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Star Trek - Elite Force II Goes Gold, Team Laid Off

Posted by simoniker on from the good-news-bad-news dept.

Warrior-GS writes "GameSpy has confirmed that developer Ritual was forced to lay off most of the team that created the PC FPS Star Trek: Elite Force II, only two days after the game went gold. Apparently, a couple of other projects fell through. Ritual's other in-development games, Counter-Strike for Xbox and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero for PC are unaffected." Fansite Ritualistic has plenty of extra information on Elite Force II, which is looking promising despite this unexpected news.

14 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. The WHOLE team? by heldlikesound · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Did they think about who would write updates for the game, or was the team so good that they got it perfect on their first try. If that's the case, why on earth would you fire them all?

    --


    Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
    1. Re:The WHOLE team? by simoniker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unfortunately, if you're a developer and are receiving milestone payments from your publisher at regular intervals, then your last milestone payment will probably be at the gold master of the game.

      At that point, you'd have to wait a few months to even _possibly_ get royalty payments from that title, through. So if Ritual didn't have a lot of money in the bank to pay developers until a new project came through.. issue. I think the same type of thing happened with the Myth III development team (scroll down) a coupla years ago, who were, oddly enough, ex-Ritual people, although the inside scoop on that may be a little different, and blatant speculation abounds, etc.

    2. Re:The WHOLE team? by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, they didn't lay off the whole team, there are enough left that if a patch would need to be written it would be so a Ritual Employee says.

    3. Re:The WHOLE team? by jspoon · · Score: 2, Informative
      With Myth 3, it was worse. The publisher decided the game was done and fired everyone, even though it wasn't sufficiently tested and many issues were left unresolved. The Mac version, developed in house and originally slated for simultanious release, was tossed around by various porting houses and eventually released 3 months later. I'm still bitter.

      I hope the situation at Ritual isn't the same.

  2. Re:You will join the collective… by meatFreedom · · Score: 2, Funny

    This fucking industry is cutthroat. Don't look now, that's your job running away on two legs.

  3. Wow, that'll really encourage developers by RalphBNumbers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know if I suspected I would be fired whenever I finished a project, I wouldn't be in any hurry to get it done. This kind of thing could drag morale and productivity into the toilet.

    --
    "The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
    1. Re:Wow, that'll really encourage developers by DiscoOnTheSide · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thats IT!!! THATS why Duke Nukem Forever hasnt come out yet! Those sneaky developers. Always one step ahead of the man. Take THAT corperate dress code!!! ....orrrrr I'm just bitter about my current coding job...

      --
      Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
  4. Unbelievable..... by Desmoden · · Score: 3, Insightful


    This is just getting out of control. When are execs going to realize that eng are not like running water or heating!?!?!? We ARE the company. We ARE the product. Not to understand the importance of marketing and sales, but people poor their hearts into this code. Their personalities come out in these projects. This is like a racing team firing drivers after they win a race. "Oh a driver is a driver, if we do another race we'll just hire another driver, his skills and experience didn't really impact this victory" INSANITY!

    Not to mention that many of us "gamers" and also engineers. And I for one will do everything I can to NOT pay for this title. I don't want that company making ONE DIME off the dedicated work of a buch of coders and designers they cut.

    This is just total BS and I hope they burn for it.

    sorry

    1. Re:Unbelievable..... by SuperGlue · · Score: 2, Insightful
      And I for one will do everything I can to NOT pay for this title. I don't want that company making ONE DIME off the dedicated work of a buch of coders and designers they cut.

      Ummm..... I guess I understand your logic. Note to self.... It is perfectly OK to screw someone over as long as you were not the FIRST person to screw them over....... Bad enough they lost their jobs, now some people will not buy their game as a way of protesting against the company execs (Who I bet still have jobs). This misguided logic ensures that the coder/developers who lost their jobs never see a kickback from any game sales (Provided they nogotiated royalty payouts when first Hired).

      But Officer....., They Stole the car first!!

      SuperGlue

  5. Standalone vs. online -- different business models by Allen+Varney · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A friend of mine who has worked at several computer game companies explained why he joined a startup doing a massively multiplayer online game, Dransik. "When you do a standalone game, the publishers pay you until it's done, and then they fire you. When you do an online game, you work for free until it's done, and then they start paying you." If I had to choose, I'd do what he did.

  6. So... by Enrico+Pulatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    don't expect a patch any time soon.

  7. Sorry to break it to you by metalhed77 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But the product is the brand. The classic example being nike. Anyone ever talk about the factory workers being the product? Hell no. They talk about shoe designs and don't give a fuck if this years shoe was made in Taiwan and not Indonesia. The product in this case is the franchise + game design. In fact, the fact that activision simply paid this software company to develop a game for the band they paid for is another example of this. Its all moving to a giant virtual company where things like the workforce become a lot more 'fluid'. Sure the human side of it sucks just like it shops for sweatshop workers, that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

    --
    Photos.
  8. Surefire way to keep your job... by angryflute · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmmm, maybe this could explain why Duke Nukem Forever has been taking so long to go gold -- the developers want to remain gainfully employed.

  9. Software is not free by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is just getting out of control. When are execs going to realize that eng are not like running water or heating!?!?!? We ARE the company ...

    This is getting rediculous. When are slashdotters going to realize that software is not free (brewery). Somebody has to pay for it. A developer either spends his precious time without monetary compensation, a developer is subsidized by government and private interests, a developer is paid in a work-for-hire situation, etc. Has anyone considered that there was not any additional money coming in for this project, no new projects ready to go? A company can not keep employess if it has no money for payroll. I am not saying this is what happened, I'm just amazed that so few are considering this possibility. I've met far more managers that felt like shit for laying off good people they like because the money was gone than pointy-haired-bosses who see an opportunity to cut expenses.