Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Larian's Publishing Director Calls Games Industry Layoffs an 'Avoidable F*ck Up'
Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Larian's Publishing Director Calls Games Industry Layoffs an 'Avoidable F*ck Up'
Larian Publishing Director Michael Douse called games industry layoffs an 'avoidable f*ck up' in a new interview, touting what he says is the Baldur's Gate 3 dev's healthy and sustainable work environment.
Are game journalists just hanging out at Larian studios every single day now? Like, I get it. I've heard their opinions on this and a couple other things relentlessly since BG3 came out.
They have free coffee and croissants in the mornings and their chairs are decadently plush.
It feels more like the Onion reposting the same article about mass shootings with nothing but the date changed.
Every time there's another layoff announced we should turn to someone else at Larian and ask their opinion.
I like to think they got one interview with him but are turning every comment into a different article to milk it as much as they can.
Maybe you're used to seeing news filtered through the eager throats of big publishers...?
More likely they've been inundated for years with complaints from developers in the big studios about how fucked they feel, and they feel the industry has gone to hell with microtransactions, so they keep on propping up Larian as an antidote to the general rot.
Not sure it will make a difference until big studios games stop selling, some government intervention in the microtransactions (likely) or work conditions (unlikely), developers unionize properly, or the field is seeded with more studios like Larian so that more developers and gamers have more choices and the big studios are starved.
Common Larian W
BG3 was my first game from them, but you bet I'll be going to play their other stuff.
Based
On what, exactly?
Surprisingly narrow minded and incorrect viewpoint.
Layoffs are inevitable, including at Larian studios. Otherwise they're saying all video game studios just have linear growth forever which is stupid.
People downvoting have no idea what they're talking about lol. One flop and Larian Studios will do mass lay-offs like every other studio. And no studio will make continual success after success.
Not true. They could have a decently stable developer base. That is, they don't overhire and don't "need" to have layoffs as a result.
Shit tier take
Well luckily every game studio only ever makes successful games and Larian will never make a flop. Right?
Just like other great studios like CPDR. Or Blizzard.... Oh...
I swear people are just idiots or have zero memory.
The vast majority of these recent layoffs have taken place at wildly successful companies that were all profitable and had strong sales.
The sales just weren't as high as they were expecting due to their own aggressive post-covid targets, so for c-levels to unlock their full bonuses they needed to harvest skulls.
I think the narrow minded perspective is coming from this comment. Yes. Of course layoffs are inevitable in business. That’s not what the discussion is about. Take a look at how short-sighted these companies behaved during the lock-down. People are stuck at home, and they’re buying more games? OMG let’s just pretend this is a trend that will never end and start expanding as much as possible! Nope. Anyone with two brain cells could tell you that was going to drop as soon as the lockdowns lifted and people could go outside again.
Avoidable? Abso-fucking-lutely.
However, I agree with you that it’s not at all a fuck up. I believe it is flat out malicious. Publishers have more than two brain cells, and they knew this was going to happen, so they took advantage of an obvious opportunity to get rid of costly, experienced employees in favor of cheap, new blood. Smart, and evil.
