Brian Jackson

So with the amount of layoffs in games, its created a large bed of variables to look at.. yeah I'm not a scientist but trying my best to sound smart. Recent lunch with some friends out of work in games, had an interesting convo. All 3 of them are artist and they all applied to the same position at a company. They had found out after they applied they all were in competition and luckily they were in friendly spirits about it. Anyways, two of them got interviews. In the initial talks with the recruiter/hiring manager they were given a salary range. Only two of them got that far in conversation. Of those two, the range was different even though they had similar experience. They compared the responses they got and it was really odd how they were different, same person but different attitude in the way they were replying to them. Also in the interviews, the duties and role was slightly different, like the one with the lower pay range was basically being given a heavier responsibility description. Same interviewer too so a bit odd perhaps how the convo changed per person. The 3rd person, they were being notified once a week or so about progress and to don't worry, we'll get in touch soon with more info. Well.. at the end, none of them got the job, or feedback of why. The 3rd person just got ghosted without an update or reply asking for an update. I feel for them, hence giving them a lunch to vent, its stressful as all heck to interview, not wanting to put all your hope into a job that could or could not happen. And then to see that there are differences and inconsistency on the whole process. Some might actually say the 3rd person had it the best since they never got their hopes set too high but at the same time the ego can take a hit on not being asked to talk. Thoughts, anyone currently interviewing/looking for a job have some experiences to share?

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Capcom has released a less-than-positive annual report. There's nothing critical in it; all the declines are tied to a pause in releases. Capcom certainly has a vast catalog of successful franchises for upcoming releases. Resident Evil (RE) stands out distinctly. While Capcom didn't start with RE, it played a crucial role in their history and has had a significant impact on the gaming industry as a whole. Today, RE comprises 32 releases across 33 platforms. These are incredible numbers and a testament to success. Moreover, judging by Metacritic scores, Capcom manages to maintain a high standard of quality. I gathered a timeline of all RE releases on one website (link in the comments). I thoroughly enjoyed watching videos, reading books, reminiscing about my own experiences playing the games, and playing with friends and colleagues. Here are a few interesting facts about RE and Capcom: - Resident Evil 4 was released on 14 platforms. - The first RE took 3 years to develop, instead of the usual 3-6 months for Capcom in 1996. Consultants hired from the U.S. advised shutting down the project when it was almost complete, predicting its failure. - Devil May Cry and Dino Crisis were born while searching for fresh gameplay for RE. - Capcom was one of the first companies to start paying revenue shares to developers, which is particularly noteworthy for Japanese companies. - Toy Story I and RE I were released around the same time. - For a while, music for RE was composed by a well-known Japanese composer who was said to be deaf. It later turned out that he wasn't actually deaf and didn't compose the music himself. PS. In 2026, the series will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and there will likely be a special release or edition. Or perhaps they'll simply release a version with full DualSense support.

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It’s unfortunate that many qualified individuals miss out on opportunities because they aren’t aware of positions suited to their skills. Enterprise companies often struggle to properly articulate their need for creative and interactive skill sets, which are similar to those in the gaming industry. Many times, they don't know how to accurately describe or validate these needs. When trying to build internal capabilities, positions are often mislabeled based on traditional standards, leading to confusion and missed connections. For instance, companies may assume a developer with Blender knowledge can serve as a 3D artist, which is not the case. Or they might label such a position as a designer or another term that a 3D artist wouldn’t typically search for. This mislabeling creates a disconnect between the job listing and the talent pool. Additionally, the recruitment process itself can be flawed. I’ve seen applications rejected based on the personal biases of recruiters who may not have an artistic background. This means many talented individuals never make it to the interview stage, which is disheartening. The issue lies not with the recruiters but with the organization’s inflexibility and outdated processes. Consider a retail company wanting to enter the metaverse or interactive 3D space. How should they proceed? Should they hire internally to manage the initiative, bring in consultants for strategy, or hire an external expert? And how can they ensure this external hire is capable of building a new department or capability if the person hiring them has no experience with that industry? Chicken and egg situation I guess. With so many people in need of work and companies eager to develop strong interactive, digital, and gaming capabilities, some guidance is crucial. Accurate job descriptions, better validation processes, and an adaptable organizational structure are key to bridging this gap. If your company is looking to navigate this complex landscape and needs help finding the right talent or structuring your team, get in touch. Might be able to provide the guidance you need to succeed.

