- cross-posted to:
- gaming@lemmy.zip
- cross-posted to:
- gaming@lemmy.zip
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/19627558
The entire team from publisher Humble Games has reportedly been laid off, according to now former employees posts on Twitter and LinkedIn. 36 developers are reportedly impacted by the cuts.
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difficult economic times
code for the parent company investors were not able to scrape their cut off the top without cutting pay role. companies like that have one single product - not games or software or widgets - but the quarterly profit cell within accounting’s excel spreadsheet
It’s okay though because they didn’t make this decision lightly.🙄
Thoughts and prayers (for the owner’s bank accounts)
they are owned by J2 Global. Check out their holdings on Wikipedia. it’s a random hodge podge of tech companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J2_Global
“We have looked at these difficult economic times and decided to make them more difficult for our employees by firing them all.” Nice. Always a great move. Also, I don’t see how they can say with a straight face that none of their ongoing projects or releases are going to be impacted by laying off the entire team. Even if they are just a publisher firing everyone and “restructuring” the company is going to have some kind of impact.
Does IGN own them as well, or are they just over the site/store?
Thank you so much for the info! I was out and about and unable to look for myself. My phone will run Lemmy but the browser is beyond miserable
Edit: forgot to actually reply to the content. Unfortunately this really felt inevitable after the purchase and changes to Choice
Its heartbreaking. I always wanted to make games as my dream job (even in my mid-30s as a devops lackey) and they’re collectively fucking over my passion for a fucking percentage. And the products coming out are fucking terrible.
Don’t ever have a dream, kids. You’ll be disappointed.
I guess its the right moment to redeem all keys and download all DRM free games.
We are going to see a new case of “you don’t own digital purchases” articles soon
Humble Games is the publishing arm, not the Humble Bundle storefront.
“Somebody bought that thing you love and destroyed it.”
Weak. I just fell in love with Slay the Spire. Hope this doesn’t cause massive problems for the sequel.
I don’t know Humble Games’ involvement, only that their logo is in the opening.
Remember when Humble Bundle was actually a charity and not just a charity-themed storefront owned by IGN?
Well, technically owned by IGN, a subsidiary of Ziff-Davis, formerly J2 Global, formerly Ziff-Davis.
I’m sure firing what was left of the employees with any commitment to the concept of HB and folding the brand under the rest of your e-commerce verticle will have no further adverse effects on the quality or usability of HB as a service.
Remember when Humble Bundle was actually a charity and not just a charity-themed storefront owned by IGN?
Do charities normally get buy-out offers from for-profit businesses?
I’m sure firing what was left of the employees with any commitment to the concept of HB and folding the brand under the rest of your e-commerce verticle will have no further adverse effects on the quality or usability of HB as a service.
Vulture capitalism at its finest. Yeah, eventually you’ve picked the carcass clean. But you just turn those profits over into another buyout and begin the feast anew.
Do charities normally get buy-out offers from for-profit businesses?
Fair point, although actually… 🤔 I mean non-profits do get bought out (and/or abused) for their good optics. See "Open"AI.
It’s just sad, looking up the company on Wikipedia (to get the buyout history right) reminded me of the very first humble indie bundles (which I participated in) and what a nice feeling it was to directly support indie studios and a good charitable cause. We could get into “consumer-activism” and what a joke/paradox that is, and maybe we should because look at what Humble Bundle is today but I still think it started out as something good.
About a century ago, there was a reaction to the industrial revolution via the Arts and Crafts Movement that inspired a lot of the modern artistic styles. That kind of anti-industrialism and peer collaboration echoed through the original indie gaming scene and still kinda exists today. Its a much more pleasant vision of consumerism than the soulless corporate shit we’re deluged with advertisements by.
I don’t begrudge anyone who feels sad about Humble Bundle’s collapse. But I just feel like we’re being inundated by video games, particularly post-COVID. The market is so over-saturated and I don’t really feel like I’m being charitable when my email is full to bursting with these promotions. I just don’t think the thing we’re lacking right now is more cheap video games.
