12/12/2014 Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial struggles after company's closure | Massively | Mail | You might also like: WoW Insider, Joystiq, and more Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial 36 struggles after company's closure by Jef Reahard on Jun 13th 2012 2:00PM Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous 38 Studios stories continue to circulate through the gaming media this week, with the latest arriving courtesy of Gamasutra. The industry news site has published an anonymous letter from an alleged former employee's wife that details the challenges inherent in supporting a large family that is subject to the whims of the game industry. The letter outlines the family's financial struggles in great detail, and it serves as a cautionary tale to game industry hopefuls who are thinking of uprooting a family to follow a dream. Though the author is unnamed and could quite literally be anyone, Gamasutra says it has "verified her husband's name and former position at 38 Studios." Source: Gamasutra Tags: 38­studios, 38­studios­closure, 38­studios­spouse, business, copernicus, culture, curt­schilling, kingdoms­of­amalur­ reckoning, Miscellaneous, mmo­industry, reckoning, rumor, rumors 0 0 0 http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/13/alleged­38­studios­spouse­outlines­familys­financial­struggles/ 1/9 12/12/2014 Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial struggles after company's closure | Massively Sponsored Links Family Getaway Package BREAKING NEWS Choose Your Family Getaway Package All With Tons of Fun for the Kids ontariotravel.net/family Flattering Haircuts For Women Check out these flattering haircuts for women and how to choose yours www.YellowPages.ca Send something spectacular™ Celebrate the season in style with the perfect holiday card www.tinyprints.com Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Biggest Buy a link here MMO disappointment of the year Recommended For You Sponsored Links Family Getaway Package Choose Your Family Getaway Package All With Tons of Fun for the Kids ontariotravel.net/family Flattering Haircuts For Women Check out these flattering haircuts for 1. women and how to choose yours Star Citizen aims to redefine avatar death, combat realism 2 weeks ago www.YellowPages.ca massively.joystiq.com Massively Joystiq.com (AOL) Jef Reahard Jef Reahard death Park, Stay, Go Park up to 15 nights and save with a Park, Stay & Go Package! Book Now www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels Buy a link here FEATURED STORIES Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Biggest MMO disappointment of the year Posted on Dec 12th 2014 11:00AM The Daily Grind: Are DPS meters bad for MMOs? 36 comments Posted on Dec 12th 2014 8:00AM Sign in2. 3 people listening The Stream Team: Tag teaming The Secret World Tokyo story missions Posted on Dec 11th 2014 9:00PM + Follow Share Post comment as... Newest | Oldest | Top Comments JohnBusch Jun 14, 2012 What a nightmare for those poor folks. I graduated with a degree in computer animation in 05, and I wouldn't even dream of being in the gaming industry anymore. It's sad, but the market is just flooded and with companies like EA mass producing garbage instead of quality it's only gonna keep getting worse. Too many games on the market, prices are way too high, and 8 out of 10 games are a dud. Like Reply JoshOkleasky Jun 19, 2012 i worked security there ....they spent tens od thousands on catering http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/13/alleged­38­studios­spouse­outlines­familys­financial­struggles/ 2/9 12/12/2014 Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial struggles after company's closure | Massively Like Reply JoshOkleasky Jun 19, 2012 plus the free vending machines and so forth Like Reply ineedaloginalre Jun 14, 2012 If they were laid off, can't they collect unemployment? I think we're better off pitying the thousands of new grads who will likely be unemployed for a year as they look for jobs that don't exist, and are unable to collect unemployment. Like Reply mark8 Jun 14, 2012 @ineedaloginalre Yes they can, except: 1> They moved to RI for this job. 38 Studios was footing the bill for this. 2> Now they find out that 38 Studios hasn't been paying any of their bills for over half a year and now the moving company is coming after them for the moving costs. 3> They're owed paychecks by 38 Studios which also won't be paid. Like Reply McGuffn Jun 13, 2012 the people that defended this company are hacks or flat out imbeciles. 