260°

Game studio layoffs mean a hellish race against the clock for immigrant developers

"The stories we don’t hear are even more frightening"

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Christopher1139d ago

They know the risks and have to accept them. This is no different for anyone working outside their country.

It's also not like this doesn't affect people in the U.S. like when Disney hires cheaper H1B people, had the people with the jobs train them, and then fired them once the new people were trained.

https://www.nytimes.com/201...

If you don't want to take risks, then don't. This is the same for any IT industry now. Expecting only benefit in a relationship like this is ignorant and dangerous in this day and age, especially considering the involved companies have a long history of mass layoffs.

lodossrage1139d ago (Edited 1139d ago )

Yeah I remember when Disney did that crap.

That's why I never trained anyone at any position I had. I mean seriously, why should I train someone when I know you want to force me out the door so you can pay my replacement less money? All because you don't want to pay the tenured employees what they deserve.

The problem is the general worker doesn't know that they aren't obligated to train people. That's Human Resources job.

senorfartcushion1137d ago

If you have to fault the victims then it’s safe to say you’ll never understand the context of the situation.

Christopher1137d ago (Edited 1137d ago )

I currently only work for international companies on a contract basis. I'm pretty familiar with how this stuff works.

If I lose a contract I'm not faulting the hardship of such a life. I know what it is.

My wife just helped close a business with tons of French H1B employees. It isn't great, but they understood the risks.

There is no victim here. Expecting a job to always be there for you is ignorant, to say the least. Always plan for the loss of employment. Always.

esherwood1137d ago (Edited 1137d ago )

Well said Christopher. It’s amazing how democrats (radical) like making people victims

frostypants1136d ago (Edited 1136d ago )

@SenorFartCushion your comment is an empty platitude. This worldview that people never have any amount of accountability for their own actions is so juvenile. If a person takes a work visa, then obviously they are taking a calculated risk upon themselves. Sure, it sucks...but it's like saying you're a "victim" if you lose a hand of poker. Grow up.

Christopher1136d ago

@esherwood I'm way more "Democratic" than I am "Republican." I am 100% not Libertarian.

A lot of people on both sides have varying feelings on this stuff but the way our system works you have to toe a party line.

senorfartcushion1136d ago

That’s your problem, Christopher. You and the others trying to make your point over me is sticking too closely to your central project. You say you’re way more Democratic than you are Republican or Libertarian, which is just a roundabout way of saying that you do not know who you are and you can only think of yourself as an individualist that ignores the concept of collectivism. It’s not your fault, you’re on neither side, you’re on my side, but my side requires an eye that has to exist outside of the status quo, outside of the rules written to preserve a system that values both you and I a lot less fairly than it does those who naturally write the rules.

It’s as if you want to make your face blank in order to gain some kind of independence, when in fact you’re literally destroying who you are and basing your whole life around this fake identity.

How can you possibly be familiar with how your profession works when you haven’t thought about how it fits in to the political systems currently being implemented to govern you. You’re saying that you’re lost within the spectrum and do not have a place within a party, but you haven’t thought about what came in the past, or what changes can be implemented in the future; changes that will ultimate affect your career as well as your political ideology.

Christopher1136d ago (Edited 1136d ago )

***Christopher. You and the others trying to make your point over me is sticking too closely to your central project. You say you’re way more Democratic than you are Republican or Libertarian, which is just a roundabout way of saying that you do not know who you are and you can only think of yourself as an individualist that ignores the concept of collectivism.***

This isn't about my thoughts on how Capitalism is bad (it is due to government treating it like socialism). This is about an employee, in this day and age, taking a job without understanding the risks and then people complaining about those risks as if it's not what everyone is dealing with.

This is the same argument people label against Green New Deal peeps by asking why they drive cars or take planes. Because you can't do what isn't in effect, but that doesn't mean you act ignorant of how it works and don't just act like it's not the way it is and complain when it doesn't go your way.

