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THQ 'axing' 200 employees to leave, pretty please

Comments (11) by Alexander Sliwinski May 7th 2008 12:00PM

Filed under: Business


With THQ announcing a $35.3 million dollar loss this past fiscal year, it's time for some people to get the ax. Not executives, mind you, but the little people. Gamasutra reports that CEO Brian Farrell stated 200 people will lose their jobs, but that most of them are employees working on "last gen" platforms like the PS2. On the bright side, the company plans to add about 300 new employees this fiscal year to "key studios" working on "key products."

The culling may have already started after rumors last week that members of THQ's Rainbow and Sandblast studios were laid off. To prevent people from losing their jobs in the future, CFO Colin Slade says that THQ is instituting a four-stage greenlight process to ensure better quality (and apparently better sales) from the publisher's titles.

[Via GameDaily]

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Gerstmann-gate: Blackout Monday update

Comments (56) by Kyle Orland Dec 3rd 2007 12:28PM

Filed under: Culture, Hacks

Big wheel keep on turning. Gerstmann-gate keep on burning.
[Thanks to all the tipsters who sent in links.]

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Rumorang: Gerstmann-gate edition

Comments (54) by Kyle Orland Dec 1st 2007 10:30AM

Filed under: Culture, Hacks

We're sure you'll agree our reporting on the continuing controversy surrounding Gamespot's firing of Jeff Gerstmann has been quite extensive. Still, there are a few angles that have come up that we still feel a little questionable reporting on as fact, or even credible rumor. Still, they are getting play elsewhere around the web, so we'll let you have a little peek behind the curtain and in to the sausage-making world of the news process. Here's what we know and why we're a bit skeptical:
  • Some sites are reporting that Gamespot staffer Tim Tracy has also been fired and/or left the company, possibly for reasons related to Gerstmann's dismissal. The sole source for this rumor seems to be a cryptic post on Tracy's Gamespot blog where he appears behind a stack of shoeboxes with the footer, "It's been real." This could mean that he's no longer with the company ... but it could also means he just has a shoe fetish. We're working to get an official comment on the situation from Tracy or Gamespot and will let you know what we hear, but for the time being we don't want to speculate on what, if anything, this could mean.
  • Some commenters around the web are suggesting that the firing was due to the influence of some recent hires at CNET, specifically Executive Vice President Stephen Colvin and Director of Games & Entertainment Josh Larson. These commenters will point to Colvin's previous involvement with bastions of journalistic integrity like Maxim, Blender, and Stuff magazine (read: sarcasm!) and Larson's heavy career focus on marketing to gamers. This circumstantial evidence doesn't do much for us, and while we've heard some rumblings of their involvement from somewhat credible sources, nothing has been better than second hand information. We'll keep digging, but right now it's too early to implicate anyone specific (or in general, for that matter).
  • Finally, some commenters are claiming that Gerstmann wasn't fired because his Kane & Lynch review was negative in tone, but because he did not actually play the game sufficiently before reviewing it. The supposed evidence, as often happens with such allegations, is Jeff's Xbox Live Gamercard, which only has six achievements and 90 Gamerscore points for the game (some overstate this claim to say he only got one achievement. Fact check your rumors, people!) Reviewers often start reviews playing early code that might not have achievements unlocked. Gerstmann could have been playing on Microsoft's private PartnerNet system when reviewing the game, or simply been on a separate system/Gamertag when doing some of the playing. Furthermore, the content of both the text and video reviews seems to clearly indicate deep involvement with the game. We're waiting to hear back from Gerstmann on this issue directly, but until we do, it'll take more than a Gamercard to convince us Jeff was anything less than a professional in this matter.

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Latest developments in "Gerstmann-gate"

Comments (55) by Kyle Orland Dec 1st 2007 9:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Hacks

More tidbits surrounding Jeff Gerstmann's controversial firing from Gamespot, from around the web and our own reporting:
  • Gerstmann has confirmed to Joystiq that there are "legal reasons" why he can't comment on the controversy, in addition to questions of "respect for the product team still on board at GameSpot, who are some of the most amazing people I've ever met." He added that he is not under any sort of non-compete agreement regarding future work in the industry.
  • Eidos issues a 'no comment' to 1UP: "Eidos is not able to comment on another company's policies and procedures." Valleywag says Eidos "insiders" are "freaking out" over being blamed for something they say they had nothing to do with. Still no response from Eidos to our requests for comment.
  • Former Gamespot editor-in-chief Greg Kasavin, on his GameSpot blog: "As the longest-tenured GameSpot editor, Jeff Gerstmann deserved a respectful send-off."
  • Current Gamespot editor-in-chief Alex Navarro compares the whole situation to hitting the disaster button in SimCity.
  • Former Gamespot staffer Bob Colayco and Adam Buchen clarify that just because Gerstmann was fired doesn't mean Gamespot staffers routinely get paid off for good reviews. Buchen also cancels his Gamespot account and urges others to do the same.
  • An anonymous Valleywag commenter going by the handle "gamespot" and claiming to be a company insider: "There has been an increasing amount of pressure to allow the advertising teams to have more of a say in the editorial process." More: "Also, despite the fact that this occured [sic] two weeks ago, there was no way they were going to fire him then; the last big games didn't come out until just before Thanksgiving, and there was no doubt that management knew that the rest of the reviewers would refuse to write any reviews after his termination, which is indeed what is happening. [emphasis added]"
We'll continue to update as more information comes out. Thanks to Gamespot user subrosian and all the tipsters who sent in information. Keep it coming.

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Koster says goodbye to SOE

Comments (5) by Jennie Lees Mar 25th 2006 12:02PM

Filed under: MMO, Business

Massively multiplayer game designer and theorist Raph Koster has parted ways with Sony Online Entertainment, after being with them for six years. There's no word on where he is headed yet, although his blog hints that he is "getting interested in doing some stuff that is a bit off the beaten path", a direction SOE isn't quite ready for.

About all that's clear is that it won't involve single player games, but MMO developers had better watch out.

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