Meta Layoff Phase Hits VR Studio Ready at Dawn, One Third of Staff Reportedly Released From Duty

[T0@st]

Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) has begun implementing widespread staff layoffs across multiple company departments. The cutback operation was announced last month, with the social media giant targeting 10,000 positions (throughout 2023) in an effort to become more efficient. 13,000 staffers were released from their jobs last year, representing 13% of the workforce at the time - advertising revenues had declined in 2022 and Meta said that the change was required in order to navigate economic downturns. A repeat of that sentiment has been issued this year and two internal games development studios have been affected quite heavily by the latest layoff initiative, reports suggest. Ready at Dawn and Downpour Interactive are getting a lot of press coverage - due to former staffers divulging details of Meta's cutbacks via social media.

Thomas Griebel, a (now former) Senior engine programmer at Ready at Dawn, took to Twitter two days ago and made claim that: "One third of the studio was laid off today, including the studio head." He also observes that the studio has been shrinking over time: "Also lost some really great people just due to attrition. Think we're down almost (down to a) half since when I started in August (2022)." Former Ready at Dawn technical designer Colin McInerney has also released a string of information about co-workers being let go. Michael Tsarouhas (senior designer) and Daan van Zelst (level designer) have confirmed that they were released from their roles at Downpour Interactive.



Ready at Dawn is best known as a developer of Sony PlayStation exclusives including The Order: 1886 - an action shooter that was highly praised for being a graphically advanced technical showcase for the PlayStation 4 home console, but the 2015 title was also criticized for lacking in the areas of play length, gameplay and plot. Ready at Dawn became wholly owned by Meta following a company buyout in 2020, and the development team has concentrated on virtual reality games since then - most notably the Lone Echo series (exclusive to Meta's range of Oculus Rift VR headsets).



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[the54thvoid]

'Released from duty' is a lovely metaphor for 'sacked'.

 

[T0@st]

'Released from duty' is a lovely metaphor for 'sacked'.

I had to think of many alternatives to "getting fired" in this piece. Anyway, it's a sad day for those who have been let go. Good luck to them.

 

[Why_Me]

I feel as bad for those FB employees as they did for me and thousands of others who were laid off in the oil, gas and mining industries a few years back. What did they tell us ... now I remember 'learn to code'.

 

[HisDivineOrder]

Ready at Dawn was pretty stupid to think being bought by Facebook was going to end any other way. Hell, I think the developers letting themselves be bought by Microsoft are in for the same rude awakening.

 

[Icon Charlie]

I feel as bad for those FB employees as they did for me and thousands of others who were laid off in the oil, gas and mining industries a few years back. What did they tell us ... now I remember 'learn to code'.

I agree with you. I find the irony of all of this. Code monkeys banging away on their keyboards, boasting and bragging about their job and all of their perks.

When they told us to "Learn to Code", well I just smile and say,

"Son you need to Learn to Weld. Where I stand there will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, HVAC, heavy equipment operator as well as all types of vocational jobs that are always in demand pay well and better job security than what you will ever have".

"Hope you like being unemployed because I surely don't".

 

[64K]

Mixed feelings on this. On the one hand I don't care if Facebook is falling on hard times. On the other hand I don't like seeing the working men and women getting sacked. Many of them probably have children that they need to support.

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg should kick in a few dollars from the 77 billion dollars (net worth) he has to help out.

 

[Vario]

I feel as bad for those FB employees as they did for me and thousands of others who were laid off in the oil, gas and mining industries a few years back. What did they tell us ... now I remember 'learn to code'.

The next thing will be Chat GPT rendering huge quantities of lower level programmers obsolete.

 

[Steevo]

#Learntocode ?

The biggest issue with these people is, they don’t understand the reality of how the rest of the world works in order to afford them that comfort and their job that they had and they think that they can just program some thing or make something to replace all the people that they don’t like. I hope they like the taste of crow in their humble pie.

 

[sepheronx]

The next thing will be Chat GPT rendering huge quantities of lower level programmers obsolete.

its already happening. Hence why I tell my wife that she needs to increase her knowledge in AI so she can use it to her benefit.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

I wonder why they don't lay off those who made the wrong decision to hire them in the first place? Everyone jumps to praise them when they succeed stand to reason to blame when they fail.

 

[the54thvoid]

I wonder why they don't lay off those who made the wrong decision to hire them in the first place? Everyone jumps to praise them when they succeed stand to reason to blame when they fail.

