News is starting to roll in, but there have been rather massive layoffs at Daybreak, affecting Planetside 2 and Planetside Arena. To my knowledge, just about everyone on the PS2 team was laid off today, except for two people.
Discuss the happenings here, and be kind to the developers who just lost their jobs today.
External link →I want to respect people's privacy. If they want to confirm that they've been laid off, they are free to do so, but I am not going to out them.
Appreciate it. I didn't make a big deal out of it because I didn't feel as connected as some of the other devs, but I didn't survive this one. 4th time's the charm I guess.
We did what we could with the resources that we were given. I'm super proud of the work we were able to do. The team was as small as 3 people for a certain time and I'm really proud of how that team was able to pull together and make magic happen. I wish everyone who will be working on the games the best of luck, and hope that the relationship with those making decisions changes for the better.
It's been a pleasure PlanetSide 2
o7
Just sell the Planetside franchise already..
To the devs: Thank you for your hard work, I wish you all the best.
Just sell the Planetside franchise already..
It would be the best thing for the game in all honesty
Man this is heartbreaking. The PS2 crew deserves better.
I know Arena might not have landed as expected, but why Planetside 2? Didn't DBG cash in ~$2Million from livetime memberships not too long ago?
I hope those affected land on their feet and eventually in places where they can continue their passion!
Man when H1Z1 took a major hit they also cut from HR and EQ2. In the 4 layoffs I've been at DBG for none of their targeting has made sense.
Yall should've just made planetside 3 but i get it battleroyal is where the money at atm.
I don't think there is a single person that touched PS2/PSA that wouldn't have loved to work on a PlanetSide 3. We would often joke about having a PlanetSide 3 "swear jar" for any time someone mentioned it :)
We still have a junior programer + who ever was modeling sanctuary. I think the UI guy is still here as well. Along with wrel and paul. So 5 devs at the very best.
But that's just going off of confirmed layoffs and prior knowledge, so may be too optimistic...
Edit: nvm ;-;
Negative. I can confirm that I am not there anymore. Just didn't really speak up about it.
the whaat?
When the money was good they bought licenses for two VERY high profile IPs, but never had a team or pitches to build the games tied to them. That coupled with really frantic decisions from on high, rapid expansion with no structure in place, and trying to force an esport used up a lot of the $
edit: Apparently the comment was in reference to a project that existed before I came onboard (and before H1Z1). My comment is still applicable tho.
Appreciate it. I didn't make a big deal out of it because I didn't feel as connected as some of the other devs
You’re still one of us Paul.
<3
Sadly I don't think it can happen unless DBG sells everything else related to the engine to the same buyer due to various licencing issues related to the engine, but I might be incorrect here?
But yeah, if PS2 could get a proper caretaker, there could still be many years of life left in this game, as even after all this time, there is no game out there that does what PS2 can do.
Splitting the company into sub-studios by franchise will certainly make that much easier. And they already know how to navigate selling a game and an engine, as they have already gone through it with NantG and H1Z1
Targeting? Explain. Like what they're targeting their layoffs to help improve?
Yeah who execs decided to let go and who got to stay. In the first layoff they ended up rehiring like 7 people they let go, and laid off an HR person who had been there for like 15 years or something.
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