Kinect Sports dev hit by redundancies

[Scoobes]

makingmusic476 said:

Scoobes said:

From my understanding of the industry, these restructures are fairly common especially after the release of a big game and in the middle of a recession it's not that suprising. Sucks for those losing their jobs but if Rare have been tasked with jobs where they don't need them then it's gonna happen.

In all likelihood they'll have a recruitment drive in a year's time for their next big title, then "re-structure" after that releases.

Cutting the entire art staff isn't your typical case of redundancies.  Some of these guys have been there going on ten years.

Edit:

Oh, just realized the OP sourced Eurogamer.  They don't go into much detail about exactly who was let go.  The original gaf thread in which this all came out is much more informative:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=421821

That does seem a bit extreme, but it could just be MS trying to cost cut rather than signs of closure. Development costs and taxes in the UK are pretty hefty so it wouldn't suprise me, especially if they're mainly working on more casual games/avatars that require simpler art assets. They'll probably still contract in a batch of guys for their next title but on short-term contracts. I've also noticed a lot of companies (not just games) have started recruiting via fixed-term contracts rather than hiring permanent staff.

I guess we will see. It's a shame for them though.