AgtFox

Looked at today's Penny Arcade of all things and I find out that with Munch's Oddysee reaching it's final stage that Lorne Lanning fired many Design, Programming, Art, Animation, and QA positions. All does not look well in Oddworld. Could Bungie possibly not be far behind even though they are owned by Microsoft? MS does have a habit of cleaning house with developer groups (Digital Anvil anyone?).

I expect a lot of acquisitions being talked about with all developers. Treyarch is now owned by Activision, I would not be surprised if some big names or up and coming names are bought up as well.

Flay

I think I will wait for conformation from Microsoft before I take anything Penny-Arcade says seriously.

If it is true, seeing how the game is almost done, I don't see why firing the Oddworld Crew is a big deal. What do they really have to work on? They would most definitely be rehired when a new Oddworld game is needed.

Aghama

I think linking this to Bungie is a bit of a stretch. The software/tech industry is going through hard times, not just developers for the X-Box.

And how exactly is being fired not a big deal? These presumably aren't contractors. You expect them to wait around until OI needs them again?

AgtFox

Why would MS do a PR on this? MS doesn't own Oddworld Inhabitants like they do Bungie, they just gave them money to make Munch X-Box exclusive much like they did with Team Ninja and DOA3. Glad you could spin doctor this though, PA is usually pretty spot on with what they say. I would not have posted if I didn't think it was true and there wasn't a past history with this happening around MS and their relations with developers before.

As for this not being big news, in today's world a downsizing is most likely permanent. Yes, they can upsize again, but it doesn't look too promising at this time in our current financial situation. I take it Oddworld has no future plans beyond Munch at this time.

The reason I bring Halo and Bungie into this is because Halo has been in development for many years and it seems like Bungie has nothing else in the oven or at least they haven't announced anything they're doing next for the X-Box. I would figure if they had something to excite X-Box owners about beyond Halo they would have shown it (and maybe they have and I missed it). Bungie does NOT have as much pull or history as a company like Blizzard has in keeping future games secret.

This type of downsizing has happened before on many different platforms (PC mostly) and will continue to happen for a good time to come. This does not only affect the X-Box, but affects every platform.

We shall see if PA's news holds true or not...if so, I shall eat my crow .

Flay

I don't expect them to wait around, not do I expect OI to keep around employees they don't need. If those people aren't available when the next Oddworld game comes around, I'm sure they can find other qualified individuals to do the same.

Business is Business. You hire employees when needed and you fire employees when you don't need them.

AgtFox

I said in my above post that it is hitting all platforms, we just haven't heard of possible things happening on the Nintendo and Sony front. I think 989 Studios is on it's last leg on Sony's front though...they have made nothing but poor games for the OWN console. I also think we have not heard the last of Activision acquiring developers that they publish for. I also expect Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to go out and buying some of their best companies instead of just being a publisher or a platform for the game to be on.

This will also go to the PC side of things, I expect some top notch developer groups to be acquired by the larger companies.

I just found this awfully suspect if Oddworld did indeed eliminate jobs. As I said above, I don't think they have anything else in the fire. I thought Oddworld was supposed to be 7 games or something (I don't remember). I am also afraid that Bungie may not either. The sad thing for me is that I thought both were promising companies.

Aghama

Yeah, but usually businesses don't just sit around doing nothing after a product is released. The QA and art guys might have been expendable end-of-cycle employees, but design and programming are pretty integral throughout. But I'm not about to claim that this means the company is doomed. Maybe they just hired on a bunch of guys in the last few months to get it out the door on time, and it was most of those that were released.

AgtFox: As for Bungie, I wouldn't worry too much. They've been around for a while, and their output has never been particularly high; in fact, what have they released besides Marathon and Myth?