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Grizzled Ancient thoughts on the Concord situation.. Hearing all the crits around Concord, and I just don't agree with a lot of them. Most seem to focus on the designs not 'fitting' for a Hero Shooter, which is a sound critique, but why not flip that on it's head and say the fault is that Gameplay doesn't fit the Designs? Clearly the setting and universe were designed with a saturation of love and intent to tell more character driven sci-fi team up stories, the kind we get from Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy. That world just so naturally fits with a more Single-player Adventure or RPG game style. What if all that beautiful lore and world-scaping was part of a single player or Cooperative Heist RPG? Borderlands meets Metal Gear or Thief? Those character's personalities would SING in that style of gameplay, and the obvious depth poured into the world would drive exploration and narratives for years of UGC & DLC. That'd be one hell of a game. Chasing the market is always going to end up being too late to the party to make a splash. As a creative lead, you have the responsibility to take a holistic look at what it is you're trying to make, and really put the hard work in to figure out what its best form is for the experience you're trying to create. That's how you create lasting franchises. Belluar News had a good overview of the financials and pitfalls of the dev process for Concord recently, but hidden in it was a revealing moment, where they mentioned the internal leadership being plagued by 'toxic positivity', which made it difficult for voices to be heard. I'm quite certain that the leads all thought they were bending over backwards to get all voices heard, but plowed ahead anyways, effectively disregarding all internal criticism. That's a common trait I've seen with toxic positivity in my 3 decades in this industry, they reward themselves for making efforts without allowing any real change, and frankly it's a lot more destructive long term than default-grumpy-gamer negativity. Toxic Positivity is born from fear, fear of facing your faults head-on, and only creates more fear. It's the weaponized version of "midwestern nice". Making something good also takes knowing what's bad, and you can't do that in a vacuum or an echo chamber. You need to embrace the heated open unstructured arguments, the late-night slack channel emo-dumps, the "this just sucks" bug reports.. You have to open yourself to brutal feedback internally, if you hope to survive and transcend it externally. Done right, with a mind to the helping the quieter voices in your community not get overwhelmed or drowned out, and ensuring any butthurt is appropriately salved afterwards, you might even find that part of the process is as fun as making all the rest of it. It builds resiliency in you and your team. Most importantly, your coworkers won't fear speaking plainly and passionately, and that passion will carry into the work you're all making together.

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‘There's A Hole In The Bottom Of The Sea (Nik Vocals)’ is on #SoundCloud https://lnkd.in/eNkG4Z5v There's a hole in the bottom of the sea (Traditional Folk Song) There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a hole, there's a hole, There's a hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a log in the hole In the bottom of the sea, There's a log in the hole In the bottom of the sea, There's a log, there's a log, There's a log in the hole In the bottom of the sea. There's a branch on the log in the hole In the bottom of the sea, There's a branch on the log in the hole In the bottom of the sea, There's a branch, there's a branch, There's a branch on the log in the hole In the bottom of the sea. There's a bump on the branch on the log In the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a bump on the branch on the log In the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a bump, there's a bump, There's a bump on the branch on the log In the hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a frog, there's a frog, There's a frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a tail on the frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a tail on the frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a tail, there's a tail, There's a tail on the frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a speck on the tail on the frog On the bump on the branch On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a speck on the tail on the frog On the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a speck, there's a speck, There's a speck on the tail on the frog On the bump on the branch on the log In the hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a fleck on the speck on the tail On the frog on the bump on the branch On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a fleck on the speck on the tail On the frog on the bump On the branch On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a fleck, there's a fleck, There's a fleck on the speck on the tail On the frog on the bump on the branch On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea. #HoleInTheBottomOfTheSea, #FolkSong, #TraditionalSong, #KidsMusic, #ChildrenSongs, #NurseryRhymes, #SingAlong, #FamilyMusic, #FunSongsForKids, #ClassicTunes, #EducationalMusic, #InteractiveSong, #LogInTheHole, #BranchOnTheLog, #FrogOnTheBump, #SeaShanty, #SimpleSongs, #SongsForLearning, #ChildrenSingAlong, #CatchyMelodies, #MusicForKids, #SillySongs, #FunFolkMusic, #ClassicChildrenSong, #FamilySingAlong, #PreschoolMusic, #FrogSong, #FunLearning, #NatureInspiredSong, #RhymesForKids

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Some secrets are being spilled at HGC Berlin 2024, and you don't want to miss it! First up, on October 25th at 12:00, I'll be giving a talk called "How to F*ck Up Your Console Launch, Even Before You Start Porting." If you want to hear about the biggest mistakes studios make with console launches (and how to dodge them), this one's for you. Then, later at 3:00 PM, I'm diving into "Recruit & Retain: Strategies for Gaming Talent Management." Did you know Dreamloop has an 84% boomerang rate? Yes, we've had only 6 people resign in 9 years. I'll be sharing how we built a culture where people actually want to stay—no gimmicks, just real strategies that work.

