Transmission layoffs

[Bos_Hybrid]

Games On Net :: General News: Transmission meets the one-armed scissor?

Unfortunate and troubling news if true.

 

[javs52]

well, i hope its not the people that were working on ashes

 

[lazy_chesnut]

Firstly, it might not even be true. Secondly, clearly Rob is still there, and that's the main thing!

 

[pcfan123]

The source does not seem too credible. Would be a real shame if its true, laying people off after the most succesful game in the companies history. Ah well, corporate is corporate.

 

[diaskasun]

this cant be true, they just came up with a killer of a game didnt they

 

[lazy_chesnut]

Does anyone know how big a company they are? 20 might not be a lot! They might have different teams of people working on different titles, etc. so the Ashes guuys might not be part of it. If it's true.

 

[barmyarmy]

They're certainly more than just Ashes Cricket but as far as I know they're not that big a company.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Does anyone know how big a company they are? 20 might not be a lot! They might have different teams of people working on different titles, etc. so the Ashes guuys might not be part of it. If it's true.

If they have axed the Ashes team, that has to be the most retarded decision in the history of gaming, second only to EA Sports thinking that the average PC has all the power of a PS2...

 

[lazy_chesnut]

They have not axed the Ashes team, I'm almost certain of that. I read somewhere that they have a 3 year contract for the Ashes game (in some interview with TG CEO) so given that AC09 was 2 years in development, they probably have another release scheduled.

 

[ravi]

Melbourne development studio Transmission Games, best known for their work on Ashes Cricket 2009, has let go over 30 of its employees this week, Kotaku has heard.

The lay offs come shortly after Transmission shipped Ashes Cricket 2009 for Codemasters and Heroes Over Europe for Ubisoft. We were told that the redundancies occurred on Wednesday, September 30, and comprised of 30 full-time staff – primarily coders, as well as all remaining QA staff, which accounted for a third of the total studio.

It seems Transmission were forced to cut costs after failing to secure several publishing deals. Transmisison had been hoping to sign a deal to work on a game based on a major upcoming movie, but that deal apparently fell through this week.

According to an internal email sent by Transmission CEO Mike Fegan, the studio was also pitching another project in a well-known franchise to the same international publisher.

“We finally heard back from XXXX this morning and the news is mixed as [licensed movie game] is currently on hold due to a legal IP problem with the film and no indication on when this issue will be fixed. As part of our fall back plan we have now submitted a pre-prepared pitch for [a sequel to an existing IP] and they also want us to pitch on another project but the reality is we will not have another project in place with them for at least 60-90 days.”

Also contributing to the financial woes is a project called Rotorhead, an arcade style helicopter game, for which Transmission has been unable to find a publisher.

In better news, other internal emails obtained by Kotaku indicate that they will be working on a new Cricket game for Codemasters, codenamed Cricket 2010 and due for release next year. And a previously announced Jane’s F-22 flight sim to be published by Evolved Games is still in production.


Transmission Games Lays Off A Third Of Its Workers [Updated] | Kotaku Australia

 

[MattW]

as well as all remaining QA staff

That might help explain buggy releases.

 

[pcfan123]

They must have made a lot of cash recently from AC09, "sharing is caring" is not a sentiment that is shared in the corporate world.

Dont feel bad about the QA staff being fired, been calling for that after the pathetically buggy initial release of AC09

 

[barmyarmy]

Let's try not to be quite so callous here please. These are real people and real jobs we are talking about and some of them could well be reading this thread.
You can't judge QA quality purely on the gold release as we've got no idea what other issues may have been picked up by them pre-release.

 

[SciD]

Not worried about game. I hope the guys find new jobs soon.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Let's try not to be quite so callous here please. These are real people and real jobs we are talking about and some of them could well be reading this thread.
You can't judge QA quality purely on the gold release as we've got no idea what other issues may have been picked up by them pre-release.

Fair enough - I'll delete my post.

MasterBlaster76 added 1 Minutes and 43 Seconds later...

So they're working on an F22 sim as well? That's good - modern jet sims have been thin on the ground for a long time now.