From brena.smith at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 12:54:30 2009 From: brena.smith at gmail.com (Brena Smith) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 09:54:30 -0700 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Message-ID: Hi all, I have two questions: First, I know that all educational institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments? Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic game industry in general? Are game companies seeing a lot of layoffs? Are students still able to find jobs? Many thanks! Brena -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From smaddock at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 13:04:39 2009 From: smaddock at gmail.com (Scott Maddock) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:04:39 -0400 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Anecdotally... I understand that the career fair at the GDC was considerably smaller than it was last year (I wasn't in attendance last year, but it's something I heard from multiple sources who were present then and now). I know of at least one school with a dedicated game development program that was supposed to see at least four new hires directly into the program faculty, but was then denied such because of the economic hardship. A number of companies have had non-trivial layoffs in the last few months, or are threatening to go under. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, developer of the Stargate Worlds MMO, all but *did* go under, but has since managed to find some investors and appears to be on track again. Midway, I think we all know about. Big Huge Games also seems to be in trouble. EA and Activision have both laid off large numbers. In short, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch to some degree, in the professional and academic sectors. 2009/4/1 Brena Smith > Hi all, > I have two questions: First, I know that all educational institutions are > not untouched by the economy these days - but have any of you seen any > specific impact on game studies departments? Second, any thoughts on how > the economy has impacted the electronic game industry in general? Are game > companies seeing a lot of layoffs? Are students still able to find jobs? > > Many thanks! > Brena > > > > _______________________________________________ > game_edu mailing list > game_edu at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tomdowd at ameritech.net Wed Apr 1 13:50:56 2009 From: tomdowd at ameritech.net (Tom Dowd) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:50:56 -0500 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <005201c9b2f2$695c3490$3c149db0$@net> Our students returning from GDC also reported a smaller job fair, both in terms of scope (number of companies present) and the size of the team the companies that attend the show brought with them. I cannot say whether this was perception or reality as I was not there either. My not being there was a result of the economic troubles and the slashing of travel budgets across the college. As for the state of the industry, three things are happening - publishers are getting conservative on projects with higher levels of uncertainty (developmentally or in terms of marketability) and cancelling these "on the bubble" projects, developers are losing projects, throwing their financial situation into chaos (too many mid-sized and small developers run in a very risky financial state, and with the current credit crunch the bridge loans that they used to finance themselves during project transitions are not available), and lastly some developers are trimming the fat and running a leaner ship (to abound in metaphors) in case things continue to worsen. The big things students need to understand is that the competition for entry-level positions is intensifying. In addition to competing against their student peers, they are now competing against laid-off members of industry who are applying for those jobs. More than ever it is imperative they have a solid, appropriate, portfolio and strong interview skills when they step out into the field. Tom Dowd ----- Tom Dowd Columbia College Chicago Faculty/Interactive Arts and Media (Game Design Major) tdowd at colum.edu From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Scott Maddock Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:05 PM To: IGDA Game Education Listserv Subject: Re: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Anecdotally... I understand that the career fair at the GDC was considerably smaller than it was last year (I wasn't in attendance last year, but it's something I heard from multiple sources who were present then and now). I know of at least one school with a dedicated game development program that was supposed to see at least four new hires directly into the program faculty, but was then denied such because of the economic hardship. A number of companies have had non-trivial layoffs in the last few months, or are threatening to go under. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, developer of the Stargate Worlds MMO, all but did go under, but has since managed to find some investors and appears to be on track again. Midway, I think we all know about. Big Huge Games also seems to be in trouble. EA and Activision have both laid off large numbers. In short, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch to some degree, in the professional and academic sectors. 2009/4/1 Brena Smith Hi all, I have two questions: First, I know that all educational institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments? Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic game industry in general? Are game companies seeing a lot of layoffs? Are students still able to find jobs? Many thanks! Brena _______________________________________________ game_edu mailing list game_edu at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From DPreston at collinscollege.edu Wed Apr 1 14:01:56 2009 From: DPreston at collinscollege.edu (DeAnne Preston) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:01:56 -0700 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: <005201c9b2f2$695c3490$3c149db0$@net> References: <005201c9b2f2$695c3490$3c149db0$@net> Message-ID: <25493AC23EEC974CBCFF389D8924B87905573B3F@002emx001.cec.root.careered.com> I was at the GDC for the sole purpose of talking with employers about entry-level and paid internship positions and what I found was that few were actively recruiting for entry-level positions. Some of the smaller companies said specifically that because they have small staffs they must hire candidates with some industry experience. There was some interest in recent graduates for mobile game development and to create flash games for web sites. The exceptions, as always, were for entry level programming candidates with several languages under their belt, and for the 'Super Star' artist students. DeAnne Preston Collins College Career Services Advisor, Game Design New Direct Line: 480-446-1136 dpreston at collinscollege.edu ________________________________ From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Tom Dowd Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 10:51 AM To: 'IGDA Game Education Listserv' Subject: Re: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Our students returning from GDC also reported a smaller job fair, both in terms of scope (number of companies present) and the size of the team the companies that attend the show brought with them. I cannot say whether this was perception or reality as I was not there either. My not being there was a result of the economic troubles and the slashing of travel budgets across the college. As for the state of the industry, three things are happening - publishers are getting conservative on projects with higher levels of uncertainty (developmentally or in terms of marketability) and cancelling these "on the bubble" projects, developers are losing projects, throwing their financial situation into chaos (too many mid-sized and small developers run in a very risky financial state, and with the current credit crunch the bridge loans that they used to finance themselves during project transitions are not available), and lastly some developers are trimming the fat and running a leaner ship (to abound in metaphors) in case things continue to worsen. The big things students need to understand is that the competition for entry-level positions is intensifying. In addition to competing against their student peers, they are now competing against laid-off members of industry who are applying for those jobs. More than ever it is imperative they have a solid, appropriate, portfolio and strong interview skills when they step out into the field. Tom Dowd ----- Tom Dowd Columbia College Chicago Faculty/Interactive Arts and Media (Game Design Major) tdowd at colum.edu From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Scott Maddock Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:05 PM To: IGDA Game Education Listserv Subject: Re: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Anecdotally... I understand that the career fair at the GDC was considerably smaller than it was last year (I wasn't in attendance last year, but it's something I heard from multiple sources who were present then and now). I know of at least one school with a dedicated game development program that was supposed to see at least four new hires directly into the program faculty, but was then denied such because of the economic hardship. A number of companies have had non-trivial layoffs in the last few months, or are threatening to go under. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, developer of the Stargate Worlds MMO, all but did go under, but has since managed to find some investors and appears to be on track again. Midway, I think we all know about. Big Huge Games also seems to be in trouble. EA and Activision have both laid off large numbers. In short, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch to some degree, in the professional and academic sectors. 2009/4/1 Brena Smith Hi all, I have two questions: First, I know that all educational institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments? Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic game industry in general? Are game companies seeing a lot of layoffs? Are students still able to find jobs? Many thanks! Brena _______________________________________________ game_edu mailing list game_edu at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From swatjester at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 14:04:46 2009 From: swatjester at gmail.com (Dan Rosenthal) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 14:04:46 -0400 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: <005201c9b2f2$695c3490$3c149db0$@net> References: <005201c9b2f2$695c3490$3c149db0$@net> Message-ID: I found the career pavilion at GDC this year to be an absolute waste of time. It was extremely small, with several of the booths being used for extra media interview space and not career space. Someone had the great idea of handing out free beer to everyone who walked by, meaning that half the people jostling for space were drunk (including one particularly rude CA from Digipen who literally bumped me out of the way so she could gush to a THQ rep about how much she loved his games). There was a huge crowd of students jostling about, sitting around playing games at the Activision booth, making it harder for the rest of us to get around. Combined with the fact that some of the career booths weren't even taking resumes, I got the impression that the whole thing was just a waste of time. Next year, GDC could definitely use a career pavilion that either has exclusive events, or separate areas,for: 1) members of the industry looking for work, and 2) graduate students, who don't want their resumes and the like to be lumped in with high schoolers, and given the same talkings-down that the rest of the industry. -Dan On Apr 1, 2009, at 1:50 PM, Tom Dowd wrote: > Our students returning from GDC also reported a smaller job fair, > both in terms of scope (number of companies present) and the size of > the team the companies that attend the show brought with them. I > cannot say whether