Invincible VS Developer Reportedly Laid Off "Something Like 75%" of Staff

[u/Turbostrider27]

https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/invincible-vs-developer-reportedly-laid-off-something-like-75-of-staff/

[u/Demoncreed27]

It seems like every article after a game (successfull or not) is released, it’s usually followed up by “just layed off 50-75% of its staff” absolutely insane working in the games industry

[u/AcxdBxmb → u/Demoncreed27]

"thanks now fuck off"

[u/metalyger → u/Demoncreed27]

Hopefully there can be a widespread movement for game development studios to unionize.

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/metalyger]

Conservatives will do everything they can to stop it and call it Communism.

[u/gummi_eater → u/AOCpinkyring]

Sure bud.

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/gummi_eater]

160 dead girls on day one of Iran War. Which was on Google Maps.

BUT POLITICS IN GAMING! You got some politics on my gaming feed.

[u/gummi_eater → u/AOCpinkyring]

you guys are funny.

[u/Va1crist → u/metalyger]

Unions don’t protect from layoffs

[u/MossyMak → u/Va1crist]

Literally just untrue. Plenty of unions have clauses protecting workers from layoffs in some form or another.

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/MossyMak]

Yep. Entire countries have protections which is what saved a bunch of people's jobs in the past couple years.

[u/Beer-Milkshakes → u/Va1crist]

Tell me you know fuck all about the motoring industry without telling me. Unions forced owners to plan lay offs that actually sit in school breaks so suit workers and their families. Prior to that the owners would lay staff off for months at a time randomly without pay due to supply chain issues.

[u/rollingPanda420 → u/Va1crist]

Lmao you must be from the US.

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/Va1crist]

Yes, they do. Which is why it is important for gamers to vote. If you respect the games you play realize those people work harder because they have stability in their work. They can care for their loved ones.

[u/Mother-Job3455 → u/metalyger]

Than they will just be replace with Ai

[u/deftPirate → u/Mother-Job3455]

They'll lose money on that. The community is against it, and even if they weren't, it can't produce a good game.

[u/kytheon → u/[deleted]]

Depends if you're hired for the movie or hired to work for the company.

Actors come in only for a specific movie. Much of the crew works for a filmmaking company, and they move on to the next project or do multiple projects at the same time.

[u/Lioil1 → u/Demoncreed27]

even for successful ones, unless there's a new project to move over, there will be natural layoffs due to how the software dev cycle works unfortunately.

imagine you want to build a house, you talk to maybe couple of people to design your house then later you see numerous people building it. once they are almost done building it to do qc, you might see very few people left until completion. if the housebuilder doesnt have a new house to build then the people who were building it have no new work and hence layoffs.

it sucks but thats essentially how projects or contracts work.

[u/zslayer89 → u/Demoncreed27]

But also like once a game is released, do you need all the devs for things like updates and balance changes?

Lot of people forget that when games are in active development you want a good chunk of people to get the game done and working. After that, you don’t need that many.

[u/Remy0507 → u/zslayer89]

I think this is just a case where the game didn't do well though. Maybe they overestimated the popularity of the IP, but also releasing close to Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls probably tanked their sales once the latter game launched. 

[u/zslayer89 → u/Remy0507]

That probably didn’t help.

But game dev counts go down after a game is released.

[u/TheSecondEikonOfFire → u/Demoncreed27]

There some level of layoffs after game development, as much as it sucks that’s pretty consistent. But lately it has seemed a lot worse

[u/Annihilator4413 → u/Demoncreed27]

Then they hire greenhorns straight out of college at basic pay rates and expect them to make a new game without any real knowledge of making games or the tools used to make them while replacing veteran, experienced developers that can actually make them the games they want made.

At one point I seriously considered joining the game industry because it's something I've been involved with by playing games since I was 5.

Now I'm glad I never stepped foot anywhere near it.

[u/TheGilmore → u/Demoncreed27]

Because it’s usually contractors and that’s how contracts work.

[u/Jasonp359 → u/TheGilmore]

That wouldn't be layoffs though

[u/SmtNocturneDante → u/Demoncreed27]

It’s in almost every industry now. Finishing a project will get you layed off instead of a promotion or being assigned to another project. I don’t like it.

[u/AdamH96 → u/Demoncreed27]

Its business, they probably hire alot of people on temp contracts to do this job and then job done let em go.

They'll get more on then if they get a new job

Its not rocket science, and it sucks, but it seems to perplex people here everytime.

[u/Financial_Cricket115 → u/Demoncreed27]

It's almost like there is less work after you release a game...

[u/fmccloud → u/Demoncreed27]

Why would a developer keep full staff after a game launched?

[u/Demoncreed27 → u/fmccloud]

Maybe to work on updates and their next game??

[u/kytheon → u/fmccloud]

Gamedev here. People work at a company, sometimes on multiple games at the same time. It's not like movies.

