Big Huge Games, the studio behind the Rise of Nations series, is facing an uncertain future, as THQ has announced it will shut the developer down if the publisher can't sell it.
THQ informed the staff at its Big Huge Games studio in Timonium, MD, that it plans to close the studio if a sale is not completed in the near future. These actions were unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment."
Normally, I would feel bad, as both rise of nations and rise of legends were great strategy games. Also the studio had picked up the lead developer of Oblivion to help work on a new RPG title for release in 2009. However since rise of Legends was released in 2006 and their are no details on their "up and coming" RPG, what did they think was going to happen? It gets even worse when you read the job benefits on their site.
401(k) plan
Paid vacation, sick leave, personal days and holidays
Comprehensive health insurance plan for you and your dependents
Employer funded life insurance and disability coverage
Pool table
Ping pong table
Full-size bar (modeled after a local Irish Pub)
Arcade machine (100's of classics installed)
Free drinks (sodas, tea, and freshly ground coffee via three fancy latte machines)
Biometric hand-scanner (Physical office keys? That's so twentieth century.)
Console gaming area (PS3, 360, and Wii)
Continuously updated Game Library stocked with 100's of titles available for borrow anytime
150 gallon saltwater aquarium
Reminds me of Brad Wardell talking about why game developers fail. programmers are not rock stars, and they have to make money like everyone else.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
How many employees did they have? Depending on that number, those extra perks honestly probably equate to peanuts, more of a culture thing than a real cost.
That is exactly what I was refering too. I wonder how many "working hours" were spent playing nintendo or sitting in an "Irish Pub" Im fine with different approaches to work enviroments, but things like this make me wonder if there was enough focus on getting the job done. From that point of view their culture had a pretty serious cost.
Post a Comment