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[Lo-Volt]

Hope they all land on their feet.

 

[DrGAKMAN]

If you leave you don't get one of those... As far as what is announced He left to pursue other opportunities so who knows really if he got a package at all.


Anyway With Stringer on board, I'm puzzled why you people think it's a surprise Sony is cutting the fat out. PS3 selling below expectations or not. Not to mention they are still hiring which is a sign that they are just getting rid of positions no longer needed.

That's why they appointed him as head...

*runs*

 

[v1cious]

it was inevitable. what it takes to get the price down i guess.

 

[Thoren]

There is no glory to be had now.

Only retreat, or surrender.. or death.

 

[bishoptl]

Any more smart-ass remarks about people losing their jobs? No? Good.

 

[mj1108]

.

 

[Oldschoolgamer]

Condolences to any of our [ex]-Sony employee friends here on GAF

.

Hopefully everyone is able to recover quickly.

 

[monchi-kun]

.

Sam Jackson staring you in the face :lol

 

[Linkup]

Any more smart-ass remarks about people losing their jobs? No? Good.

The last line in the OP?

 

[BorkBork]

Good luck to those guys, hopefuly they will be able to find better employees.

Wait.. are you wishing the fired people good luck, or are you wishing that Sony get better workers?

 

[tak]

Anyway With Stringer on board, I'm puzzled why you people think it's a surprise Sony is cutting the fat out. PS3 selling below expectations or not. Not to mention they are still hiring which is a sign that they are just getting rid of positions no longer needed.

Not always, sometimes the positions are still needed. For example, my friend witnessed HP layoff people only to replace these people by young graduates or different employees. Why would they do this? He asked mangers at HP about the practice, and he heard reasons ranging from fresh graduates being cheaper to a method of removing unwanted employees. In addition, people getting laid off might just be a result of the groups trying to meet some requirement sent to them by management (ie, employee is still needed but their required to remove someone from the group). The corporate world sucks like that sometimes.

In short, there are a lot of reasons why someone might get laid off and it is not always a company removing unneeded positions.

 

[Phantast2k]

to the fired employees: payback time! come to gaf and break NDAs.

 

[monchi-kun]

to the fired employees: payback time! come to gaf and break NDAs.

...unless they had to sign non-discloures as part of receivng a severance package...

 

[xaosslug]

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Ynos Yrros]

Wait.. are you wishing the fired people good luck, or are you wishing that Sony get better workers?

I wish them all to start their own companies.

Spoiler

Isn't strong in me, that English force. But clever rebuttal anyway, no?

 

[McBradders]

Good luck to those affected, hope you guys got good severance packages.

Anyone know how the US job market is right now?

 

[Sho Nuff]

This sucks for all involved.

 

[monchi-kun]

Good luck to those affected, hope you guys got good severance packages.

Anyone know how the US job market is right now?

pretty good, teams ramping up left and right in the bay area.

 

[Jive Turkey]

to the fired employees: payback time! come to gaf and break NDAs.

Lose your job and face legal action! Weeee!

Bad news though. Hope everything ends well.

 

[BloodyYank]

lets get a better idea of the employee spread at SCEA

Marketing?
Development?

PR?

 

[Hammer24]

Condolences to any of our [ex]-Sony employee friends here on GAF

!

 

[monchi-kun]

PR?

always thought they're part of "marketing"

 

[Rhindle]

PR?

Well, one can only hope this was produced by a PR autogenerator and not an actual human being.

"In an effort to accurately align the company to meet the changing needs of our consumers and of our industry, Sony Computer Entertainment America has found it necessary to analyze our current business and to restructure the company as necessary to continue our standing as the market leader," SCEA spokesman Dave Karraker told Kotaku this evening, when contacted for comment. " These restructuring efforts are currently underway and do include the streamlining of our operations and other initiatives to further strengthen the business, reduce costs and increase operational efficiency. "

 

[BloodyYank]

I'm not asking for a press release, I am questioning if anyone in Public Relations was let go?

 

[Open Source]

It's odd that they had to lay off so many people considering how many SCEA-Foster City types quit after seeing the writing on the wall at E3 2006 (Mark DeLoura and a host of others). I wonder how dev support and 3rd party relations will be affected. They weren't exactly great to begin with.

However, as anyone who worked at SCEA knows, there were plenty of people there who needed to be laid off years ago. Hopefully the cuts affected mostly the dead wood, although I am sure some innocent bystanders got caught in the pruning as well.