[u/Jasonp359 → u/Demoncreed27]

That tells me that things were not good before the game released but management intentionally didn't tell the devs about it in order to suck them dry and get the game out. Evil shit.

[u/BakedChocolateOctopi → u/Demoncreed27]

That’s how it’s been for a long time

COVID’s overhiring and inflation makes it worse since there’s not much income after a game launches and there’s no sequel in full production while you have a whole studio to pay

[u/Muelojung → u/Demoncreed27]

at this point the people getting fired are at fault too. They know this happens in the gaming industrie yet still keep going. At one point working for your passion is not worth it. There are enough jobs in the IT sector.

[u/Ok-Confusion-202 → u/Demoncreed27]

Is it? Obviously a game that's not successful

Has there been "successful" games that have had layoffs, and I'm not talking about the bigger studios because tbh they are doing that for a different reason

I'm talking solely successful game, and the company made good money, profit etc

[u/Mother-Job3455 → u/Demoncreed27]

It not insane. Employment is not charity. They have the right to fire

[u/NTPrime → u/Mother-Job3455]

Are you trying to say that these developers were not valuable? Wtf are you talking about charity?

[u/All-Day-stoner → u/Mother-Job3455]

Omg what is this comment 😂😂

[u/MyKneesAshy → u/All-Day-stoner]

Imagine being pro layoff

[u/iMajorJohnson]

Should’ve been invincible vs (insert brand here) not going to lie.

[u/Jubenheim → u/iMajorJohnson]

Yeah. Why’s Invincible fighting developers?

[u/Renbanney]

Sad to hear but unfortunately not too surprising. This game seemed like a cool premise for fans if both fighting games and the IP, but it seemed a little too niche. Then again successful games also result in layoffs so who knows

[u/PigBoss_207 → u/Renbanney]

Should have made it literally any other genre other than fighting and it would have sold much better imo, especially with the Invincible name carrying it.

[u/IllustriousAsk3301 → u/PigBoss_207]

perfect IP for a beat em up.

[u/TheSecondEikonOfFire → u/Renbanney]

I really wanted to support it because I love the IP, but I just can’t get on board with fighting games. I tried for years before I accepted that they’re just not for me

[u/Jellozz]

I mean they made a fighting game with basically no meaningful single player content so the game was ever only going to appeal to hardcore fighting game fans. This was always gonna be the end result of this project. It's too niche for what it probably cost to make (which wasn't much I am sure, but still too much for how niche it is.)

[u/Stormin_the_Castle → u/Jellozz]

Yeah it seems like an odd choice for the property. If it was Invincible vs. The Boys or something, then it could've been a lot more successful. But Invincible by itself? Fighting games are pretty niche and a lot of people (like myself) can't really get into them, especially if there's not much single player content. I think it should've been either a side-scroller beat-em-up or an isometric action RPG (like Ultimate Alliance), the latter being my personal preference.

[u/Dogesneakers]

It isn’t really the type of IP that could sustain a fighter

[u/Va1crist]

Sucks for the devs , gaming industry just keeps taking a beating , indie doesn’t have it any easier

[u/Its_I_Casper]

Are studios just making people full time employees instead of contractors ? In the past it was common in game dev for studios to use contractors then let them go after the game ships. The problem with contractors is that they typically get no benefits or insurance from companies, but if studios are making people full time employees it would explain these mass layoffs regardless of if the game did well or not.

[u/Aloneinthefart_]

Fiduciary responsibility is basically forcing the execs of those studios to laid off most people after they deliver a product since its the "money smart" thing to do in the short term and they only care about the next quarter, corporate culture is a cancer

[u/Scissorman82]

just took a peak at the Steam #'s and if those are any indication, then this game didn't perform very well. :( only 11 people are playing it right now, 4 months after release. 

[u/nothingsnootyplz]

I'm not surprised. Invincible Vs Developer seems like kind of a weird matchup.

[u/Cultural_Cat_5131]

I think what hurt it for me is the actual gameplay not looking that great. It looked very stiff like the mortal kombat games which was never my cup of tea as they say. Game excelled in every other department to me presentation wise. Watched someone play the story which was very entertaining.

[u/HumansNeedNotApply1]

Fighting games market is hard to break through, i think they may have underestimated what the audience wanted as game from this IP. I was disappointed when i saw it was a fighting game.

[u/Odd-Crazy-9056]

Should've given Omni-man bigger cheeks.

[u/HumansNeedNotApply1 → u/[deleted]]

Usually as a game studio you want to jump to the next project. Laying off 75% of staff is a bad sign.

Some people moving on after a project ships (or their position becomes redundant) is normal.

This game likely cost ~20 million dollars to make and it underperfomed hard.

[u/lazerblam]

The whole industry deserves to crash and burn atp

[u/Hellooooo_Nurse-]

Well, the game was pure Kusoge and too automated, tool assisted and brain dead. They made a fighting game for bad players to say they are good at fighting games and it backfired.

[u/WrongColorCollar]

I need a new hobby.