PopCap(Plants VS Zombies) anuncia despidos y restructuracion de algunas oficinas
#1
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Reestructuración en sus estudios con numerosos despidos, hasta 50 en su estudio de Seattle, y buscando que su estudio en Dublin sea rentable y no tengan que cerrarlo.

El mercado movil ha crecido muy rápido estos últimos años y necesitan cambiar para seguir siendo rentables.

Cita:"Free-to-play, social and mobile games have exploded in popularity. That happened fast. Surprisingly so. The change in consumer tastes requires us to reorganise our business and invest in new types of games on new platforms. It's a completely different world from when we started,"

La decisión ha sido totalmente suya, EA no ha tenido nada que ver.

Aquí tenéis la respuesta completa de su co-fundador, John Vechey:


Cita:Twelve years ago we founded PopCap. We never imagined the games weÔÇÖd make, the vast number of people who would play those games, or the success that followed. We also never imagined the challenges that we would face with markets, platforms and customers. Most importantly, we never imagined the hard decisions weÔÇÖd have to make.

Yesterday we announced the much-anticipated sequel to Plants vs. Zombies. ThatÔÇÖs very exciting. A lot of people have been asking about it. The game will come to fruition in the spring of 2013.

ThatÔÇÖs the good news.

But this morning we informed our employees about a reorganization in our studios that will include a ÔÇ£Reduction In ForceÔÇØ in our North American operation ÔÇô mostly in our headquarters here in Seattle ÔÇô and an ÔÇ£exploratory consultationÔÇØ to evaluate the future of our PopCap office in Dublin, Ireland.

And now in English: ÔÇ£Reduction In ForceÔÇØ means that some people are losing their jobs. ÔÇ£Exploratory consultationÔÇØ means weÔÇÖre talking to our Dublin team about the future of that office and whether we can find a path to improve our profitability in Europe without having to close the operation. TodayÔÇÖs news is something you expect periodically from a company in a fast-changing industry, but it sucks if youÔÇÖre one of the people losing his or her job. These people are our friends and we donÔÇÖt like doing this.

WeÔÇÖve made hard decisions before, even had cuts before ÔÇô at this time in North America there are about 50 people who will no longer work at PopCap. WeÔÇÖve hired aggressively this past year and PopCap is still growing. Even with the cuts we expect to end the year with roughly the same number of people we started with.

A little context on why weÔÇÖre making cuts in some areas while weÔÇÖre investing and expanding in others: In the past year, weÔÇÖve seen a dramatic change in the way people play and pay for games. Free-to-play, social and mobile games have exploded in popularity. That happened fast. Surprisingly so. The change in consumer tastes requires us to reorganize our business and invest in new types of games on new platforms. ItÔÇÖs a completely different world from when we started.

ThereÔÇÖs also an economic component to the reorganization. To stay in business, we need to manage costs, improve efficiency and maintain a profit. WeÔÇÖve been able to invest in creative new games like Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies because we had a high profit business. That business is challenged, and if we donÔÇÖt adapt, we wonÔÇÖt be able to invest in new IP. That sounds harsh ÔÇô but if we donÔÇÖt stay in business, no more plants, zombies, jewels, frogs or worms.

One year ago, we decided to integrate PopCap with EA. I know I wouldnÔÇÖt choose to be anywhere else right now. EA has provided a lot of resources for us to grow and allowed us to operate as an independent studio. IÔÇÖve seen speculation that EA is no longer letting PopCap run independently, and thatÔÇÖs simply not true. The founders, CEO, and executives who were in charge of PopCap still are. The decision to reorganize was 100 percent made by us, with no pressure from EA. EA has a diverse business with games on consoles, PCs and practically every other platform under the sun. WeÔÇÖre glad to have those resources supporting us when a lot of other independent studios are struggling. In addition, some of the people affected by the reorganization may be retrained and reassigned to other jobs in the EA studios. If we didnÔÇÖt have EA behind us, the cuts would have been worse.

WhatÔÇÖs next? Part of making changes is to stay healthy and viable. Good companies donÔÇÖt wait to change until itÔÇÖs too late. WeÔÇÖre growing quickly into new areas of mobile and social, and are expanding in new markets like Japan and China. And there are many more great games to come from PopCap.

While todayÔÇÖs news is distressing in some ways, especially to those of us whoÔÇÖve been with PopCap from the beginning, weÔÇÖre sincerely excited about the companyÔÇÖs future prospects and committed to continuing to lovingly craft the very best and most broadly appealing video games in the world.

John Vechey, Co-founder

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(Ultima edición: 21-08-2012 21:52 por mike.)
#2
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Debe ser la mejor carta de despido que he leído en este sector en mucho tiempo.
#3
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Madre mía cómo está el patio┬á Facepalm: . Si cierran estos, cierran todos.


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