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When Did We Forget People - Not Brands - Make Games?

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When Did We Forget People - Not Brands - Make Games? We use cookies to enable you to log in and set your site preferences. We also use cookies to analyse site traffic, personalise content and provide relevant advertising. You can find out more and change your settings in our privacy policy. Manage Settings Got It Sign in Connect with Facebook Create an account PC PlayStation 4 Xbox One Switch Digital Foundry News Reviews Videos Features Guides Search Highlights Deals Forum GameDB Game release dates Fortnite Season 6 release date Pokémon Go new 'Nut Pokémon' theories The 20 best Monopoly editions Home Articles The Walking Dead: The Final Season 25/09/2018 Article PC / PlayStation 4 / Switch / Xbox One When did we forget people - not brands - make games? Clementine will remember this. Wesley Yin-Poole Deputy Editor @wyp100 The downfall of Telltale, maker of The Walking Dead episodic series of games, sent shockwaves rippling through the video game industry. Over 200 people lost their jobs in one fell swoop. That's shocking enough, but here's the kicker: Telltale let these people go without giving them severance pay. This means hundreds of staff will struggle to pay rent, mortgages, or perhaps even feed their families. According to one former member of the team, some started at Telltale as recently as a week ago, and some of those people have children. At least one relocated across the country. The situation is heartbreaking. The immediate outpouring of support from the industry and many gamers on social media was welcome. But as other video game companies, such as Ubisoft, highlighted available positions and Telltale fans tweeted their favourite Telltale game memories, the discourse started to change. I noticed people wonder about the fate of The Walking Dead's final season, which may end prematurely as a result of the mass layoffs. This wonder became concern, then anger and now, well, there's no nice way to put this: there are shockingly bad takes all round. I've seen people writing on the internet that Telltale's ex- staff - ex-staff! - should complete The Walking Dead's final season for free. I can't think of a more objectionable opinion. Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett Well, that's one way of looking at game development. 2:12 PM - Sep 24, 2018 6,667 2,145 people are talking about this And then, last night, Telltale, which, by the way, continues to operate with some 25 staff "to fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners", issued a tweet saying "multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping to see The Final Season through to completion", which suggests episodes three and four may see the light of day. Fans reacted to this tweet with joy, but I couldn't help but shake my head. How tone deaf. How insensitive. How soul-destroying for the hundreds now without a job, that their previous bosses, those managers who ran the company - and its staff - into the ground over the course of years would throw them under a bus without severance, only to say just days later that others may come in to finish the job. Some within the video game industry have reacted to Telltale's latest tweet with the disdain it deserves, calling the company out for moving to reassure its fans before doing right by the staff now scrambling to make ends meet. But I fear this disdain will be overshadowed by the outcry over a potentially incomplete season of video games. Those who've already forked out for a full season of episodes want to know they'll get what they've paid for. There is no time for empathy, it seems, in the fast-moving, community-pleasing at-all-costs video game industry. Telltale Games @telltalegames · 11h pic.twitter.com/Mw97tRsGGY Cory Barlog Should be writing! @corybarlog I would hope this means that you will first pay your entire team their severance, and then proceed to finish the final episodes. I would be fine waiting however long it took to ensure we first treated those who worked so hard with the humanity and respect they deserve. 12:58 AM - Sep 25, 2018 · Los Angeles, CA 10.6K 1,735 people are talking about this Rami Ismail @tha_rami Save the people then the game, not the other way around Telltale Games @telltalegames 5:29 AM - Sep 25, 2018 1,431 357 people are talking about this When did we forget people - not brands - make games? When did the fate of corporate logos become a bigger deal than the fate of the people who crunched to make those logos mean something? When did the fate of video game characters become more important than the fate of video game developers? I'm not sure, exactly, when the tide turned, but throughout all of this I have had Vince Zampella and Jason West, the co-founders of Call of Duty maker Infinity Ward, in mind. I don't know if their high-profile battle with Activision changed the way publishers think about superstar video game developers, but I do know that for many publishers it's all about the developer as a brand, not a collection of human beings toiling away at weekends. Individuals are de-emphasised, logos brought to the fore. And this approach works. Activision had members of Treyarch stand on-stage to reveal Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, but I suspect the vast majority of players don't know the names of anyone who worked on their favourite shooter, let alone the challenge they faced getting a battle royale mode into the game in just a year. Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! @emilybuckshot · 6h Replying to @emilybuckshot That’s certainly how many of us heard it. Company actions reinforced that- if your content went over poorly at a review, even if you made *exactly* what was asked for... you’d be pulled off the project, replaced, maybe even fired. You weren’t quality. Quality was in their DNA. Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! @emilybuckshot Now, when we’ve all lost our jobs, and Telltale is thinking of finishing projects without us, after not giving us severance... I realize they made fans believe it too. That Telltale was what was quality, not the devs actually making the games. 5:00 AM - Sep 25, 2018 267 113 people are talking about this The upshot of all of this, of course, is video game developers need better protection when it comes to labour rights. There are some protections in place in the UK to help staff following abrupt, mass layoffs. In the US, from what I can tell, there is no protection. Telltale's former staff are cut adrift without any severance and it seems there is little they can do about it. The staff were exploited then discarded, expendable and worthless in the eyes of the bosses who for years cracked the whip. We should remember that, just as Clementine might have. Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here. Jump to comments (63) More about The Walking Dead: The Final Season News (11) Features (3) About the author Wesley Yin-Poole Deputy Editor Wesley is Eurogamer's deputy editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it. More articles by Wesley Yin-Poole Advertisement Related Telltale says it's "actively working towards" completing The Walking Dead's final season But no promises just yet. 0 Telltale's The Walking Dead's Clementine celebrates her co-workers in this moving statement "Yesterday was one of the toughest days ever." 0 Telltale Games: "We have let players down in the past" The Walking Dead producer on the studio's future and its much needed improvements. 0 Comments (63) Sign in Create an account Connect with Facebook Hide low-scoring comments Yes No Order Newest Oldest Best Worst Threading Expand all Collapse all Loading... hold tight! Related Telltale says it's "actively working towards" completing The Walking Dead's final season But no promises just yet. 28 Telltale's The Walking Dead's Clementine celebrates her co-workers in this moving statement "Yesterday was one of the toughest days ever." 39 Telltale Games: "We have let players down in the past" The Walking Dead producer on the studio's future and its much needed improvements. 40 Telltale sets a date for all three remaining Walking Dead episodes Remember these. 15 The Walking Dead's new online tool lets you redo past choices to import into The Final Season Clementine will re-remember that. 7 Latest A travel blogger compared Battlefield 5's Rotterdam map to real life Rotterdam and the results are incredible It's plane to see. 20 FeatureWhen did we forget people - not brands - make games? Clementine will remember this. 63 FeatureForza Horizon 4 gets off to a slow start - but stick with it Turning the corner. 66 Telltale says it's "actively working towards" completing The Walking Dead's final season But no promises just yet. 28 Rockstar talks Red Dead Redemption 2's wildlife, hunting, and fishing Around 200 species of animal! 38 Advertisement Subscribe to The Eurogamer.net Daily The 10 most popular stories of the day, delivered at 5pm UK time. Never miss a thing. Email address Subscribe Bad puns and video games since 1999. This site © 2018 Gamer Network. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site or its content may be reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder.
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