News TimeGate Studios sheds 25 staff

TimeGate, the studio partly responsible for Aliens: Colonial Marines, has laid off approximately 25 staff.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2013/03/05/timegate-studios-sheds-25-staff/1

 

I don't really see how losing dozens of staff, as multiple developers appear to be doing, before the advent of a new generation of consoles is supposed to help them in the long run - developing for a new system is not the easiest of tasks with a full house, let alone with a reduced staff. No doubt they'll end up hiring new staff once the fallow period is over.

 

I was thinking the same thing. If anything, they should've hired MORE developers.

 

Maybe the real reason is because their game sucked and they are going under.

 

Companies are more and more willing to treat all employees, even highly trained technical staff, as temporary workers and bin them if business is going to be slow for a month. Probably right now they don't have the hardware and APIs in yet to start developing for the next gen consoles and things are going to be slow for a few months until they arrive, so it;s cheaper to fire people and hire new ones when they do show up. Sucks for the employees, but then so does everything these days.

About the only thing IO can see that the talent can do about it is form a guild similar to what many movie and TV production trades do which can bargain collectively.