James B. Jones
James B. Jones
@jamesbjones.com
Award-winning video game wordslinger | not-so-award-winning author | Oxford comma enthusiast | baseball nut | son of Detroit | DMs [regrettably] Open
3.4K followers369 following4.8K posts
This made me sad for so many reasons, one of them being - and forgive me for sounding reminiscent about my time at the big megacorp - but this does not sound like the EA I worked for so many years ago. This sucks for everybody, and I feel for the folks having to navigate through this mess.
"I don't want to work at this place anymore:" EA workers decry mismanagement and corporate greed after mass layoffs Current and former EA employees paint a bleak picture of daily life at one of the video game industry's most prominent publishers
I don't wade into Reddit drama often (I primarily stick with sports and Star Trek), but the meltdown on r/cyberpunkgame is fascinating. They quietly instituted a rule banning all discussion about Claire. A mod called them out on it. The subreddit banned the mod. The community revolted.
The subreddit has been flooded with pro-Claire (and, by extension, pro-trans) iconography. The mods issued an apology, which went over like a wet fart. The mod who posted the apology deleted their account. The mods issued an apology to the apology. The former mod who called 'em out is still banned.
I am awake and working at 3:33am. By "awake," I mean "caffeinated and medicated," and by "working" I mean "plucking away at tasks while watching the KBO Korean Series."
James B. Jones reposted
OPPORTUNITY - Beamdog - Senior Writer - Canada Not affiliated. Shares welcome! www.beamdog.com/careers/
That would be a stupid fucking direction for the industry to take. Which is why this is probably the case.
I THINK one of the things we're really seeing is a continent, maybe industry-wide shift away from full-time employees and towards gig/codev work. And that transition looks like layoffs across the board even from studios that just had big successes.
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I love being reminded that the audience really doesn’t give a shit about the developers. Like, forget that one of the most influential studios in our industry was just executed by its publisher, just make sure the product continues on the assembly lines!
After hearing news of BioWare's closure on Wednesday, over 75,000 Mass Effect fans have signed a petition demanding that EA put another studio in charge of the franchise or license out the IP. https://bit.ly/4siIubW
I'm sorry but Mr. Smith's comments really only reinforce my point. While I'm sure that he and many of the others who are wanting this "would welcome opportunities for those developers to participate," it ultimately just feels like it's about making sure there is more stuff to stamp the N7 logo onto.
I appreciate that people want a new Mass Effect, but the future where fans advocate for the work itself and not the people who make it is the one the vultures at EA want. If you'll take it however you get it, they can keep treating people who make what you love as expendable.
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I'm asking this half-facetiously and half-seriously since I don't actually know how this sort of thing works but... isn't a buyout just a voluntary layoff?
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees in latest cost cuts, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as the company tries to control its head count while avoiding layoffs ➡️ www.seattletimes.com/business/mic...
Walter Koenig was, by just about all accounts, a kind man who was generous with his time. He was also quite the underappreciated actor - outside of Star Trek, Koenig's run as Alfred Bester on Babylon 5 remains one of the best realized antagonists in all of fiction. Damn.
My pal Danielle Koenig shared that her father Walter Koenig passed away last night at age 90. A performer whose kindness and warmth shone through the screen. He will be well remembered.
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Eat shit, Jim Caviezel.
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Serbia votes out their pro-Putin authoritarian government. Ending strongman Vucic after 14 yrs. Students, educators & farmers rallied together to reclaim their democracy by voting in historic numbers. See America, it's all on us. We vote. We win. Fascist fade share.google/MpOmcEDB2o1n...
I love being reminded that the audience really doesn’t give a shit about the developers. Like, forget that one of the most influential studios in our industry was just executed by its publisher, just make sure the product continues on the assembly lines!
After hearing news of BioWare's closure on Wednesday, over 75,000 Mass Effect fans have signed a petition demanding that EA put another studio in charge of the franchise or license out the IP. https://bit.ly/4siIubW
James B. Jones reposted
📢 Some exciting news! 🎉 Our upcoming next-generation runtime, GMRT, will be free for commercial use and source avaliable for all non-console platforms! READ MORE gamemaker.io/en/blog/gmrt...
"This is the bit where the comet hits the earth and the dinosaurs die, but the way is cleared for cooler life forms to evolve." I would say that I'll remember this quote for when Tim eventually finishes burying his own company, but I'd never so flippantly disrespect to the actual devs over there.
Tim Sweeny's comment on the closure of Looking Glass Studios.
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Yesterday: Warren Spector justifiably furious about how f'd up the razing of Bioware is Tonight: Warren's in Brooklyn talking with us about his career, and probably also all this f'd up #!(*% extractive consolidation going on? Bring your questions ALSO at twitch.tv/nyugamecenter see you there
NEXT THURSDAY! NYU Game Center Lecture Series Presents Warren Spector Thurs. Oct. 22nd, 7pm - 8:30pm 370 Jay Street, Room 202 Join this industry legend to help celebrate his retirement from games! More info and RSVP here: warrenspectorlectureseries.eventbrite.com
James B. Jones reposted
If this supposed Mass Effect trailer is legitimate then, like... EA, what are you doing?
It was disappointing to see SWTOR not included, but I'm not surprised. This is not the time nor the place to dive into it, but I remember BWA always being treated as the "black sheep" of the BioWare family. Combine that with SWTOR (and the Austin team) being handed off to Broadsword, and... yeah.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Lead Writer Says The MMO Being Left Out Of BioWare's Goodbye Message Is 'Heartbreaking'