It wasn't a wrong decision, it was a necessary dymanic of business. If growth is needed, more resources (workers) are required to create that growth. It's a fundamental of economics. It's actually a required cycle that there is growth and bust (to an extent). If everyone was in employment, then there is no further growth potential (using a productive workforce). So, even in good times, when an economy nears 100% employment, the GDP will start to flatline, and growth stops.

For META, and other cut-throats, it's similar but based on shareholder value and payout. Easiest way to appease a shareholder (secondary to healthy growth) is to sack staff to reduce costs.

Obviously, what I've posted is a very rough comment and can be argued against in various scenarios.

 

[mb194dc]

Redundancy isn't being sacked. The former is the companies fault usually, revenue and profit declining so don't need as many employees.

Being sacked usually due to poor performance etc.

It's a sign of the times unfortunately. As the covid stimulus mega boom turns in to a mega bust.

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm not sure if it's Ready at Dawn's fault or Meta's fault, but Lone Echo II was a disappointment compared to the original. It felt padded-out to extend playtime and if you'd already played the first game it was irritating for the first 90 minutes. I felt it was a repetitive and boring mockery of the first game which had me playing it through from start to end in a single sitting, despite me rarely wanting to wear a VR headset longer than an hour. Reviews were overly-kind to it, IMO, and even then the reviews were only lukewarm. They already had the engine, movement, setting, and VR thing nailed for the first game, so to get it so wrong for the sequel set alarm bells ringing about the health and general competence of the studio leadership.

Regardless of how you feel about the sequel, that's literally all they released in the last six years. It's hard to justify keeping 100+ staff when there's very little to show for it. Perhaps Meta had them beavering away on general platform stuff that wasn't a game release, or perhaps they are days away from their biggest release ever (unlikely). Either way, there's not a lot to show for a studio of 100+ after 6 years of work.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

I agree with you. I find the irony of all of this. Code monkeys banging away on their keyboards, boasting and bragging about their job and all of their perks.

When they told us to "Learn to Code", well I just smile and say,

"Son you need to Learn to Weld. Where I stand there will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, HVAC, heavy equipment operator as well as all types of vocational jobs that are always in demand pay well and better job security than what you will ever have".

"Hope you like being unemployed because I surely don't".

I've been sacked a few times and a currently looking for a new job it's never fun. Oddly each time I got sacked it was at a place with crazy perks. The places without them seem to have the overhead not to go on sacking rampages.

Vocational jobs are where it's at though. I'm former military and I went into IT. My life has been one none stop story of sacking and layoffs. Contracts dead, lawsuits killing jobs, it never ends. My buddy however got into underwater welding and construction. He makes 200k+ in four months and is never short of work. Had I known what I know now I would have done it. Granted crazy ass dangerous, but the work is solid. He seems to love it as well.

You're right on this though. We sort of frown on those jobs but they pay well, they are always in demand, and you will never lack for work.

 

[the54thvoid]

I don't think anybody frowns at skilled professionals in the labour market. It's almost like some folk here have an anti tech agenda?. The world does change though, and skills move or adapt. But having a bash at coders seems a bit spiteful and bitter to me. I've known workers brag about how much they earn on manual jobs, and one absolute prick who literally said because he earned a good wage (working on the oil rigs) it made him a better person than someone on a lower wage.

There are arseholes everywhere, let's not pretend coding is the worst for it.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

It wasn't a wrong decision, it was a necessary dymanic of business. If growth is needed, more resources (workers) are required to create that growth. It's a fundamental of economics. It's actually a required cycle that there is growth and bust (to an extent). If everyone was in employment, then there is no further growth potential (using a productive workforce). So, even in good times, when an economy nears 100% employment, the GDP will start to flatline, and growth stops.

For META, and other cut-throats, it's similar but based on shareholder value and payout. Easiest way to appease a shareholder (secondary to healthy growth) is to sack staff to reduce costs.

Obviously, what I've posted is a very rough comment and can be argued against in various scenarios.

This is where your whole arguement fails apart, this assumption is based on failed economic system.

 

[Why_Me]

I've been sacked a few times and a currently looking for a new job it's never fun. Oddly each time I got sacked it was at a place with crazy perks. The places without them seem to have the overhead not to go on sacking rampages.