You see my words speaking out about complaining about specific H1B visa employees and think I don't want better? That's on you. But, regardless of what I want, you can't plan your hopes on what could be and live life on what it is.

***How can you possibly be familiar with how your profession works when you haven’t thought about how it fits in to the political systems currently being implemented to govern you.***

Find me where I promoted this and didn't say that it is how it is and that any person taking a job in the environment needs to know this and can't act ignorant when it doesn't go their way.

In fact, if you scroll down to frostypants comment further down in this submission, you'll see where I completely understand this issue and where it needs to be fixed.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1136d ago
Godmars2901137d ago

"People understand exploitative conditions they have no control over yet must accept for a slim opportunity."

Companies such as Disney, shifting workforces as self serving profit measures, should be as aware of the moral ethical and economic implications of their actions as those trying to legitimizing them. Is much of the reason why the world is as it is.

frostypants1136d ago (Edited 1136d ago )

I don't like Disney's behavior but it's on the legislative system to address these issues. If what they are doing is objectively wrong, make the process illegal. The reality is that there is bipartisan opposition to what that would mean. It's why the issue never goes away regardless of the party in power. But it is on them. Otherwise, what...we're just gonna wag a finger at Disney and say "you shouldn't do that"? Good luck with that.

1136d ago
Godmars2901136d ago

"I don't like Disney's behavior but it's on the legislative system to address these issues."

???

Disney has had lobbyist effecting the legislative system for decades. Are the primary reason why things have gotten to where they are.

In the 80s and into the 90s corporate hawks tanked established businesses, emptied their pensions, and because they had political contacts the only thing that happened to them as such became standard practice was finger wagging.

senorfartcushion1136d ago (Edited 1136d ago )

Both Frostypants and Christopher, like us, operate within a very narrow system. Unlike us, they are perpetuating its rules and regulations back at everyone in an attempt to try and provide solutions for the issue at hand. In saying that this should be a legal matter, they’re right, but they haven’t taken into account the behaviour and allegiances of the proper legal representatives involved. It sounds like it is some sort of philosophical point, but it has about as much depth as the Nike tag line.

“Just Do It.”

Christopher1136d ago

***Disney has had lobbyist effecting the legislative system for decades. Are the primary reason why things have gotten to where they are.***

And continuing to fight such things is what will lead to better results, not complaining about H1B visa workers online. There are still people pushing for unions, removing corporate lobbying from the government, requiring limitations and transparency on corporate donations, and more.

If you don't do that, then it doesn't matter how much you complain about how you are affected by the system. You're not changing the system, just talking about how unfair it is.

***Unlike us, they are perpetuating its rules and regulations back at everyone in an attempt to try and provide solutions for the issue at hand. ***

I'm not going to sit here and cry about people who are in the same system as everyone else and how those specific people are affected any differently than anyone else. But don't think that means I don't fight for what I think should be changed.

The reality is you have to deal with what we have now and being ignorant of it isn't on anyone but the individual. Does that make it fair? Nope, but that's life in general. We can strive to make it fairer, but it's not just going to happen because you tell someone it's not fair nor is it suddenly going to change your work options or results.

Godmars2901136d ago

How can you admit - at least I hope you do - that the system is rigged yet insist that victims of it only accept it?

No, I take that back. You'll never admit companies tip things in their favor even with the recent example of Amazon from preventing a union from forming.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1136d ago
Knightofelemia1139d ago (Edited 1139d ago )

You knew a visa was only temporary and only good for so long you could either try and extend it, apply to immigration, or pull some 90 Day Fiance bull shit to get the green card then get a divorce.