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UMG's Partnership with SoundLabs Brings Advanced AI Technology to Music Production Universal Music Group (UMG) has announced a collaboration with SoundLabs, a music technology company known for its AI tools designed for music creators. This partnership will allow UMG's artists and producers to use SoundLabs' MicDrop plugin, an AI-powered tool compatible with all major digital audio workstations. The plugin can be trained on an artist's voice, enabling the creation of custom vocal models for studio use. UMG, which works with prominent artists like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Adele, and Kendrick Lamar, highlights that this tool provides artists with full creative control and approval over the generated content. The MicDrop plugin offers several innovative features, including the ability to modify vocal timbres, transform speech into singing, and change the language of a vocal recording. This technology allows artists to release foreign-language versions of their songs without recording new vocals. Additionally, it enables them to perform duets with their younger selves by utilizing archival recordings. UMG emphasizes that these vocal models will be exclusively available for the artists' personal use and not for public access, ensuring ethical application and full control by the creators. This development follows UMG's recent partnership with Roland, where they introduced seven ethical principles for AI in music creation. These guidelines aim to ensure that artificial intelligence enhances, rather than replaces, human creativity. Previously, UMG also explored licensing artists' voices for AI-generated songs in collaboration with Google, demonstrating their commitment to integrating AI ethically in the music industry. SoundLabs, led by Grammy-nominated producer and software developer BT, is at the forefront of AI music technology. BT has a history of working on innovative audio plugins like iZotope's Stutter Edit and BreakTweaker. He expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, emphasizing the potential of AI to democratize creativity and reduce barriers in the creative process. UMG's Chris Horton reiterated the company's focus on keeping artists central to their AI strategy, ensuring that technology serves artistic expression. The MicDrop plugin is set for release later this summer, marking a significant step in the evolution of music production. #MusicInnovation #AIMusic #CreativeTech #FutureOfMusic

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Building for live service is very tough, both in initial design and long term. Even very good games struggle. Why? Elder game. Often it’s because the elder game isn’t sufficiently interesting, challenging, social or strategically different from the novice or mid-game. Whether through content, systems, or modes, a struggling live service often misses this important dimension and tries to plug it with DLC, which can be a mixed bag. The secret is to think of your game design as two game designs, where you will graduate players from one to the other. Like the difference between a game of football versus the leagues and tournaments of football, melding very fun with very absorbing usually incorporates some level of management, economy and forethought. Get it right and you’ve solved liveops. Your elder game may naturally arise from the inherent systems, but more typically you have to be intentional about it. Incorporating elder features such as real clans, competitive modes, massive trading economies and so on also has impacts on how your novice game plays, and reconciling the two can be maddening. It also sometimes just doesn’t fit. Not all games are made equal, and sometimes trying to bring liveops into a game can be a bit like trying to “make Fetch happen”. You’ve got to be clear-eyed about whether a game really has potential, far beyond the typical analysis of business case, product features and so on. Hopefully the Helldivers 2 team can figure it out. It’s a hell of a game, but it’s had some dings in recent times (such as the PlayStation account debacle) and appears to be on the slide. All is absolutely not lost, however.

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Congratulations to my friends and former co-workers at Bethesda Game Studios on their leadership in driving much-needed and long-overdue change in the video game industry. For reference, industry leadership has had decades to address the issues that have led this industry to the place we now find ourselves - many studios shut down, 40,000+ people laid off, a job market that is the worst in industry history - all while we're still seeing annual revenues across the industry continue to climb after a single year (2022) that showed a drop of 2.16% (from $369 billion to 361 billion) before recovering. (link to source in comments) The last major shift in how our industry treats its employees was in 2007, when EA settled the class action lawsuits that resulted from the "EA Spouse" blog post. 17 years is a long time to watch the same thing (layoffs, crunch time, etc.) continue without any effort to provide the people who make games with a reasonable level of respect, job security, and dignity. Industry leaders: now is the time to lead. Get proactive and start giving the developers that make these games the same priority as you give to profits. In the end, we're all just people, and we're all in this together. You don't have to wait for Unions to sweep the industry and force change through contract negotiations. If BGS is willing to bring a union in to help drive change, the other major studios won't be far behind.

