Annapurna Interactive, the subtly-yet-celebrated publisher behind indie hits like Kentucky Route Zero and Stray, has effectively collapsed, with its entire staff quitting en masse. Full Story: www.smashjt.co...
Yes it was! Blue Twelve Studios did an amazing job making stray. Annapurna are publishers. All they did was pay for dev, marketing a distribution. If you want to send love to the makers of Stray, send it to Blue Twelve. They deserve it. Publishers like Annaurna steal all the credit as if that group of suits made the game themselves.
There's already a game like that, it's called "say No! more" and it's hilarious. Gameplay is basically learning how to say "No!" in a bullshit fake positivist office company that want you to say "yes" with a smile to all of their crap xD
That kind of loyalty to each other is incredible. Honestly, well done to them. They had the spines to do something none of these other game studios are willing to do, regardless of what type of games they make.
It wasn't until fairly recently that more came out about what was happening at Escapist and yeah that was a big turn around from the original narrative that was put out.
@@LordXadro Yes, and that's likely one of the reasons they all left. They could tell that things turning to utter crap was inevitable, so they decided to basically go find other possibly more profitable/stable/independent jobs while they were ahead instead of sitting in a sinking ship. And besides, maybe some of their colleagues are close enough to be considered family members. How would any of us be able to know what their relationships 'n lives are like?
Annapurna is the publisher of Stray. The developers for Stray is Blue Twelve Studio. Would be curious to know how much rights Annapurna had over Blue Twelve.
Yeah, it's funny how none of the reporters understand this. Annapurna is just a bunch of suits who wanted to spin off so they can get rich. I'd rather they spent their time talking about the developers. They deserve the credit.
There is a lot actually. Delicious Fast food for real making money, but that doesn't mean performing art, film, game and Animation are the same place like fast food. Those people think about easy money and don't respecting their Player, not even their old costumer, and now let them eat sh*t why their sow. If they keep being like this and they don't even try to learn from their failures, well Idk anymore what is gonna come
TL:DR version; Annapurna is a publisher, they made none of their games. Nothing of value was lost, just an attempt from a former Kotaku activist to try to be relevant again.
And if I understood correctly, the staff left PURELY because they wanted to unionize and weren't allowed to. Which seems fine to me, Unions are a key way to replace the staff with "NPCs" (if you know what I mean) anyways and aren't a great idea with huge potential to make things worse. So I think this is probably not a big deal at all and may be for the best potentially.
I was going to say almost the same thing. That pic of her with short hair and a male suit says a lot, if not the whole story. She looks like a they/them.
They all quit, non-leftists have family, kids, people who count of them, and can't quit on a whim. 25 people gone, all of them have social media, they won't tell why? That's VERY strange. Why wouldn't they tell to get sympathy? Because after all the woke game failures, they know that they'll get sympathy on twitter, that they will be flagged as a "woke devs" and they'll never, ever sell a single copy. It's a very safe bet to assume that they're all woke people who had a temper tantrum. Everything that comes out of the gaming industry is political/ideological, very safe to assume that this will be the root cause. They're game devs so they've been screened and have the "correct opinion". My money is on woke game devs having a massive TDS outburst or something to that effect
I judge the book by its cover with people like these. I see wild colored hair, septums and big glasses. I expect disaster. Although willing to give the benefit of the doubt too.
Yeah well, who hired them, right? But hey, there's 25 job openings. You're welcome to go work for the Ellison dynasty and experience it first hand, now. You and 24 other lucky people. Personally, given what I've heard from ex oracle employees who I personally trusted (an old manager of mine), I'll take a hard pass.
you're laughing but Remedy's virtue index is higher than yours... Yes their game is failing, their future is on jeopardy, but they looked so tolerant and progressive when they released those Alan Wake 2 trailers. It was worth it.
"Woke" had very little to do with its lack of sales. Digital only. Exclusivity were major factors. Last I checked they've recouped most of development costs, while yes, not making a profit yet. They have physical copies coming out soon which will boost sales and as soon as their exclusivity deal with Epic ends, if it does, and it makes its way to steam then it will sell a crap ton more copies.
@@Evilshtt353 Physical sales won't save Alan Woke 2, if anything, it's a risky move seeing that no one cares about this game so they might end up being out of pocket. Remedy has been positively identified as a woke studio. There are only 2 known outcomes for studios like that: 1/ dead 2/ dying BUT that being said, there is still HOPE!!! If you cope harder, who knows, it might help lol Sam Lake keeps posting woke sh!t every single day, they've been proudly displayed on SBi's website for years. SBi is the flagship for woke gaming mafia, and Remedy is their flagship woke puppet. Everyone who's been paying attention to the news these past 6 months and isn't a PDF apologist has Remedy in speed dial in their brain when they think about DIE in video games... It couldn't be any worse for them right now. They just killed the Alan Wake franchise They've already remade the first one They're about to remake Max Payne (probably out of desperation when they realised AW2 would flop HARD) No one cares about Contol or Quantum Break Remedy literally burnt through everything they had in the past 3 years. And all you have to defend them is "maybe, it's possible that they might make a small profit on Steam"?! THAT's it? A 25 years old studio with some of the most beloved iPs and that's all you have to defend them? A "maybe", a "according to my prediction pulled out of my arse"?! okay lol good luck to them. I hope that your youtube comment expert's projection will be correct... By the way, you're not going to bill me, right? ^-^ Just cope harder, it might just help. Remedy is dead, they woke'd too close to the Sun.