1137d ago
esherwood1137d ago

These nut jobs will be the first ones crying when immigration actually effects them. I’m an electrician and I’ve seen first hand what uncontrolled immigration does to the quality of life for amaricans

senorfartcushion1137d ago

Just making you angry apparently. You do know the wealth gap has only increased over the years and both you and the immigrants you resent are the victims of this. You both play for exactly the same football team and you don’t even know it, meanwhile you’re losing a game you don’t even know you’re playing with a team that cost billions more to create.

esherwood1137d ago (Edited 1137d ago )

Hey the top 1% in this country pays over 30% of are taxes, I know u morons are brainwashed to hate them but I’m more worried about the bottom 50% of this country that only contribute 3% of this countries taxes. The wealthy are doing there part, we have to many leeches in this country and we keep letting people in that are going to be more of a burden

frostypants1136d ago

@SenorFartCushion geez man do you have anything other than mindless Marxist talking points? You're ignoring the practical realities at play here. Yes, wealth gap bad. But that's only a fraction of this particular issue. Go take an introductory global econ course.

frostypants1136d ago (Edited 1136d ago )

@esherwood honestly H1B's wouldn't be tax burdens. They're skilled labor. And other immigrants in general don't come to the US to be burdens...they come for the opportunity. But they've often been sold a vision of the US (often by human traffickers themselves) where it's easier to find opportunity here than it actually is. Or they're simply trying to escape hellholes. It's a tough situation.

senorfartcushion1136d ago

@frostypants

Read what Marxism is. I’m not speaking in Marx, you’re in the wrong century in terms of your citation.

I’m a former working class person who knows that you take the same beating that I do, and I don’t even know who you are. I don’t blame you, you just aren’t rooted in the subject. You don’t have to care, so you don’t. Your kids will suffer as did you, but you won’t be to blame. This is if you even want kids.

What I am saying is that the wealth gap I has grown over the past few decades, there are more millionaires, billionaires and soon there will be the first trillionaire. They pay 30% of taxes apparently. They dodge more. They are escaping paying what is actually, legally demanded of them.

There isn’t meant to be a single trillionaire, because it that means that some underprivileged families are guaranteed to be killed by the gap springing back. Poor people of all colours starve and/ or freeze to death due to simple unfairness. Unfairness that you do not even like.

The parties are to blame. In most ways, the Democrats are making this situation worse than even Trump did, but Trump also did what he did and it has led to the more corporation-friendly party gaining power.

Remember the vote that ended the $15 minimum wage? Over one million Americans were left in poverty that day. Ignore Marx, ignore my pointed language, just concentrate on that number?m, because it’s actually something that’s happening in your country.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1136d ago
randomvoice1137d ago

Do you even know how visas like H1B work or are you just spouting the rhetoric you've read elsewhere? H1B visas are company sponsored and have a high income caps. You can't just enter the US and decide you wanna become an electrician and get a visa. I've rarely heard an electrician being on H1B.

Most H1B visas go to IT tech jobs and are high paying. I know people like to throw a 7 year old Disney article of how cheap labor replaced Americans but that was literally 7 years back and there have been so many strict restrictions applied to companies post that. Currently, any H1B worker hired needs to at least make 75K+ (in many places 100K+) and their visa sponsorship costs mean a company actually pays more for them in the long run. It is no longer a 'cheap' replacement visa.

Also, the amount on entitlement in your post is evident. Why do you think you're guaranteed a job just because you were born in a place? If someone more talented comes in and works for cheap, then they are bound to replace you. That is Capitalism 101.

esherwood1137d ago Show
DoubleYourDose1137d ago

You clearly aren't an English professor. It's a good thing your profession doesn't require you to pass a basic literacy test.

amazinglover1137d ago

When are you going to stop blaming those just trying to survive and start blaming the company that hires them.

Immigrants didn't send your job overseas wall street did and you continue to let them.

esherwood1136d ago Show
+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1136d ago
justadelusion1137d ago

try to make an article not politically charged and that doesnt pander verge, i dare ya

respekanize911137d ago

i didnt even go to the article. straight to the comments on this one. That site is visual aids

senorfartcushion1136d ago

You lack the ability to address these issues in the proper way. You shrug off things like talk of immigration because you’re frightened and would rather hear something unrelated. I don’t blame you, but I don’t think you should go on believing you’re some kind of higher force. You’re the weakest person involved.