And yes, the Bay Area is the best place in the world for a person in the game industry to get laid off. If you get laid off in Utah or North Carolina or something, you pretty much have to move to another state to get a new game job. In the Bay Area, there are typically at least a couple dozen job openings at any one time for a given position.

 

[McBradders]

pretty good, teams ramping up left and right in the bay area.

Ah good, the market in the UK is pretty sucky right now.

 

[Shamrock]

Wow so these people had no idea they were losing their jobs today? Just came in to work, had a meeting, and they said leave all your shit at your desk and give us your keys/ID. What was Sony thinking? You know how many pissed off ex-employees are going to be spilling the beans with any and all of Sony's internal problems or future plans they might want kept secret. NDA or not these jaded employee's will probably just talk to journalists and asked not to be named directly. Not to mention that I'm sure MS is going to try to scoop a couple of ex-Sony employee's up just to find out what they know.

 

[spwolf]

Wow so these people had no idea they were losing their jobs today? Just came in to work, had a meeting, and they said leave all your shit at your desk and give us your keys/ID. What was Sony thinking? You know how many pissed off ex-employees are going to be spilling the beans with any and all of Sony's internal problems or future plans they might want kept secret. NDA or not these jaded employee's will probably just talk to journalists and asked not to be named directly. Not to mention that I'm sure MS is going to try to scoop a couple of ex-Sony employee's up just to find out what they know.

if those that were laid off said that they got "fair" severance package, i doubt they are that unhappy or if it was that unexpected... notice how Foster City SCEA is still hiring technical positions...

 

[WasabiKing]

Apparently none of you have been laid off before, as I have.

Foster City is the main headquarters, so it could be any set of departments, including accounting (A/P, Payroll), human resources, marketing, sales, or PR. In addition, 3rd party QA and approvals are over there.

Also, since they're instituting a hiring freeze, it's safe to assume that any new job hires are locked down. This can take anywhere from a few months or a year.

 

[Yagharek]

I'm guessing by the tone of the replies here (condolences and such) that people who worked there post here or lurk?

The last post by shamrock:

Wow so these people had no idea they were losing their jobs today? Just came in to work, had a meeting, and they said leave all your shit at your desk and give us your keys/ID.

Sounds like stories from the Acclaim shutdown. I know it's not a major concern here but you would think they'd at least be given time to collect personal effects, or is there the risk (as perceived by management) that this prevents someone acting out of spite? (Or alternatively I'm merely reading too much into third hand information and nothing like this actually happened)

I just hope I never end up in a similar situation.

 

[bishoptl]

Standard ops to either have a manager collect your personal effects for you, or stand with you while you gather your things. Judging by the numbers, option #2 would be too unwieldy.

 

[WasabiKing]

Standard ops to either have a manager collect your personal effects for you, or stand with you while you gather your things. Judging by the numbers, option #2 would be too unwieldy.

that's because too many bitter people have trashed all documents and files on their way out. Oh man, Entourage did it best though, end of season 3 part 1, lol.

 

[Yagharek]

Standard ops to either have a manager collect your personal effects for you, or stand with you while you gather your things. Judging by the numbers, option #2 would be too unwieldy.

Yeah I guess with the number of people that would be expected. I can just imagine people wanting to leave ASAP and be done with it. I know there have been a few similar sized telecom layoffs in my area over the past week or so. No doubt it will turn out one of my mates had that happen too.

Can only hope that the people involved get some more work soon hey.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

One place where I used to work did the same thing. One lady got dropped off by her husband that day. They called a cab for her. When they do this, they don't bullshit, you are gone. They don't give you time to react.

 

[Yagharek]

One place where I used to work did the same thing. One lady got dropped off by her husband that day. They called a cab for her. When they do this, they don't bullshit, you are gone. They don't give you time to react.

Not the nicest of ways to go eh. This seems to happen a lot in IT/tech jobs though, doesnt it.

 

[Cheesemeister]

$599.

Bearillusion
Banned
(Today, 12:56 AM)

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

To be fair to my former place of employment, we knew a certain amount of people were leaving on a certain date, we just didn't know who.

 

[Ajax]

wollan survived the scee cuts, i'm sure some gaffers will make it through these

Will you morons stop accusing members of viral marketing every time? Before it was gofreak that was targeted then SSX and now Wollan. STFU

 

[Yagharek]

To be fair to my former place of employment, we knew a certain amount of people were leaving on a certain date, we just didn't know who.

