Developers of October 6’s Gears of War: E-Day have told Eurogamer they fear for their jobs as soon as the game is released. Microsoft-owned studio The Coalition has so far emerged pretty unscathed from this year’s brutal rounds of Microsoft gaming layoffs, but following the loss of the game’s story director, Juan Vaca, two weeks ago, and the barrage of thousands of job losses from Xbox teams this year, many more in the team feel certain their time could be up soon too.
Eurogamer spoke to a number of staff at The Coalition for its story, who said that until recently they had maintained confidence that perhaps their studio could be spared the worst of Microsoft’s swingeing cuts across its many Xbox developers. As the people behind the key franchise of Gears of War, and with such a big release so imminent, it was hoped that staff could escape the axe in the wake of E-Day‘s release. Now, many working at the company feel very differently.
As Kotaku reported September 22, Vaca wasn’t the only member of The Coalition to lose his job, but a source told us the total number was “less than a handful.” These losses, it seems, have shaken the confidence of the remaining team, who had hoped that the release of Gears of War: E-Day and the subsequent patching and support would keep them safe at least for the time being. Now EG reports that staff are “unhappy about it and on edge because we honestly expected the layoffs to hit us post-release, but that seems to not matter now.” Teammates disappearing moments before what should have been the celebratory release of the game has destroyed morale. “Now we’re just expecting the next wave, or being reorganized under Activision or something later this year,” the source added.
The Bonus Round
As well as having the life-changing impact of losing a job, imminent layoffs at The Coalition could also lead to another financial loss. According to Eurogamer, E-Day developers were working under the assumption of receiving a so-called “Metacritic bonus,” a pay-out should the game achieve a given Metacritic score based on critics’ reviews. However, according to the terms, to be eligible for this you still have to be working at the company at the time of the pay-out, which is expected to be “near the end of October.” Anyone let go before that could possibly no longer receive the reward for their work.
It’s not unusual, unfortunately, for AAA development teams to see a wave of layoffs after a game is released. Teams hire more and more members as projects ramp up, but then no longer need such a large staff post-release. It’s a perennial issue for the gaming industry, thanks to a lack of unionization, short-term contracts and the boom-bust nature of games costing hundreds of millions of dollars to create. But The Coalition had reason to be more hopeful, given the hands-off way in which Microsoft had previously treated it and the successful games it produces. That hope now seems to have dissipated in the wake of demoralization that’s swept across all of Microsoft’s studios following such a gruesome year.
It’s of course not yet known if The Coalition staff’s pessimism will prove true, and we certainly hope Microsoft will honor the bonuses even if people are let go. But either way, this is a horrible circumstance for any of Microsoft’s remaining developers to be working in.