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230°

Steam Account Transfer Via Will on Death is Not Permitted, Valve Confirms

In case you were curious, a Steam account transfer via will is not permitted according to an official response from Valve.

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anast1d 16h ago

The games are theirs. People just pay to ride the ride.

Skuletor23h ago

Would be nice if the article's writer looked into and reported whether other digital game libraries could be transferred over via will (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, EGS, EA app, GOG, Ubisoft Connect, Rockstar Launcher etc) instead of this half-baked piece but it's probably the same for all of them anyway

Kornholic23h ago

This seems like a way bigger issue than mandatory PSN account linking for PlayStation games.

So where is the outcry?

Skuletor23h ago

It's not like PlayStation is doing any different.

"You may not sell, buy, trade, or transfer your Online ID, Account or any personal access to PSN Services through any means or method, including by use of web sites."
https://www.playstation.com...

Kornholic3h ago

So you are that saying Steam is being very anti consumer with its policies. That's why I'm so baffled by the lack of outcry from the PC audience.

NotoriousWhiz23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

It's not like your account just stops working when you die. Include your email, account id, and password in the will (including the password to your email) and your survivors should have no problem using your games.

anast20h ago

PC gamers are a different lot. They don't mind renting their games forever, they don't mind spending money on overpriced equipment, and they don't mind fiddling with settings for hours before they even play the game, but linking a PSN account demands a riot. This is hard to understand, but then again, we all have to draw our lines somewhere.

Skuletor20h ago

You sure talk a lot of nonsense.Go look up the percentage of digital sales compared to physical sales of PS5 games, then tell me again about "renting" games.

mandf19h ago

Overblown funny and 100percent true

anast18h ago(Edited 18h ago)

There is no option at all to buy a physical copy of a PC game... And more people game on consoles for the reasons that make PC gamers a different lot.

VIK212117h ago

it's not so much the linking but the fact that certain countries aren't allowed to access psn...

VIK212117h ago

@anast I have a disc ps5 since launch, initially I bought some disc games, but I can't be bothered to walk to a physical store nowadays... I just buy the titles when they go on special sale or gray market store like CDKeys...

DustMan17h ago

PSN was a different story altogether. It kept people who bought the game from playing in countries that PSN wasn't supported. I never understood the issue anyway.

I don't know if PC stuff is overpriced considering that you can buy a new video card with the same amount of money you'd spend over 5 or 6 years paying to play games online with a console. I'll never pay double to use the same connection. That is what I'll never understand about console gamers. "let me pay an extra hundred & twenty dollars a year to use the same internet I pay for monthly and use on literally every device in my home for free....except for my Playstation"

Extermin8or3_16h ago

@Skuletor about 50-60% of sales are digital for most games. Meaning 40-50% are physical....

anast16h ago

@VIK

You might not but you are not the expectation that creates a universal.

Skuletor15h ago

@Extermin8or3_
Right and where are you getting that information from?
https://www.statista.com/st...

@anast

"Renting games"
In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023, approximately 77 percent of Sony Corporation's PlayStation gaming sales were generated via digital downloads.

"overpriced equipment"
Some people are willing to pay a premium for better performance, the way you keep talking about the PS5 Pro on N4G proves you're a hypocrite in that regard but whatever, lol

"fiddling with settings for hours before they even play the game"
Most pc games will give the option to scan your system to choose recommended settings or start with moderate settings that will run the game fine but you're free to mess around at your own leisure, to improve performance or quality if you wish to. For those that don't want to, there's free software that can do that for you, such as Nvidia's Geforce or AMD's AMD Catalyst. Geforce Experience even gives you the option of choosing whether to prioritize performance vs image quality with a simple slider for easy optimization, it's not rocket science, like you try make it out to be.

"linking a PSN account demands a riot"
Playstation selling Helldivers 2 in regions without the legal means to create a PSN account by Sony's own standards, then telling people in those regions that already bought the game that they can no longer play the game, isn't a cause for concern? Though you've already heard about that but keep going along with your own narrative because of your weird vendetta against PC on here.