So they were nice enough to let people know in advance to be ready just in case, if you dont mind me asking? Seems like the decent way to do it to me, given the circumstances.

 

[Open Source]

If you work in the game industry, odds are you've been laid off at least once. One exception up until now had been at SCEA, for several reasons. One was that they never hired enough people to begin with, another was that they rarely fired anyone who deserved it, and the last being that they were so successful up until recently. Still, with severance, California's generous unemployment benefits, and a healthy job market, it's as good a time as any to get laid off for the first time. For the rest of us (especially those who work in development), it's just a normal part of working in a project-based business.

And I'm sure it was a surprise to no one.

 

[chespace]

GAMERS.COM NEVAR FORGET.

(I was laid off from there back in 2001)

Anyway, this is bummer news indeed. Hope my buddy survived the cuts. I think he did since my friends list said he was playing Forza 2 earlier this evening. :lol

 

[monchi-kun]

GAMERS.COM NEVAR FORGET.

(I was laid off from there back in 2001)

Anyway, this is bummer news indeed. Hope my buddy survived the cuts. I think he did since my friends list said he was playing Forza 2 earlier this evening. :lol

Forza 2: the coping mechanism of your life

 

[goldenpp72]

hopefully they find employment elsewhere soon.

 

[antipode]

My condolences to those who lost their jobs. There are plenty of good people working there.

If you were working as engineer or programmer on server or web apps, and are looking for a job, PM me.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

So they were nice enough to let people know in advance to be ready just in case, if you dont mind me asking? Seems like the decent way to do it to me, given the circumstances.

Yeah, we were told the number and the date, we only found out thru the grapevine the amount you leave with.

 

[SamBishop]

GAMERS.COM NEVAR FORGET.

(I was laid off from there back in 2001)

Anyway, this is bummer news indeed. Hope my buddy survived the cuts. I think he did since my friends list said he was playing Forza 2 earlier this evening. :lol

Jeezus, stop reading my mind. I was just about to make a sappy Gamers.com-related post but you kinda beat me to it, so hey.

Just to kinda put things in perspective, as someone else mentioned Foster City was both SCEA headquarters and, for a long while, 989 Studios/Sports HQ. Things have shifted quite a bit, though, and even if it wasn't the case personnel-wise, SCEA has spread out all up and down the coast. They're in Vancouver, in Bend, in Foster City, in Santa Monica and in San Diego. The latter two are becoming hubs for everything from QA to development studios to mo-cap/3D scanning. Foster City isn't really the sole home of SCEA now, but for a long while, despite people being moved around, the company roster didn't really reflect that.

I can't tell you how sorry I am that folks had a surprise vacation, but I know from a bottom line perspective that it would make more sense to do layoffs than shunt people all up and down the West Coast. I can only hope that the severance package is seriously decent and I thank god this isn't hitting these same folks during the dot-com bust. At least there are plenty of nearby companies that are hiring...

 

[Diatribe1974]

You see, this is going to be a continuing trend for awhile for Sony, till things finally "get better for them". Which is sad, honestly. Sad for those people who's not only directly effected by it, but all those indirectly effected by it. What it boils down to in the end, is how Sony gambled with what they thought the market was both ready for & also what they felt their customers was going to be willing to pay.

And the only ones that're "going to pay" are those employed by Sony. In the end, if any other Gaffers here are laid off by this, my condolences to you and your families. Been laid off before and it sucks.

 

[cvxfreak]

Apparently none of you have been laid off before, as I have.

Foster City is the main headquarters, so it could be any set of departments, including accounting (A/P, Payroll), human resources, marketing, sales, or PR. In addition, 3rd party QA and approvals are over there.

Also, since they're instituting a hiring freeze, it's safe to assume that any new job hires are locked down. This can take anywhere from a few months or a year.

Living costs in the Bay Area are pretty high too... it's too bad.

 

[AniHawk]

:lol :lol

 

[RubberJohnny]

There is no glory to be had now.

Only retreat, or surrender.. or death.

Thoren
Banned
(Today, 06:12 AM)

You see, this is going to be a continuing trend for awhile for Sony, till things finally "get better for them". Which is sad, honestly. Sad for those people who's not only directly effected by it, but all those indirectly effected by it.

Where else does Sony have divisions? Who's next?