Unity warns of likely layoffs following runtime fee decision (www.destructoid.com)
from DannyMac@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:03
https://lemmy.world/post/8199464

#games

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bungle_in_the_jungle@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:09 next collapse

Man. Bloody corporates. You can bet your ass it won’t be any of the higher ups being let go.

1bluepixel@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:14 collapse

Not disputing your main point, but they fired CEO John Riccitiello over this.

argo_yamato@lemm.ee on 13 Nov 2023 14:31 next collapse

They did but unfortunately the idiots that thought hiring him was a good idea are still there

Carighan@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:36 next collapse

“fired” is a bit of a strong word for stuffing his ass so full of money it spewing out was what ejected him from the building.

SquigglyEmpire@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 21:35 collapse

Powerful imagery

zib@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 16:41 collapse

Excuse you, but Riccitiello retired. Sure, it was at the last minute with absolutely no transition plan ahead of time, but it was totally voluntary and not at all forced by the board!

(/s if it wasn't obvious)

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:23 next collapse

Translation: the higher ups fucked up because they’re so disconnected with their own product, so now they are making their employees pay for their mistakes in order to keep their bosses salaries and bonuses intact.

Sabata11792@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 15:01 next collapse

They were lead by a former EA CEO. It went as expcected.

BossDj@lemm.ee on 13 Nov 2023 16:05 collapse

Luckily we have plenty of laws protecting higher ups from losing their investments

[deleted] on 13 Nov 2023 14:26 next collapse

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TwilightVulpine@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 14:53 next collapse
DontMakeMoreBabies@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 16:07 next collapse

Oh wow that's a real quote. Marketing bros are literally cancer.

bfg9k@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 16:55 next collapse

Holy fuck that’s a real quote lol

MBAs are a scourge on humanity

The_v@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 18:00 next collapse

Translation for those unfamiliar with MBA speak.

“The executive team are all fucking morons and screwed up a easy cash cow. So now we are going layoff the people who didn’t kiss our asses properly.”

[deleted] on 13 Nov 2023 18:33 collapse

.

spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works on 13 Nov 2023 22:52 collapse

IYKYK 😉

IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 17:51 next collapse

Of course they don’t see synergy. The vast majority of Unity game developer will never need Weta Tools or Ziva FX. And the one that might have been useful, that texture generator tool called ArtEngine, is discontinued. And all their other tools they acquired are half baked. Like that version control system Plastic SCM

ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml on 13 Nov 2023 18:04 collapse

Don’t get me started on Plastic… There’s this weird thing that happens internally sometimes when we get to work on fun projects, like mini game jams kind of thing. Someone in the group will inevitably be like “We should use Plastic” and we all kinda have to go along with it because it feels like we’re not allowed to admit that Plastic blows. Then we end up frustrated and complaining about it but not switching to Git because again, can’t say out loud that one of our own tools doesn’t work well that would just be silly

kryllic@programming.dev on 13 Nov 2023 18:53 collapse

Too bad Unity axed that project to create a game in-house using the engine to identify weak points and improve the engine. My guess is they realized how many of their acquired tools aren’t as good as they had hoped and didn’t want to admit they messed up in a few places. I sense lots of tech debt in the engine.

ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml on 13 Nov 2023 19:52 collapse

Gigaya, yeah. I have very little insight on that one it came as a bit of a shock internally too from my understanding. I really wish that project kept going it had a lot of value. From my point of view in my fairly limited position, the tech debt I deal with isn’t too bad but there are wild scaling issues from growing too fast in the last few years.

DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 13 Nov 2023 20:09 collapse

And they’re gonna fucking drag Parsec down with them

bappity@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 14:34 next collapse

how many millions of bonuses did the higher ups accept to get to this point

ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml on 13 Nov 2023 17:57 collapse

Remember kids, for a lot of public companies you can find this info: www1.salary.com/Unity-Software-Inc-Executive-Sala…

TwilightVulpine@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 14:58 next collapse

Is anyone believing they would not have layoffs anyway? They are likely just trying to pin their cost-cutting plans on game devs who protested against their ridiculous scheme. Comes to mind that the money their clients were already paying is the money that would have paid for those employees' wages.

ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml on 13 Nov 2023 17:53 collapse

I work for Unity, granted I’m just a lowly worker they don’t tell me shit. I honestly don’t know on this one, or rather I feel there probably still would have been but maybe not to the extent this one is rumored to be. Our change in leadership is the starting point for some internal reworks so it is possible if the pricing scheme worked JR wouldn’t have ‘resigned’ and we’d be operating on a more status quo basis. I suspect layoffs would have come down the pipes again sooner or later though

Jaysyn@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 15:11 next collapse

While I hope all the code monkeys land on their feet, fuck Unity with a cactus, sideways.

Schaedelbach@feddit.de on 13 Nov 2023 15:32 next collapse

The corporation, not the general product - an engine that powers tons of great games.

ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml on 13 Nov 2023 18:26 collapse

We won’t, lol. Also minorities tend to get fired disproportionately and hired less afterwards so that’ll be fun

donuts@kbin.social on 13 Nov 2023 15:13 next collapse

It's a shame, but considering that Unity is deep in a hole of unprofitability coupled with high interest rates across the globe, I can't say it's surprising.

Plan A was to rip off all of their users and Plan B seems to be to downsize. I wonder if it'll be enough to right the ship...

sirdorius@programming.dev on 13 Nov 2023 18:46 next collapse

We are committed to creating value for our customers and shareholders.

Fixed a typo in the report

MrMcGasion@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 18:57 collapse

Thanks to the Dodge brothers, that’s practically a requirement for publicly traded companies.

WashedOver@lemmy.ca on 13 Nov 2023 20:20 collapse

Ford did a nice end run on them eventually. He had to do twice. He never liked investors.

At least initially Dodge released a upgraded Ford for their first vehicle before things really got into the make them different for each year to create a reason for customers to buy a new one to replace their current one mode.

alienanimals@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 18:50 next collapse

Corporate playbook:

When the company does well: Reward leadership by giving all the profits to the executives and shareholders.

When the company fails: Give the CEO a golden parachute and layoff the peasants.

[deleted] on 13 Nov 2023 18:58 next collapse

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coaxil@lemm.ee on 13 Nov 2023 22:29 collapse

Just starting too??

Sanctus@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 19:04 next collapse

I just can’t help but think how the Unity Engine is a phenomenal product. Maybe our systems don’t work as well as we think they do if this company is foaming at the mouth because the metric says its bad. I used Unity for five years, its great, it didn’t need to change, but green line needed to go up.

helloharu@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 19:08 next collapse

Sounds pretty manipulative to blame the fallout of their own shitty decisions on others.

Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee on 13 Nov 2023 20:35 next collapse

Any more manipulative than a ceo making the decision to axe a functioning and profitable licensing structure to implement a new one with more dollar signs?

If you told me the same exact ceo made the layoff decision, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Phegan@lemmy.world on 14 Nov 2023 01:52 next collapse

Capitalism.

ArtVandelay@lemmy.world on 14 Nov 2023 02:17 collapse

Privatize the gains, socialize the losses, that’s capitalism for ya

Anonymousllama@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 22:54 next collapse

Used unity for my last 3 games and I’m getting really really tired of their shithouse performance over the last 3-4 years. They’ve gone from constantly making new features, tutorials and systems to barely doing anything.

Engines need constant feature packed updates, not bare bones rubbish. For example there’s no DLSS support for URP, it only works in HDRP. There’s also “no plans” for it according to the devs, which boggles the mind considering URP is arguably the better platform for mobile, console and regular console gaming.

Game engines should be rapidly evolving and supporting these features, they should take 3-4 years to get commonly implements features or to have to rely on third party plugins to make them happen.

SandLight@lemmy.world on 13 Nov 2023 23:03 next collapse

Yeah, I hate that my game is far enough along that it would be… infeasible to restart development in a new engine, but still needs enough work that the uncertainty of Unity is going to be with me for quite some time still.

rappo@lemmy.world on 14 Nov 2023 09:58 collapse

HDRP will be coming to mobile

notannpc@lemmy.world on 14 Nov 2023 00:54 next collapse

I feel bad for the people that actually make Unity what it is. I hope the C-suite fucking chokes on the money they’ve taken that they don’t deserve. This whole situation is their fault.

KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml on 14 Nov 2023 08:52 collapse

These positions were doomed before the licensing fee change. They just want to blame someone besides themselves.