Vocational jobs are where it's at though. I'm former military and I went into IT. My life has been one none stop story of sacking and layoffs. Contracts dead, lawsuits killing jobs, it never ends. My buddy however got into underwater welding and construction. He makes 200k+ in four months and is never short of work. Had I known what I know now I would have done it. Granted crazy ass dangerous, but the work is solid. He seems to love it as well.

You're right on this though. We sort of frown on those jobs but they pay well, they are always in demand, and you will never lack for work.

The downside to construction and / or oil, gas and mining work is the boom and bust end of it along with the travel. One day there's work all over the place and a year or two later it's dried up ... especially now that someone has put the screws to oil & gas development. You find yourself working out of town for 6 - 8 weeks, fly home for a week or two and then you're flying back to work. It's a killer for the married guys.

I don't think anybody frowns at skilled professionals in the labour market. It's almost like some folk here have an anti tech agenda?. The world does change though, and skills move or adapt. But having a bash at coders seems a bit spiteful and bitter to me. I've known workers brag about how much they earn on manual jobs, and one absolute prick who literally said because he earned a good wage (working on the oil rigs) it made him a better person than someone on a lower wage.

There are arseholes everywhere, let's not pretend coding is the worst for it.

You live in Scotland ... it's different here in the US. The tech companies along with the majority of their employees went out of their way to put the screws to people in my line of work and boasted about it afterwards.

 

[ThrashZone]

The next thing will be Chat GPT rendering huge quantities of lower level programmers obsolete.

Hi,
I would of thought the lower tier would be using AI so they could axe the middle level programmer and save money
Only the managers could be left to double check with more AI again and be done and dusted

 

[Vario]

I've been sacked a few times and a currently looking for a new job it's never fun. Oddly each time I got sacked it was at a place with crazy perks. The places without them seem to have the overhead not to go on sacking rampages.

Vocational jobs are where it's at though. I'm former military and I went into IT. My life has been one none stop story of sacking and layoffs. Contracts dead, lawsuits killing jobs, it never ends. My buddy however got into underwater welding and construction. He makes 200k+ in four months and is never short of work. Had I known what I know now I would have done it. Granted crazy ass dangerous, but the work is solid. He seems to love it as well.

You're right on this though. We sort of frown on those jobs but they pay well, they are always in demand, and you will never lack for work.

Its good until you get permanently injured and then you are done.

 

[A&P211]

I feel as bad for those FB employees as they did for me and thousands of others who were laid off in the oil, gas and mining industries a few years back. What did they tell us ... now I remember 'learn to code'.

They told me to become a truck driver, I did. In 5-10yrs, that job will so be automated.

 

[Why_Me]

They told me to become a truck driver, I did. In 5-10yrs, that job will so be automated.

I'm not sold on automated big rigs.

 

[Vayra86]

Mixed feelings on this. On the one hand I don't care if Facebook is falling on hard times. On the other hand I don't like seeing the working men and women getting sacked. Many of them probably have children that they need to support.

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg should kick in a few dollars from the 77 billion dollars (net worth) he has to help out.

Why? Now they can do something useful instead of adding more crap over what is already a terrible business that brings us nothing.

They told me to become a truck driver, I did. In 5-10yrs, that job will so be automated.

Doubtful

 

[64K]

Why? Now they can do something useful instead of adding more crap over what is already a terrible business that brings us nothing.

It will be a cold day in hell before you find me supporting Facebook but the employees are just doing what they are told for a paycheck to support themselves and their families if they have one.

This is not the best of times for the tech sector. I wouldn't assume that they can all find a job and unemployment compensation isn't enough to live on.

 

[Vayra86]

It will be a cold day in hell before you find me supporting Facebook but the employees are just doing what they are told for a paycheck to support themselves and their families if they have one.

This is not the best of times for the tech sector. I wouldn't assume that they can all find a job and unemployment compensation isn't enough to live on.

Job perspective enough if you're willing to get out of your comfort zone... There are lots of people everywhere all the time that need to change things around. But I applaud your compassion.

Still make no mistake, there is a substantial % of employees that are actually better off getting kicked out from time to time. Change is refreshing. Its also something that's not for everyone of course, but - that is comfort zone talk I work in consultancy so I see different customers all the time and then do my job fulltime over there. Change is absolutely refreshing, enrichment too, the more companies you've seen, the better you can tell things apart and the clearer you'll know what really suits you.