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Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

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Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#131

Post by eightysixfour »

tayo42 wrote: post #114
eightysixfour wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think this is the wrong diagnosis of this situation. The studios in Microsoft gaming appear to have been given a lot of room to take risks under previous leadership, build passion projects, etc. while letting big franchises sit on the side. Those things ended up being anywhere from abject failures to small successes - where some players and critics loved them - but most don't seem to be commercial successe…

I'm confused, do people want endless sequels or not?

People will tell you they do not want endless sequels. Sales numbers will mostly disagree with them.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#132

Post by satvikpendem »

SurgeArrest wrote: post #46

Microsoft EEE at its best: gobble up all game studios and then kill them. Microsoft needs to be split, it should been split years ago, but now more than ever.

EEE requires them to have succeeded to extinguish, not just be incompetent as to close them down.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#133

Post by pjc50 »

tayo42 wrote: post #114
eightysixfour wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think this is the wrong diagnosis of this situation. The studios in Microsoft gaming appear to have been given a lot of room to take risks under previous leadership, build passion projects, etc. while letting big franchises sit on the side. Those things ended up being anywhere from abject failures to small successes - where some players and critics loved them - but most don't seem to be commercial successe…

I'm confused, do people want endless sequels or not?

The lesson of Nintendo is yes.

Note that this is different in gaming than film because of technical progression. But also Nintendo are very good at "same charm, familiar characters and plot, different feel".

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#134

Post by sleepybrett »

mjr00 wrote: post #104
ndiddy wrote: post #19

I think we'll see stuff like this continue to happen over time. As a game company, having your own engine means that you have to be able to cultivate internal expertise in your tooling. Your employees will know this and could do bad things like ask for more money because they know that replacing them would significantly hurt productivity. Meanwhile, laying off your whole engine team and switching to UE5 means that yo…

You're framing this as a thing done by a greedy corporation in an evil manner, which maybe it is, but it's also just a sign of the times. For most of the 90s and 00s, your game engine, specifically idTech in this case, was a competitive advantage. Doom and Quake/2/3 all represented massive technological jumps over their predecessors and were way ahead of their competition in terms of looks. Games like Unreal (Tournam…

Man I miss tribes and tribes 2. Sadly the revival was garbage.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#135

Post by reaperducer »

noisy_boy wrote: post #97
wnevets wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It lets you treat your employees as a replaceable commodity This has been the objective of the tech industry for years

Employee as Kubernetes pod.

Cattle, not ~~pets~~ human beings.

We've optimized our own destruction.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#136

Post by kaoD »

londons_explore wrote: post #87
SteveNuts wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I firmly believe if software engineering unionization ever starts to take hold, it'll begin with game developers. There's a lot of money in gaming but the workers are treated like shit, as you pointed out.

With the current trajectory of AI, I see unionisation efforts dead in the water.

With the current trajectory of looms, I see unionisation efforts dead in the water.

- Someone in the early 19th century

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#137

Post by maccard »

matt_eeee wrote: post #51
ndiddy wrote: post #19

I think we'll see stuff like this continue to happen over time. As a game company, having your own engine means that you have to be able to cultivate internal expertise in your tooling. Your employees will know this and could do bad things like ask for more money because they know that replacing them would significantly hurt productivity. Meanwhile, laying off your whole engine team and switching to UE5 means that yo…

Sounds great until Epic realises they can charge whatever they like in licensing fees.

The license agreement with Epic contains an explicit term that doesn’t allow them to retroactively change the licensing retroactively for an engine version. You might find that you can’t upgrade to VNext, but a rug pull isnt really on the cards.

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#138

Post by starkparker »

eightysixfour wrote: post #13

There's no real evidence in here that the IDTech team or the "coders" were specifically let go. I'm not saying it didn't happen but the article is just raging at the idea of it happening without presenting any evidence of it. I can't help but think the industry will be better off in a few years after this Xbox "restructure." That's a lot of knowledge and talent that's no longer stuck in 14 layers of middle management…

We might not hear much on that until tomorrow, since most iDTech development was out of the Frankfurt studio. If they're shutting down Frankfurt, it'd be worth getting antennae out.

Looking at LinkedIn, I see mostly people from tech (design tooling, game AI, QA), art (modeling, mats, UI, character), design (levels, gameplay), and production roles in DFW being cut, but haven't seen engine roles or Frankfurt-based employees.

ZeniMax's QA team was notably unionized in 2023: https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/quality-assurance-worker...

Re: Microsoft fire idTech team at Id software

#140

Post by reaperducer »

mjr00 wrote: post #104
ndiddy wrote: post #19

I think we'll see stuff like this continue to happen over time. As a game company, having your own engine means that you have to be able to cultivate internal expertise in your tooling. Your employees will know this and could do bad things like ask for more money because they know that replacing them would significantly hurt productivity. Meanwhile, laying off your whole engine team and switching to UE5 means that yo…

You're framing this as a thing done by a greedy corporation in an evil manner, which maybe it is, but it's also just a sign of the times. For most of the 90s and 00s, your game engine, specifically idTech in this case, was a competitive advantage. Doom and Quake/2/3 all represented massive technological jumps over their predecessors and were way ahead of their competition in terms of looks. Games like Unreal (Tournam…

You're framing this as a thing done by a greedy corporation in an evil manner, which maybe it is, but it's also just a sign of the times.

Both can be true.

Just because it's becoming more common doesn't mean it's not bad.

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