This is hard to understand, but then again, we all have to draw our lines somewhere.

PRIMORDUS10h ago

I don't rent I torrent to keep, if they take them down that's ok I don't care I have them LOL. I do buy PC games but very little as I want full control which is why I torrent to keep them in my collection, and I do not give a fuck what the devs or publishers want. I never did never will.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 10h ago
thorstein22h ago

So just give your progeny the passwords.

OtterX21h ago

Keep the password sealed in the Will, only to be opened after death. :)

Aphrodia19h ago

Right? How are they gonna know you are dead?

FinalFantasyFanatic16h ago

The only way they will know is when an account is active for 300 years, lol.

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400°

[Exclusive] Xbox Reaches Agreement With Batman: Arkham Trilogy Creators For A New AAA Game

Ex-Rocksteady directors' Hundred Star is collaborating with Xbox Game Studios Publishing for its first-ever AAA game.

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Community1d 12h ago
Lightning771d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

Highly doubt it'll be an actual Batman game that IP belongs to WB Games along with other DC property.

They're making an action adventure game. IMO I think it needs to be another Marvel game despite MS already have Blade as that action Marvel game. Dead Pool? Punisher?

Realistically it'll probably be a new IP entirely.

The_Hooligan1d 10h ago

I agree with you. I think I'll be a brand new IP. Now it could be a superhero themed, kind of like infamous. Speaking of which, Suckerpunch needs to make one after Ghost 2.

neutralgamer19921d 10h ago

would love a infamous collection for ps5/pc

Lightning771d 9h ago

I definitely think it'll be super hero themed game 100%. Something MS needs in their portfolio.

ThinkThink1d 7h ago

Please, no more super hero games.

PhillyDonJawn1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 7h ago )

Dead Pool or Punisher would be amazing!!!
Don't tease me like that man lol. I see them making a new IP that's like an arkham knight clone

Dirty_Lemons1d 3h ago

I loved the old Punisher game back in the day. Those executions never got old.

porkChop1d 2h ago

I don't think it needs to be Marvel. It needs to be a totally new IP. That's what Rocksteady should have done after Arkham City. They've pigeonholed themselves as DC devs.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 2h ago
MIDGETonSTILTS171d 10h ago (Edited 1d 10h ago )

I hope these devs needed support to start/finish (like Stalker 2), vs are basically done with the game but wanted to secure an exclusivity-bonus because they know Xbox needs a system seller (like Titanfall).

It’s a bit strange that they’d rather invest in this game than Tangoworks’ TWO canceled projects; or just trust a single dev from their existing massive stable of talent to emerge with a system-seller themselves anytime soon.

Either way, it is just cool that we’ll likely get a new IP from the geniuses behind the Arkham Trilogy. I wonder how creative they’ll get now that they aren’t married to an established franchise.

darthv721d 10h ago

This is about the former co-founders of Rocksteady and their new studio. So naturally it makes people think its Batman related with the way its worded, even though its not.

-Foxtrot1d 10h ago

Exclusive? Sure

This year alone Microsoft has changed their plans so much with Xbox regarding multiplatform releases as they step closer to just being a full blown third party publisher and it's only been 4-5 months, imagine where we'll be once this game is finished. It will be a completely different landscape.

ThinkThink1d 7h ago

I don't think MS will ever go completely full 3rd party with all of their games. I can see them looking towards expanding their own mobile store and moving into Mac as ways of expanding. I'm sure ms will bring more exclusives over to ps and nintendo, but I don't think it'll be as many games as you think it will. I hope I'm wrong.

Lightning771d 7h ago

The ever contradictions thoughts and actions of MS definitely says otherwise MS changed up so much on the past 6 months of the year I lost count.

Though I'm more declined to believe they also won't go full 3rd party also.

But.

