Amazon.. buy the developers, not the studio = fail

TwistedSister77

Amazon Game Studio thought they could just scoop up developers and leadership (piecemeal), instead of buying studios outright... get it cheap.

Latest acquisition is the employees for the Canada Studio (Rainbow 6).

Amazon is taking 10%- ?% of the employees hired, and mixing them with different studio talent + Amazon culture =  disaster. 

It takes years for effective studios to bring a vision together... this is like  swap talent everywhere draft...

Ps bold is working weird on my phone.

PPS. Over the years, many of my underperforming employees take job offers from competitors( inflated resumes)... the rising stars do not ( future of the company).

Wizardry

it takes a well thought out plan to make a great game,you can't just wing it and hope for the best just because you have talented employees.
You can simply look at real life businesses like the automobile manufacturer's.
They have to do extensive engineering on many parts not just the simple "concept" like a game studio thinking they can just build a BR game.

The same goes for building a house,you have to go through several phases before you even start digging the hole in the ground.if the home owner doesn't plan it out it could cost them a lot more money on the long run.

I can even compare to a doctor,you are not a great doctor just because you were a grade A student.You need years of practice in the field.

geesh i could even use an athlete as an example,you can't one day say ok i'm going to buy a baseball glove and become a pro baseball player.Everything needs planning and research and knowledge.

I feel the gaming industry is in a big fail mode because it defines success with $$$$.So long a game makes loads of money it is a great game,nobody cares to dissect it and determine if it is actually good or not.people forget that marketing weighs heavy on success,image,the developer.MOST every gamer buys a game while knowing VERY little about it,so we can't simply say a game is great because it made a sale.

Arglebargle

Botting deluxe Britany!!

Margaretaville

"I like to build up my gaming resume with failed games as well as failed studios."
                                                                                                 John Smedley

Slapshot1188

TwistedSister77 said:

PPS. Over the years, many of my underperforming employees take job offers from competitors( inflated resumes)... the rising stars do not ( future of the company).

Amazon built out a massive distribution center infrastructure over the last few years.  That's what I do.   The money they were throwing around at people in my field was insane.  We would get headhunter calls almost every week. Most people do not want to work for Amazon due to their culture, but one of my employees went.  He was nearing retirement anyway and figured if it was really bad he would just quit.  He left for an extra $100,000 base salary PLUS he got a 1.5 year signing bonus paid out over 3 years.   After 6 months he couldn't take them anymore and quit and retired.

Now their software/games division might be different, but I bet it is fairly similar.   Super high pressure.  High burn out... but they toss buckets of cash at people and they can land some pretty good hires.  If I were younger I would have given it a go just to pad my resume and bank account, but at this point, no way.

Mendel

TwistedSister77 said:

Amazon Game Studio thought they could just scoop up developers and leadership (piecemeal), instead of buying studios outright... get it cheap.

Latest acquisition is the employees for the Canada Studio (Rainbow 6).

Amazon is taking 10%- ?% of the employees hired, and mixing them with different studio talent + Amazon culture =  disaster. 

It takes years for effective studios to bring a vision together... this is like  swap talent everywhere draft...

Ps bold is working weird on my phone.

PPS. Over the years, many of my underperforming employees take job offers from competitors( inflated resumes)... the rising stars do not ( future of the company).

I'm not entirely sure that Amazon isn't simply approaching games software as just another general business software application, like accounting or payroll.  The general business software have a clearly defined focus; general ledger, purchasing and taxes are pretty much the same everywhere.  Games aren't nearly as well defined.

A programmer with the skills to make a successful business application may not be capable of handling games development.  First, it is entirely likely that the two fields may use completely different programming languages.  Second, the data structures for games aren't always predefined, and may require skills the general programmer may not have.  Using a built-in sort function is entirely different that writing a custom sort algorithm.  Finally, the business developer has business people that understand how a particular function is supposed to work; a game developer may have to determine how something is supposed to function as well as implement it.

Games development does require a different mindset than typical business development.  The two skill sets are related, using related tools, but substantially different.

Akulas

I could get 100 of the best Devs in the world but if they don't have the attitude I want or able to work together then it won't work out. Even if everything else was done right.

BruceYee

When they first started AGS I suggested they should've just bought studios instead but after years of witnessing how they function I don't think the end result would be much different than what we're seeing now and maybe those studios are far better off on their own..

The point at which they started was they PROCLAIMED they were a game studio... other game studios usually have to at least have made a game or at the very least be legit making a game to get the "game studio" title. Slapping the Amazon name on other things like cheap generic made products is fine but gaming IS far more personal than that. I don't spend 4-6 hours each day looking at my dish rack...

To hire a few devs, claim to be "game studio" then not really do much of anything that "gamers" are too interested in like "Twitch intergration" & "Twitch compatibility" is IMO starting off in all the wrong ways. Ever go on a date that starts very poorly and you can never shake those feels? IMO that is what AGS is..

The reveal of their games that was scrubbed from internet was so out of touch with reality that I don't blame them at all for erasing it. They proved to me at that point that they are nothing but bureaucrat devs who know or care ZERO about what gamers need/want.

A game studio that is never has to be concerned about making money and paychecks are secure no matter how garbage the work they do is IMO a plague on the gaming industry. They could repeat what they do with their other ventures and destroy the industry by hiring devs so they won't work elsewhere until there are is no talent left...

Soooo it's a good thing they can't recognize talent if it slapped them on the booty and continue to hire dregs not knowing any better so I think we're safe for now  

maskedweasel

Akulas said:

I could get 100 of the best Devs in the world but if they don't have the attitude I want or able to work together then it won't work out. Even if everything else was done right.

I think in amazon's case, they could have the best developers in the world, but since management seems to have big red shoes and a nose that honks when you squeeze it, they waste all the talent. 

AlBQuirky

Akulas said:

I could get 100 of the best Devs in the world but if they don't have the attitude I want or able to work together then it won't work out. Even if everything else was done right.

That sounds like "working on the same page" to me