Ion Storm Austin Studio Under 'Transition'?

madhatter256 writes "According to Shacknews, around 20-25 more employees, allegedly including noted designer Warren Spector, have left the Eidos-owned Ion Storm studio in Austin." There's an official Eidos response at GameSpot, where a spokesperson "denied Spector had exited the organization", but IGN has further official Eidos reports confirming "Both Ion games have been completed and those who were hires specifically for those titles are now finished", and noting that Spector himself, though he could theoretically be exiting by other means, "certainly has not been laid off." This news comes in the context of earlier personnel turmoil, Thief III's fairly well-received release (there's now a playable PC demo available), and a mixed reception for Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Comments

No concern...

[WinnipegDragon]

I have no doubt that Warren will land on his feet. He has a following akin to Peter Molyenieux, although DX2 might have jeopardized that a bit.

A Haiku for him:

Weep not for Spector,

DX2 sucked anyhow,

Here's to better days!

Re:Layoffs...

[Anonymous Coward]

No industry should have "normal staff reductions". That's complete bullshit, and I will openly boycott any company that ditches it's development teams as expendable.

All employees are expendable except government civil servants. You are animals to be used and discarded when they're finished with you.

Re:Layoffs...

[Mike Hawk]

Wow, you win the award for most insane post on the internet today.

Well, I hoped you liked playing games because its a thing of the past for you if you are boycotting companies that lay people off when a project is done because thats all of them. On second thought, I'm sure you'll still find a way to play the games without paying because you seem like such an upstanding citizen.

Is it unclear to anyone why this happens? Company needs to accomplish X. People are hired to accomplish X. X gets accomplished. People hired to accomplish X need to be reallocated. If there is no Y, people are reduced. Its the way the industry works. Not just video games, entertainment as a whole. You think Jerry Seinfeld is still sitting around making episodes of his show? No, the project ended. Yes it sucks, but everyone involved knows the deal before they start. I find E3 uncomfortable because I see so many people who used to work here working for other companies. It hurts, but thats how it goes.

Look at the credits for any game and I'd wager from 30-50% of the names there are contract workers or outright temps. Not to mention what can happen when an independent developer is poorly managed. *shudder* You should consider yourself a temp every day you go to work, even if you are the CEO. Its just the way the game of games is played.

Re:Layoffs...

[black mariah]

Look at the credits for any game and I'd wager from 30-50% of the names there are contract workers or outright temps.

That right there is all that needs to be said. These people are hired with the knowledge that when the project is over, their employment WILL BE TERMINATED. They are on a contract or temp basis. I know quite a few game artists. Most of them are run through revolving doors like crazy. One guy I know worked for three different companies on three different projects in one year. One would get done with whatever he was doing, so he had to move on. It's an accepted thing with videogame artists/programmers/designers/producers that for the first few years of their career they WILL be jumping from company to company.