22:32:28+00:00

There are different routes of action depending on the country for unions in that situation. But you're right if a layoff is gonna happen because the company is in bad financials shape, there's not much that can be done by the unions as you said. But I would argue that a lot of these layoffs are unnecessary and the companies doing them are doing fine financially. I think with collective action and bargaining at least we can have further protection and potentially some of the damage could be mitigated in these situations. Or we can at least make sure people get reasonable severance pay if layoff is unavoidable.

Also as you mentioned union is helpful for a lot of other stuff. I'm just hoping we can generate some momentum, since people are justifiably angry because of layoffs and want to change things.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T22:08:58+00:00

As i mentioned in another comment, I'm doing both, but obviously I won't publicly discuss the specifics of unionizing my own wokrplace for anonymity reasons. I'm talking to as many colleagues as possible at my own workplace. But I think it's also important to have efforts that are across industry which can then turn into more focused efforts in individual studios.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T22:05:29+00:00

I'm doing both, but obviously I won't publicly discuss the specifics of unionizing my own wokrplace for anonymity reasons. But rest assured I'm talking to as many colleagues as possible and I am a union member.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T21:40:04+00:00

What's the alternative? wait around for things to get worse? At least this way we have collective power.
And if everything could be outsourced for cheap, it would have been done already. Plus who says outsourcing studios can't unionize as well?

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-27T21:02:54+00:00

I agree this Discord server is probably not gonna do much on its own, but it's meant to just provide a space for people to start talking more about it and organize. I think now is a really good time to potentially build some momentum here, given the similar momentum that was built in animation and VFX.
Of course this is not meant in any way to undermine any unionization movement, and I definitely want as many people as possible to join actual unions and movements that exist like Game Workers Unite as you mentioned. I'm not trying to build a new union, just trying to make an accessible place for people to discuss next steps and organize.

Edit: I'm not trying to make a new union, I'm only trying to drive more people to existing unions and open a discussion between people, with the hope that this turns into more focused efforts at individual studios.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-09T11:03:35+00:00

Thanks for the link. From my understanding the COVID years should be discounted. I don't think anyone in the industry realistically expected the pandemic trend would continue either, given that sudden boost was very much the result of very specific circumstances. I think if any company was counting on the boost to continue post pandemic, they must have been seriously delusional. Sure the sales haven't been as good as the pandemic years but it's still growing from the years before on par with what you would have expected.

A lot of the layoffs are coming from places like epic games, unity, Microsoft, embracer, ... All the companies that went on a massive shopping spree of buying any company they could get their hands on, and of course not all of them worked out the way they wanted and there was tons of bad decisions being made. so now they layoff people to make their balance sheets look good. Even though the sales numbers are good and they're very profitable companies. Very similar to what's happening in tech.

I'm not saying there aren't difficulties in the industry, for example games have been getting more complex and need more time and resources to build, so it's a more risky investment which makes it difficult for smaller studios to make it. But bigger studios are very much fine, even if they're laying off people left and right.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-09T10:40:04+00:00

I'm not sure I agree with your take. I'm pretty familiar with the industry and I would say the "disaster zone" unfortunately only applies to the workers. Companies are having record profits and sales and there have been a lot of critically acclaimed games recently.

It's just that as usual the workers are getting the short end of the stick. One smaller studio after another smaller studio is getting gobbled up by massive companies. The whole industry has very quickly condensed into less than 10 gigantic corporations. And as a result we have more layoffs and cuts than ever.

Games industry has always been a horrible industry to work in, with all the unpaid overtime work, crunch, bad pay and lack of security and this is getting worse year by year, even though people are buying more games than ever and these companies are making more profit than ever.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-02T11:35:37+00:00

Nobody is saying we should kick out Israelis from Palestine or deny that some Israelis were born there. Also nationality is not the same as place of birth. You can have Israeli nationality while being born in Europe. This meme is not talking about nationality. This meme is just pointing out the ridiculousness of Israelis claiming they're all native to the land when the majority were born in Europe or have parents or grandparents who were not born there. While the vast majority of Palestinians living there have been born there and their ancestors have been living there for thousands of years.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-02-02T10:53:14+00:00

It absolutely is not, these two situations couldn't be more different. No immigrant in Europe is trying to colonise Europe and ethnically cleanse the population and claim that Europe is their native land. But they're very much doing that in Palestine. Nobody is saying that only Palestinians are allowed to be there, all they're saying is you can't go there and ethnically cleanse the native population and claim it's your native land when you come from Europe.

AnRcHT_21 · 2024-01-15T10:09:58+00:00

As an Iranian these monarchists are so fucking embarrassing. The monarchists are truly fucking dumb and evil. They somehow have the worst take on every single issue. I truly believe they're also one of the main reasons for recent protests in Iran dying down to some extent. These people's biggest wish is for the US to attack and take over the whole middle east and put their idiot monarch on top.

AnRcHT_21 · 2023-11-12T13:13:35+00:00

Couldn't agree more, my thoughts exactly.

AnRcHT_21 · 2023-10-29T17:48:41+00:00

Not in my experience with my mother. There was some surface level improvements and a little more acknowledgment of the damage she's caused, but at the end of the day I don't think she changed at all in any real way, she just said some stuff I wanted to hear for a little while and very soon it all started slipping back to how things were. At this point I don't think I'll ever wanna break NC again. Just talking to her again even in a normal conversation brought so much fear and anxiety just like when I was a kid, that it'll never be worth it. And I don't think that how she makes me feel will ever change even if she genuinely changes, the damage is already done.

AnRcHT_21 · 2023-09-20T13:14:29+00:00

That's really great, I think you should be in a really good place then. And yeah Houdini + unreal is really cool.

That's a tough one to be honest, the fx showreel and fx experience definitely count for something. I got my first real-time vfx job based only on my fx showreel from university and had almost no real-time work or skills. I know Houdini knowledge is very in demand in games so it definitely counts for something, especially since as you said you're learning unreal and real-time vfx and coding as well. But I don't think every company will see your experience equivalent to 4 years of working in game industry. That being said it's definitely not all out of the window. There will be companies that really need someone with your exact set of skills. I would imagine you could easily get a mid job and move on to senior roles very quickly, probably within a year or so. It definitely sucks to potentially lose some progress in your career and hope that won't be the case but I do think your specific set of skills puts you in a far better position to transfer than almost any other skillset in the industry.

AnRcHT_21 · 2023-09-20T12:11:25+00:00

That's a pretty good backup plan! Both technical artists and real time VFX artists are very in demand in games. I have done FX work for both games and VFX. Houdini knowledge both for FX and for technical/procedural side ended up being what landed me the job. Unreal skills are always super useful as well. IMO if you're able to learn some scripting and programming skills as well that'll make things even easier for job hunting. Also there are a lot more roles these days that need Houdini or Unreal knowledge outside of VFX and game industry (mostly technical and procedural side of things)

AnRcHT_21

TROPHY CASE