video games right now: half the people I know are out of work and the other half are in DMs with me telling me things like "yeah so Lobster Guy (guy at my studio who does no work and puts a live lobster into other people's cars as a prank) was moved to another project so HR can avoid firing him"
The person in your dms is gonna be laid off after making a great game that makes lots of money, and the lobster guy is an executive
I'm so excited to RTO and have live lobsters put in my car again
Yikes, lobster guy story broke containment huh?
(for clarity purposes, I'm Riffin' In Da Replies here, not alluding to any Actual Guys, lobster or otherwise)
Hey I'm one of those game people... laid off and it sucks, but making my own shit now
I remember there was a series of emails into the giant bombcast like 12 years ago from multiple different devs about guys who ruin bathroom stalls and I wonder how many of those rogue shitters are still working in games.
Wait...game devs can afford cars? (to say nothing of the lobsters).
well financially predatory car loans exist
Oh look, it's one of the Horsemen of the Financial Apocalypse, the Subprime Auto Loan Bubble!
I wouldn't be surprised if financially predatory lobster loans existed.
Yeah but car loans are by default financially predatory the same way payday loans are bc cars halve in value the instant they're bought or something like that, so you have to pay interest on something that depreciates in value has maintenance costs and are typically offered for status cars to hook
less financially knowledgable people
also isn't having a pet lobster basically a loan since you have to feed it
we all need cars because we all live in unwalkable neighborhoods
I swear it's like Texas law that every game studio be a minimum one hour walk from the nearest bus stop.
Didn't expect real emotional damage in this funny thread
I sold my car to pay for the lobsters. I’m financially ruined :(
Looks like we've found Lobster Guy.
Ubisoft?
zero doubt in my mind that lobster guy is a real guy
looking forward to seeing him achieve director level at a big studio within 2-3 years
where he will train all of his lobsterlings in his ways
Or (more likely) announce they have started a new studio with half a dozen other white guys and raised 20 million in VC funding
I always hate that shit. Those guys almost always fail, while there are tons of indies that know how to deliver on a budget, just starving for a fraction of that money.
don't forget the female dog
"Diversity"
Sure he’s not just leaving gifts for his HR homey lover friend?
Milk Man and his sidekick Lobster Lad Harassing co-workers and being overall freaks
Is it naive of me to think these layoffs would be a perfect opportunity for all the unemployed talent to band togethor and start their own independant studios?
Yes
I had a hunch but please elaborate if you will.
who will pay them
Starting a game company isnt cheap I know but if they start small enough + secure an investor then its very realistic for a group of people with plenty of experience in the industry. I wasnt implying it would be a massive AAA studio from day 1.
not without ZIRP
Im not familiar with this, what does it do.
ZIRP allows investors to take risks we're at the opposite of ZIRP (historically high interest rates) which means ain't nobody fundin' nothin'
Angel investoris then, help from organizations like IGDA. Either way an indie game company doesnt have to have tons of money to begin production.
?? IGDA is not a funding source
It's cool though, they'll just lay off the person who keeps raising lobster guy as a problem, citing that they are 'difficult' to work with
You know it's true 🦞
If you can’t think of three examples from career experience then you might be the lobster or HR
100%. Anecdotally I've had two instances at two separate studios where leadership/OPs asked me to teach lobsters who were promoted or immediately hired into senior leadership roles "everything I know"
“You’re not a team player.”
Little known to everyone else, Lobster Guy actually wants to get fired and is desperate to stop buying lobsters in this economy
I volunteer to work with lobster guy. How do I encourage him to put a live lobster in my truck every day?
Lobster guy is low-key my new dream career
every big AAA studio has at least 1 (one) Lobster Guy
Too many AA studios have like 5 and 3 of them are in project leadership.
Lobster guy almost certainly [is a friend of]/[is a sycophant of]/[has blackmail on] one of the suits or team leads. Or he's one of those creeps whose one sole skill is that he's really good at taking the credit and shifting the blame.