Tag: layoffs

#oneaday Day 390: Over Nine Thousand

Microsoft apparently laid off somewhere in the region of nine thousand people today. This is simultaneously horrifying and difficult to conceptualise. I think I've only ever worked at one company where it would even be possible to lay off nine thousand people at once and still have a company left afterwards, so it's borderline unthinkable to imagine how many people's lives and careers have been destroyed today. To put it in context, laying off nine thousand people would be akin to completely obliterating the company I currently work for approximately 450 times.

And the gall. The gall of the memo that delivered this news, telling everyone that the company has "more players, games and gaming hours than ever before" before giving some mealy-mouthed nonsense about "prioritising opportunities" that doesn't really say anything, and doesn't even have the courage to say, outright, that people are going to lose their jobs.

But then, it's always like this, in my experience, whatever size company you work at. When the layoffs come, they're always sudden, without warning, and without any support for those affected. I have been through the process more times than I would have liked to, and it's been hellish every time.

The first time I experienced it was when I was still working as a teacher. It was my first "proper job" out of university, and while I didn't love it, it was a stable income and a job that I could take a certain amount of pride in. Unfortunately, as my year at that school progressed, it became clear that the school was struggling quite a bit, and that redundancies were looming. Naturally, as one of the last in, I was also one of the first out, and I was given an utterly humiliating and pointless opportunity to "plead my case" to the headteacher and the board of governors before they confirmed the decision that they had absolutely no intention of changing.

The second time I experienced it was when I was working on GamePro. One morning just before Christmas, I awoke to find a flurry of activity on social media and in my email inbox. Several of my colleagues had announced that they were leaving, seemingly out of the blue, and then the email came. This time there was no opportunity for discussion, no support. Just a firm boot out of the door because the company didn't want us or our work any more. Truly horrible.

The third time I experienced it was when I was on USgamer. On the morning of my birthday, I received an email out of the blue from the head of what was then Gamer Network, who informed me that my services would no longer be required. On this occasion, I was given about a month's notice, but I was given no support, no severance, no assistance in finding a new position, not even a little bit of empathy or sympathy.

In every instance, these ultimately boiled down to poor leadership. And yet it's never the leadership that takes the fall; it's always the workers at the bottom of the pile; the ones who need those jobs just to survive. And the leaders get their golden handshakes for successfully "prioritising opportunities" and "streamlining the business", adding to vast fortunes that are already far more than any one person could ever possibly need to have in their personal assets, while real people suffer.

My heart sincerely goes out to everyone who has been affected by a situation that is clearly out of their control. Not just at Microsoft, but everywhere that is slashing workforces right now. Whether it's out of an attempt to save money or ill-advised going "all-in" on generative-fucking-AI, it always sucks, and I wish we, as a society, could find a way to move past this. Where does it end?

Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.

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#oneaday Day 328: Polygone

Well, another one bites the dust. Today, we learned that gaming site Polygon has been sold to Valnet, the sweatshop of online media, and that, as is standard practice in this situation, pretty much all the regular writing staff have been let go, to be replaced by contractors who will be paid absolute fucking peanuts to churn out SEO-baiting drivel and contribute nothing of any real value to the broader conversation about video games.

I was never a huge fan of Polygon, I'll confess. But this isn't about me. It's about yet another significant pillar of Video Games Journalism collapsing — because make no mistake, being sold to Valnet means that your brand is going to have very little value left afterwards — and the entire landscape of this section of the media getting just a little bit worse.

To make matters worse, it appears that Giant Bomb is circling the drain, too. I don't think anything "official" has been announced on that front yet, but from what some of the people involved have been saying publicly… yeah, that site isn't long for this world, either.

Why does this keep happening? Why are we allowing sites that are demonstrably good at what they do to get destroyed in this way? At this rate, we're going to have absolutely no "big names" in the games press left.

And perhaps that might, over the long-term, be a good thing. Because every time something like this happens, it feels like more and more worker/creator-owned outfits pop up and show that yes, it is possible to do things a bit differently; it is possible to put together an interesting and enjoyable site without resorting to SEO-baiting bilge and Guide Content; it is possible to build a sustainable publication that doesn't rely on ad-revenue and instead asks its most interested readers to pony up a couple of quid a month in exchange for stuff that is actually worth reading.

But will this successfully become the norm? We have to make that happen. We have to look beyond the search engine algorithms, start following the sites we actually care about… and support them. One of the worst things to ever happen to the press in general — not just in gaming — was to set the expectation that everything, everywhere, should be free, always. It's devalued the hard work of people working in the media, it's normalised paying people an absolute pittance for hard work, and it's actively making useful information and meaningful commentary harder to find. None of that seems the slightest bit desirable, but we keep heading down that path.

I already support a few folks I like via Patreon. I think it's probably about time I start ponying up for a subscription or two for sites I think are doing worthwhile work. Off the top of my head, I recommend Aftermath for gaming-related stuff, and 404 Media for tech journalism. Both are doing great work, and both are doing well through support from their audiences.

The issue, of course, is that if you end up supporting a lot of sites in this way, it can get pricy. But then think of it this way: did you buy every magazine that existed every month, or did you have a favourite? There you go. I guess the answer is to read fewer, better sites. And don't support the shittier behaviour of the sites that have already been fed to the Valnet monster, or which are in the process of sliding down that drain. You can solve today's Wordle by yourself, believe me. I believe in you!

Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.

If you want this nonsense in your inbox every day, please feel free to subscribe via email. Your email address won't be used for anything else.