Friday, April 21st 2023
Meta Layoff Phase Hits VR Studio Ready at Dawn, One Third of Staff Reportedly Released From Duty
Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) has begun implementing widespread staff layoffs across multiple company departments. The cutback operation was announced last month, with the social media giant targeting 10,000 positions (throughout 2023) in an effort to become more efficient. 13,000 staffers were released from their jobs last year, representing 13% of the workforce at the time - advertising revenues had declined in 2022 and Meta said that the change was required in order to navigate economic downturns. A repeat of that sentiment has been issued this year and two internal games development studios have been affected quite heavily by the latest layoff initiative, reports suggest. Ready at Dawn and Downpour Interactive are getting a lot of press coverage - due to former staffers divulging details of Meta's cutbacks via social media.
Thomas Griebel, a (now former) Senior engine programmer at Ready at Dawn, took to Twitter two days ago and made claim that: "One third of the studio was laid off today, including the studio head." He also observes that the studio has been shrinking over time: "Also lost some really great people just due to attrition. Think we're down almost (down to a) half since when I started in August (2022)." Former Ready at Dawn technical designer Colin McInerney has also released a string of information about co-workers being let go. Michael Tsarouhas (senior designer) and Daan van Zelst (level designer) have confirmed that they were released from their roles at Downpour Interactive.
Ready at Dawn is best known as a developer of Sony PlayStation exclusives including The Order: 1886 - an action shooter that was highly praised for being a graphically advanced technical showcase for the PlayStation 4 home console, but the 2015 title was also criticized for lacking in the areas of play length, gameplay and plot. Ready at Dawn became wholly owned by Meta following a company buyout in 2020, and the development team has concentrated on virtual reality games since then - most notably the Lone Echo series (exclusive to Meta's range of Oculus Rift VR headsets).
Source:
Games Industry Biz
Thomas Griebel, a (now former) Senior engine programmer at Ready at Dawn, took to Twitter two days ago and made claim that: "One third of the studio was laid off today, including the studio head." He also observes that the studio has been shrinking over time: "Also lost some really great people just due to attrition. Think we're down almost (down to a) half since when I started in August (2022)." Former Ready at Dawn technical designer Colin McInerney has also released a string of information about co-workers being let go. Michael Tsarouhas (senior designer) and Daan van Zelst (level designer) have confirmed that they were released from their roles at Downpour Interactive.
27 Comments on Meta Layoff Phase Hits VR Studio Ready at Dawn, One Third of Staff Reportedly Released From Duty
When they told us to "Learn to Code", well I just smile and say,
"Son you need to Learn to Weld. Where I stand there will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, HVAC, heavy equipment operator as well as all types of vocational jobs that are always in demand pay well and better job security than what you will ever have".
"Hope you like being unemployed because I surely don't".
Maybe Mark Zuckerberg should kick in a few dollars from the 77 billion dollars (net worth) he has to help out.
The biggest issue with these people is, they don’t understand the reality of how the rest of the world works in order to afford them that comfort and their job that they had and they think that they can just program some thing or make something to replace all the people that they don’t like. I hope they like the taste of crow in their humble pie.
For META, and other cut-throats, it's similar but based on shareholder value and payout. Easiest way to appease a shareholder (secondary to healthy growth) is to sack staff to reduce costs.
Obviously, what I've posted is a very rough comment and can be argued against in various scenarios.
Being sacked usually due to poor performance etc.
It's a sign of the times unfortunately. As the covid stimulus mega boom turns in to a mega bust.
Regardless of how you feel about the sequel, that's literally all they released in the last six years. It's hard to justify keeping 100+ staff when there's very little to show for it. Perhaps Meta had them beavering away on general platform stuff that wasn't a game release, or perhaps they are days away from their biggest release ever (unlikely). Either way, there's not a lot to show for a studio of 100+ after 6 years of work.
Vocational jobs are where it's at though. I'm former military and I went into IT. My life has been one none stop story of sacking and layoffs. Contracts dead, lawsuits killing jobs, it never ends. My buddy however got into underwater welding and construction. He makes 200k+ in four months and is never short of work. Had I known what I know now I would have done it. Granted crazy ass dangerous, but the work is solid. He seems to love it as well.
You're right on this though. We sort of frown on those jobs but they pay well, they are always in demand, and you will never lack for work.
There are arseholes everywhere, let's not pretend coding is the worst for it.
I would of thought the lower tier would be using AI so they could axe the middle level programmer and save money
Only the managers could be left to double check with more AI again and be done and dusted :cool:
This is not the best of times for the tech sector. I wouldn't assume that they can all find a job and unemployment compensation isn't enough to live on.
Still make no mistake, there is a substantial % of employees that are actually better off getting kicked out from time to time. Change is refreshing. Its also something that's not for everyone of course, but - that is comfort zone talk :) I work in consultancy so I see different customers all the time and then do my job fulltime over there. Change is absolutely refreshing, enrichment too, the more companies you've seen, the better you can tell things apart and the clearer you'll know what really suits you.