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👶 Game producers = great parents… ? 🎮 Problem-Solving: Working with different partners/audiences with varying comm methods. 💬 Empathy/Sympathy: Seeing the world through other viewpoints. Interpreting signals! 🧘‍♂️ Stress Management: Resilience in the face of constant pivots & uncertainty… Are you a creating clarity or chaos when having to clean 💩? 📅 Organization: Scheduling routines and adjusting when your plan goes south. Have a mitigation? That helps! Game production = solid parenting prep! 🌟👾🍼 #parenting #chaos💩 #empathy

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Business of games: 9 biggest funding rounds, new studios, partnerships, and trends from the last week 🕹️ Investment round-up details from Oct 2nd week: 1. Third Dimension raises $6.9m towards generative AI 3D world builder 2. Former Bethesda, BioWare and Naughty Dog staff found Near Studios 3. Clout Kitchen raises $4.45m towards League of Legends AI "buddies" 4. Another group of ex-Disco Elysium developers found Dark Math Games 5. UAE-based Web3 gaming startup PiP World lands $10 million in seed funding 6. Krafton invests in Mario + Rabbids and Red Dead Redemption veterans at Day 4 Night 7. Former Blizzard boss' new studio (Dreamhaven) reveals debut tabletop-inspired game Sunderfolk 8. Dragonz Lab has raised $9 million in funding through a strategic equity investment from Syndicate Capital. 9. Queensland's digital games sector Screen Queensland has awarded $1.3 million to nine indie studios as part of its latest Games Grants funding round. Top trending news from last week: >> Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has lowered its stake in Nintendo, in contrast to recent reports that it would increase its holding. >> Turkey and Russia ban Discord >> Halo’s changes to Unreal #gamingindustry #gamedesign #mobilegames #gamedevelopment #gamedev #videogames #gaming #useracquisition #growth #UA #revenue #data #icartic #gamedeveloper #indiedev #unity3d #madewithunity #businessofgames

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I just left a video call with yet another game studio executive trying to navigate having secured initial funding and now running out of cash with a potential closure of their studio looming. In addition to sadness, I can’t help feeling as though both the investors and the studio headed down an unnecessarily dangerous path from the start. Investors can play a critical role in the success of a game studio by providing capital and expertise. However, applying traditional investment models may cause developers to pivot from best practices in order to secure the investment. The unintended consequence is that risks can be added instead of mitigated, and it is important for both parties to navigate together carefully to avoid common pitfalls. Examples of these risks include making a game larger to increase potential returns, hiring a big internal team to maximize enterprise value, setting unmovable deadlines to keep the dates of future returns in place and, as faced by the studio I just spoke with, providing only initial funding. These decisions may lead to a riskier project to manage and one that is not attuned to the challenging reality that finding fun cannot be promised by a given date. Starting full production too soon is a recipe for the studio to risk cost overruns while piloting a battleship when the agility of a speedboat is still required. Without a clear funding path, a studio can end up burning investment capital intended for development on pitching and demos. Games are not well suited to ‘build ten things fast, expect nine to fail and one to skyrocket’. They need to be nurtured by oversight which advances step by step towards success. This doesn’t mean a game should be finished at all costs, it just allows the investor and developer to pull the plug on a project that is not coming together before full production, so that the team can focus on the next opportunity while there is money left in the bank. The good news is that digital games sell forever, and game franchises are strong platforms to build upon with sequels and additional content. For investors open to long term cash generation, games are a great match. If a fund has a maturation date, successful IP can be sold based on future revenues. Fundamentally, rather than pressing for a quick home run, the most consistent returns come from supporting quality studios making games iterated through feedback from the team, testing with consumers and learnings from the industry. This approach lays the groundwork for developing “singles and doubles” into powerhouse franchises. The greatest investor impact comes from adapting fund structures and return models to account for development best practices. Success hinges on a strong partnership of developers and investors together forging new ground that is aligned to the unique dynamics of the game industry.

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The latest game I've been working on these past few years.