This year they're having Renaissance a super bowl of gaming with Gamepass this year. BO6, older ABK games, Avowed, Indy and other 3rd party exclusives all to grow and expand gamepass. If these games don't grow the service or grow only a little bit. Then you can fully expect MS to hit the red button and put everything everywhere. Satya will have full Xbox take over doing what he wants from that point on next year.

It's up to Xbox to advertise these games and gamepass in the next 6 months or so get the word out.

Profchaos1d 6h ago

The more the news evolves the more I'm inclined to believe we will see MS embrace full third party status but not call it third party in their word soup ways.

It will be Xbox everywhere plays best on a Xbox.

Next gen Xbox is rumoured to be a reference design similar to the 3d0 where any company can make and sell it.

If you're offloading hardware costs to a third party yet still profiting from the games then you've cut out losses on the hardware you still have a store front that users can use and still make a 30 percent cut on that.

Your games sell for a profit on PS and Nintendo platforms and on Xbox reference hardware along with PC

You lose .kney on DLC and games sold on a competitor storefront they are seemingly already comfortable with this.

The ms bean counters are coming for the ROI that was promised they don't care if they kill the brand as it stands Xbox was never a profitable business it was always just done for reputation

PhillyDonJawn1d 6h ago

@Lightning the would end the console then. No one would buy Xbox over PS at that point cause now you get both with just a PS. If GP flop for them, Logically, rolling back on GP would be the smarter than to do. No more day 1 title. Less quality titles. They'd lose subs but people would go back to buying the games.

Lightning771d 4h ago

@Philly They could scale back gamepass put Indies only, AAA 1st party games coming 4 to 6 months from release. The thing is MS will have to tell their fans to buy their games again and that's gonna take years and years to condition them to buy games again. MS will lose money from that also. They'll lose out on gamepass revenue, lose out on games sales because their fans don't buy as many games anymore.

I can't see them scaling back or axing gamepass it does make them allot of money, they just want more money from it. They're not gonna condition their fans to start buying games either.

As I said they'll go full 3rd party and yes you ate right, if they do that then there would be no reason to buy the next Xbox. I know j won't be, you better hope the next 6 months they advertise the games and GP there little hearts out because this could be it.

ThinkThink17h ago

Like, I can see them porting flight simulator, but not the Forza games.

I can see them porting state of decay 3, but not halo or gears.

I think sony will get blade, doom and elder scrolls 6, but not perfect dark or fable.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 17h ago
purple1011d 8h ago

Spawn (as well as master chief) are the only characters I associate with Xbox. Are there more I can’t remember?

rlow11d 8h ago

Gears is another big game one.

purple1011d 8h ago

Yeh big game, do you know the name of the lead character. Or team of lead characters. I don’t

rlow11d 8h ago

Marcus, Dom, Cole Train. And I can’t remember the fourth.

Profchaos1d 6h ago (Edited 1d 6h ago )

Also the chick from gears 5 seems to pop up on all their modern advertising I can't remember her name either.

Cars also feature heavily in a Xbox ad it's always master chief front and centre with cars and maybe a gears character hanging around

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210°

Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica Remakes are reportedly in the works, not Resident Evil 1

Industry insider Dusk Golem reveals that there is no Resident Evil 1 Remake in the works. Instead, Capcom are reportedly in active development of Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica.

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Community1d 16h ago
-Foxtrot2d ago

RE Zero would be better to do first over RE1 because they can tie the story into RE1 more.

The original RE Remake was weird because Rebecca never mentioned anything about what happened in Zero and it felt so disjointed because Zero was developed during the Remake and they clearly didn't share any notes with one another.

Cacabunga1d 16h ago

Wise decision. 2 of my favorites!

repsahj1d 4h ago

RE Zero is one of my favorite game on gamecube!

Knightofelemia2d ago

Give me Dino Crisis dammit Capcom

TGG_overlord1d 21h ago

And all it took was +24 years + a phone call from me lol.

GotGame8181d 13h ago

LOL! A phone call from you? ROFL! They have been remaking RE games for YEARS! It was a matter of time!

1d 15h ago
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