38 lied to this family from day one. Her husband was hired for a job that did not exist. Almost certainly he was hired to pad the bottom line so they wouldn't default on the loan. 38 didn't pay the moving bill for 6 months, which means the studio had a major cash crunch shortly after getting the loan money, which again means that they probably shouldn't have hired in december. The insurance money wasn't paid for months, and they didn't tell anyone. How exactly is the governor's public comments in mid May responsible for the insurance not getting paid in March? And then in the final week, the company lied repeatedly to extract slave labor from their employees and then lied again about the relocation costs to get them out without starting a riot. Like Reply real65 Jun 14, 2012 @McGuffn yeah it's pretty sad people ignore the truth because they liked a video game, but that's how things go in today's society. The governor is a public servant entrusted with public funds. If Chafee would have given another loan to 38 after this, he would have been under investigation himself. The reason is that common sense would have been for RI to ask to see the company's financials before putting another loan out. That's just standard business practice especially when you're talking millions and you've ALREADY given someone millions. I'm betting Chafee and the state there saw the horrific numbers and realized something wasn't right and that's when it all started to go public. No politician in his/her right mind will cover for someone like that unless they are getting a piece of the pie and in trouble too. Any company with millions potential to invest in 38 would have asked to see the same books and given it's a crime to 'cook books', it would have all come out anyways. Like Reply http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/13/alleged­38­studios­spouse­outlines­familys­financial­struggles/ 3/9 12/12/2014 Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial struggles after company's closure | Massively mark8 Jun 14, 2012 @McGuffn Reminds me of the saying: Where there's smoke, there's fire. It's not rocket science. Like Reply digitalexodus Jun 13, 2012 Wow, talk about BAD BUSINESS.... I have been listening to this story unfold for weeks now. Is there any definitive answer to this madness, short of just some bad execs mismanaging money? Like Reply real65 Jun 14, 2012 @digitalexodus That final answer will come after the state and federal law enforcement types get done their official investigations of the company's finances, which is already underway per new reports. "PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – 38 Studios declared bankruptcy on Thursday, one day after federal and state officials began a formal investigation into Curt Schilling's video game company, WPRI.com has learned." Like Reply carson63000 Jun 13, 2012 In the few years I spent working in the games industry, I don't think I knew anyone who was married with a large family. It's simply not an industry you should work in if you have dependents and responsibilities ­ everything is just so project­based, even if the project you're working on is a success, there's a very real risk that you'll find yourself out of work after it's finished. Leave that work to the kids ­ they'll be willing to do it for less money than you, anyway, don't get into a reverse bidding war for an unstable job if you've got kids to take care of. Like Reply McGuffn Jun 13, 2012 @carson63000 It isn't just the games industry, the same pressures are on almost anyone working as contract labor for larger corporations. And if one of the unwritten rules of the field is going to be "don't have kids" these are dead end, so­called "careers." Like Reply real65 Jun 14, 2012 @carson63000 Programming: Already some of the highest paid talent in the game industry, programmers made even more in 2011 as their average salary jumped up to nearly $92,962 from $85,733. Art and Animation: Artists and animators' average salaries increased to $75,780 over the previous year's average of $71,354. Game Design: Game designers, writers, and creative directors were paid $73,386 on average in 2011, up from $70,223. Production: Though producers saw a huge increase in 2010 for their average salaries http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/13/alleged­38­studios­spouse­outlines­familys­financial­struggles/ 4/9 12/12/2014 Alleged 38 Studios spouse outlines family's financial struggles after company's closure | Massively to $88,544, that dropped last year to $85,687. Audio: The average audio professional's reported salary in 2011 was significantly higher, $83,182 compared to 2010's $68,088. Quality Assurance: Quality assurance professionals (testers and QA leads) are the lowest­paid workers in the games industry for yet another year ­­ and in 2011, their average salary decreased to $47,910 from $49,009 in 2010 Business: Business and legal employees are still the highest paid in the industry, but their salaries dropped from $106,452 in 2010 to $102,160 last year ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ if you were in the industry, why would you ask married people to forgo these kinds of salaries and leave them to the 'kids'? When you throw health benefits on top of this, it's families that need these average salaries in the gaming industry; not the kids.