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I'm a bit late to the discussion on IGN Entertainment's acquisition of the Gamer Network. Seeing IGN Entertainment acquire the Gamer Network hits close to home for me. I grew up getting my gaming news and guides from mid-level publishers like Eurogamer and VG247. This consolidation trend is troubling, especially considering the layoffs and reduced editorial diversity that often follow. With my experience at ReedPOP, a subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions, I have insider knowledge of the dynamics at play. Reed should have invested more in these publishers because they didn't fit into the broader B2B portfolio strategy. This oversight has contributed to the consolidation we're witnessing now, where a few major entities control most of the gaming news landscape, pushing out smaller, independent voices. #GamingNews #IndustryTrends #Consolidation https://lnkd.in/eEDx-bfJ

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This Rift Wizard descendent has me. I'm enamored with its scope, which seems to break down into... • Trigger-based RPG buildcraft (90%) • Roguelike progression loop (6%) • Literary dark-fantasy lore (3%) • Everything else that makes a video game (1%) This solo-dev delivered excellence in precisely the parts of these games that I love by absolutely punting art, animation, sound, and I bet by consequence a ton of engineering. It's a lesson in focus—a demonstration of what scope-creep costs the projects we never finish or which ship cluttered or underbaked. If those ratios above even approximate your priorities, this indie title is worth way more than the chump-change it's asking for.

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Very interesting article. When we say "A.I." it often means "statistical computing feature that outputs a prediction". A.I. represents the future and always will be, as it is a very anthropomorphic notion that evolves in time as we do. Spellcheck is for us a useful feature, while for Gutemberg it would have been called witchcraft. Somewhere in the middle it could have been called an AI proofreader. LLMs predict the next most probable word ("token") based on the distribution of the data it has used to "learn" (actually "set statistical weights"). (1) If we talk about "computing statistical feature" we'll say something like "the result is wrong". But as we talk about A.I. we say things such as "it hallucinates". As such we project beliefs that can feed themselves back. Now the fun part. It is exactly the kind of technique used by psychics. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eMACW4r6 (1) check this very cool demo 👇 https://moebio.com/mind/

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Now that Timbre is officially closed -- and my heart goes out to all those affected -- I think someone should ask WTF Sumo Digital Ltd was thinking in making this drastic cull. You have a team of about 100 folks who -- just based on the outpouring of support and collective love between them; I know nothing about the studio itself -- seem to have been a high-functioning group of developers who had worked together for up to 2 years (obviously some of them were newish, as the median time employed was about a year; I saw some layoff notices from people who'd been hired within the past 2-3 months, so this suggests the leadership team had no idea the closure was coming, unless they are just evil...). Anyone who has built a team understands the value of having folks across many different disciplines who work well together. There is significant value in this, and you don't just throw it away. I understand Sumo decided they needed to make 15% cuts to save costs, but then why not cut 15% uniformly (more or less) across all your studios and the parent org? If you are cutting 250 people worldwide across multiple studios (I count 14 studios: https://lnkd.in/gxmRTJcz), why then cut 100 of them in one place? 250 people across 14 studios is less than 20 people per studio (some of the Sumo studios have 100s of people). You could have cut 15 from Timbre and kept 85 employed. Could they not have sold the studio to another publisher? Or found a buyer from outside games? Both Relic and Phoenix were bought by non-game buyers (private equity in Relic's case, a blockchain company in Phoenix's case), so there's clearly money from outside the industry looking to invest and own a piece of the games business, even in super expensive Vancouver. This doesn't seem like just another "oh whoops we overhired during COVID" story. What, did you set up an entire new studio from scratch and hire 100 people between 2022 and 2024 by mistake? Tencent bought Sumo a while ago. Tencent has more money than anyone. Did Tencent not want this studio? They could have spun it out from Sumo. Microsoft? Ubisoft (they used to have a Vancouver studio...)? Anyone? Nobody out there wanted a team of 100 folks who knew how to work together and had built some amount (maybe a lot?) of a game together before they were unceremoniously shut down? No publisher wanted to pick up the game and continue to float the studio until it shipped? There's been a lot of love being generated from the demise and aftermath of this studio. But where's the rage?

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There’s no company with more IPs than Warner Bros. Entertainment From the most successful series (Game Of Thrones) The most popular animation (Looney Toons) The most famous comic and non-comic figures (Batman) It’ll be a real shame to let those IPs lie in a dusty basement rather than turning them into awesome games. From Lord Of The Rings to Star Wars to Spiderman to James Bond’s ‘Golden Eye’ - history is full of great movies and TV shows that became a huge hit as games. If Warner Bros can’t sustain it, licensing it is a great option. It’ll open up more opportunities, and give smaller studios a chance to shine. This is a good play for the gaming industry. https://lnkd.in/dibb8bxB #gaming

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