this was perception or reality as I was not there > either. My not being there was a result of the economic troubles and > the slashing of travel budgets across the college. > > As for the state of the industry, three things are happening ? > publishers are getting conservative on projects with higher levels > of uncertainty (developmentally or in terms of marketability) and > cancelling these ?on the bubble? projects, developers are losing > projects, throwing their financial situation into chaos (too many > mid-sized and small developers run in a very risky financial state, > and with the current credit crunch the bridge loans that they used > to finance themselves during project transitions are not available), > and lastly some developers are trimming the fat and running a leaner > ship (to abound in metaphors) in case things continue to worsen. > > The big things students need to understand is that the competition > for entry-level positions is intensifying. In addition to competing > against their student peers, they are now competing against laid-off > members of industry who are applying for those jobs. More than ever > it is imperative they have a solid, appropriate, portfolio and > strong interview skills when they step out into the field. > > Tom Dowd > > ----- > Tom Dowd > Columbia College Chicago > Faculty/Interactive Arts and Media (Game Design Major) > tdowd at colum.edu > > From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] > On Behalf Of Scott Maddock > Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:05 PM > To: IGDA Game Education Listserv > Subject: Re: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy > > Anecdotally... > > I understand that the career fair at the GDC was considerably > smaller than it was last year (I wasn't in attendance last year, but > it's something I heard from multiple sources who were present then > and now). I know of at least one school with a dedicated game > development program that was supposed to see at least four new hires > directly into the program faculty, but was then denied such because > of the economic hardship. > > A number of companies have had non-trivial layoffs in the last few > months, or are threatening to go under. Cheyenne Mountain > Entertainment, developer of the Stargate Worlds MMO, all but did go > under, but has since managed to find some investors and appears to > be on track again. > > Midway, I think we all know about. Big Huge Games also seems to be > in trouble. EA and Activision have both laid off large numbers. > > In short, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch to some > degree, in the professional and academic sectors. > > 2009/4/1 Brena Smith > Hi all, > I have two questions: First, I know that all educational > institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have > any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments? > Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic > game industry in general? Are game companies seeing a lot of > layoffs? Are students still able to find jobs? > > Many thanks! > Brena > > > > _______________________________________________ > game_edu mailing list > game_edu at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu > > > _______________________________________________ > game_edu mailing list > game_edu at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From instructor.brandii at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 15:09:32 2009 From: instructor.brandii at gmail.com (Instructor Brandii) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:09:32 -0700 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Message-ID: GDC was definately smaller this year. No breakfast, no bags for Expo badge holders, and worst of all - no Suite Night! That's a major networking opportunity down the drain. I felt sorry for the students under 21, they felt shut-out of the bar-related networking events but the one event where they usually could go was cancelled. There were fewer companies with recruiting booths (notable absences: Bungie, Harmonix, Monolith, Id, Bethesda, Zipper, Nintendo, Cryptic...). Also, some companies sent people to recruit, but didn't setup a booth. Most companies weren't really interested in entry-level right now, but they want resumes for when they staff-up in the future. The next console generation is right around the corner and some companies are gearing up for it now. That means seniors are in high demand now, but in about a year they'll need mid-low level people to carry out the projects those seniors started. I'm not as concerned about the layoffs because I think some companies are using the economy as an easy excuse to let go of projects, people, and expenses they don't want to have to deal with once the economy turns around. I've seen enough companies announce big layoffs "forced on them by the economy", that turn right around and start recruiting for new projects. In bigger companies this could be a case of left hand not talking to the right hand, but in smaller companies thats rarely seems the case. If you have a game department at your school, your '09 grads will likely have a harder time finding work in the industry than your '08 grads. Their best bet may be to go out of the country. No matter what job they take, if they spend the next year working on improving their skills, they'll have a better chance breaking-in next year. Here's to hoping for an economic upturn - soon! -Brandii Grace Game Design Instructor Digipen -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erin.n.hoffman at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 15:43:43 2009 From: erin.n.hoffman at gmail.com (Erin Hoffman) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:43:43 -0700 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Here's a new LA Times article on this if anyone's interested: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cotown-gamesjobs28-2009mar28,0,6020297.story --Erin -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bbrathwa at scad.edu Wed Apr 1 17:06:01 2009 From: bbrathwa at scad.edu (Brenda Brathwaite) Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:06:01 -0400 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ?Just a note on the companies that are hiring and simultaneously laying people off - sometimes the transfer of knowledge isn't a 1 to 1. We're a specialized industry like any other (pediatrics can suffer a layoff while cardiology is hiring). Brenda -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From smaddock at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 17:11:17 2009 From: smaddock at gmail.com (Scott Maddock) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 17:11:17 -0400 Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Certainly true, though not always the case, sadly. I was laid off right at the start of the economic downturn, and found job listings for a designer (the same position I was vacating) *the same day* on Gamasutra. I count myself particularly lucky to be employed...I may have been the only game developer in the country *hired* in December of 2008 =P Erin's article makes a good point, though. The fiscal year for many companies is just ending now, so we may see an increase in hiring soon. 2009/4/1 Brenda Brathwaite > Just a note on the companies that are hiring and simultaneously laying > people off - sometimes the transfer of knowledge isn't a 1 to 1. We're a > specialized industry like any other (pediatrics can suffer a layoff while > cardiology is hiring). > > Brenda > > _______________________________________________ > game_edu mailing list > game_edu at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bbrathwa at scad.edu Wed Apr 1 17:24:06 2009 From: bbrathwa at scad.edu (Brenda Brathwaite) Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:24:06 -0400 Subject: [game_edu] Student portfolio networking group on Facebook In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hello everyone, While I was giving my "100 Questions, 97 Answers, 56 Minutes on 300 Slides" talk this week at GDC, there were lots of people in the room who said they were willing to work with others for free just to be able to get a game created for their portfolio - programmers, artists, producers, designers and audio designers among them. I promised to create this group when I returned: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8185&uid=62532932181#/group.php?gid=62532932181 For colleges that are particularly tech heavy or art heavy, this might serve as a good meeting point for the students to get together. Brenda -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jboileau at sfu.ca Wed Apr 1 19:38:46 2009 From: jboileau at sfu.ca (jboileau at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:38:46 -0700 Subject: [game_edu] Call for Interviewees regarding Game Prototyping Practices Message-ID: <200904012338.n31NckLo027475@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: From ai864 at yahoo.com Wed Apr 1 19:46:24 2009 From: ai864 at yahoo.com (Ian Schreiber) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 16:46:24 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy Message-ID: <537974.76946.qm@web39701.mail.mud.yahoo.com> This is a great question, and in fact one of the big things I was hoping to get out of GDC this year was an answer to the question: why all the layoffs when games (judging by revenue) are still a growth industry? ? This is just my opinion (based on talking to a lot of people and trying to "read between the lines" on the expo floor), but I think it comes down to two things: ? 1) A lot of game developers are, frankly, not superstars. Game companies with a lot of mediocre employees are trying to cut the deadwood. ? 2) Since everyone is doing this at the same time, it causes a cascade effect that is really benefitting development shops. Want to lay people off, but afraid of cutting the staff too much? No problem, there's lots of people looking for work, so you can cut deep and then staff up fast if you need to later on. Want to hire people? That's also no problem, lots of talent in the job market right now. ? Now, I did see some companies hiring very aggressively. I also saw a number of geographic regions heavily incentivizing developers to move to their region (seriously, probably a third of the booths in North Hall were a location). ? Corollaries: ? * Students are going to have a rough time of it for now. The bar has officially been raised. I think the industry will always have a place for people who are genuinely skilled and talented, but the marginal students should be thinking about another line of work that's less demanding. ? * The regions that are trying to attract developers (such as those with booths) are worth looking at for students who are willing to move out of the country AND start their own independent studio while their burn rate is low. I don't normally advise this to my students (starting a business when you have no experience is a great way to lose everything you have) but in the rare case when a student is ready to take this step, it seems to be a great time for it. ? * If your institution is looking to hire industry-experienced people for teaching positions, this is a really great time to staff up your department. A lot of people are getting sick and tired of the layoffs and would like something that at least has the appearance of stability :) ? * With so many schools churning out game-related degrees each year and the industry growth not keeping pace, I can't see this changing in the near future. But it does mean that as schools, the bar has been raised on us as well; the schools with mediocre programs that produce mediocre graduates will find their students unable to find work. ? - Ian --- On Wed, 4/1/09, Brena Smith wrote: From: Brena Smith Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy To: "IGDA Game Education Listserv" Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 12:54 PM Hi all, I have two questions: First, I know that all educational institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments?? Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic game industry in general?? Are game companies seeing a lot of layoffs?? Are students still able to find jobs? Many thanks! Brena #yiv283063255