Annapurna Interactive is a publisher. It has one game studio (24 Bit Games). Everyone leaving means a lot more here because as a publisher, those personal relationships your staff have with other studios determine your throughput and the quality of product available to you. Dunno Hector Sanchez, but if he's coming BACK from Epic Games Store, he's probably run through his entire rolodex.
Know what? I don't really see the problem. The day of sucking up to millionaires is over. Why keep a job when it's gonna make you miserable? Gaming jobs are specifically NOT for that.
Stray was a lot of fun. They knew they were too small a team to create a world of humans that didn't look creepy, so they peopled it with robots instead - which gave the whole game a distinctive style. I was so hoping for a sequel. :(
So where does this publisher get the money I have a feeling it isn't just a billionaire daughter's own money this sounds like they were pushing someone else's money cough cough Black Rock and maybe these people didn't want to get involved with them because they know this is going to not end well.
5:06 This is the daughter of a billionaire, who is in charge? And 20 people decided it would be better to quit and look for work in a collapsing industry, rather than work for her? Sounds like a real down to earth lady, couldnt have a nicer resting face too. 😂
"girl bosses" especially psycho ones are not worth the aggravation to work for, I had one at a retail store, I quit after 6 months, I don't usually quit but her crazy was not worth the 12/hr
Annapurna didn't "make" any games- they've only financed and published games... Honestly the company never really needed that many staff in the first place, it mostly needed Megan Ellison to keep writing cheques and a c-suite execs to manage the business...
Well well well, the moment I saw that trailer for Stray pervade itself in that Nintendo Direct presentation and just SMELLED the warning signs from a mile away - low and behold, LOOK AT WHAT FRAGGIN' HAPPENED.
@@SotNistso what are the chances Larry Fink is using this billionaire's daughter to control the funding and maybe they just found out and they don't want to be involved with the publisher.
I have the opposite take - Annapurna has a fantastic film and game department. They take massive risks with smaller titles in both. Often very bizarre art house movies. Not really pushing _"the message"_ like others. The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Her etc. When we start talking about gaming and unions while showing dudes with pink mohawks - alarm bells start going off. Until I get more details I'm gonna assume the 25 wanted representation and their own direction etc. So I'm on team billionaire on this one.
Same, I'm a little torn on this one. It's a publisher so is there even a dev team in those 25 people? It could go both ways. The money woman could've been like no more woke crap and the team was like nope we're out and vise versa. I mean they were about to start working with remedy so that idea was either from the team that quit or the money woman which would shed some light on who wanted more "representation". It's a toss up until more details come out.
Finally someone gets it. Like I said in a comment, Annapurma as a game publisher was as woke as they come, so whether they fill in the spots with new (hopefully competent and non woke) people, or just scrap the subsidiary altogether, nothing of value will be really lost in the end.
Probably a mix of everything. Maybe a more "woke" company coming in they did not want to work with or they wanted more "woke" stuff to be included. Both extreme sides of that coin tend to be emotionally and mentally unstable and thus unreasonable. Maybe the fact they almost filed for bankruptcy so they wanted to split so their funds were not being funneled into the failing movie side. So they could indeed reap the rewards of very successful games without those rewards being split with the failing side of the company. Whatever the case. It is easy for a small team to bang out a new game. It is always a risk as far as how good it is, but as far as getting it built, we are in the golden age. The tools are exceptional right now, and getting better every week.
They were a super woke all in on DEI company which I'm against but I give them props for having a backbone. They probably think that there's jobs out there for that culture and they are going to be very disappointed.
because they have no friends, sure you may find out the Jesus, or at least, first season's Flanders there sometimes, but most of them, see you either as an "asset" or a "liability", not a friend
It’s because they’re sociopaths. That’s how they got to be so wealthy in the first place-they crushed everyone in their way and used people to their advantage. The world is run by sociopaths.
More likely the employees wanted to force the company that developed Stray to have a non-binary cat as the lead in Stray 2, and quit when Ellison refused to put that in the publishing contract.
It has nothing to do with unionization or independence. It's about stock. If it spun off as an independent entity they would get stock and earn potentially millions by taking the independent company public . Annapurna isn't a developer. They didn't make ANY of those games. They funded, produced and marketed those games. They aren't the creatives you describe. They want to spin off so they can get rich. They want to be Ellison. This is all about cash, it's not some altruistic group of artists spinning off to do their own thing. This is a group of suits arguing with another group of suits for money and control. It's nice to see them walk away, but it's not a heart warming is story. These are the same people that bought 80% of Stray in return for financing. The actual artists that made Stray can't raise the money themselves. They are forced to sell out so they can make the game in the first place.
Such a shame as these guys were very talented and produced some great games but full credit goes to that team for sticking together for what they believe in. At all costs, no less. It's rare to see such integrity in development studios these days. Disappointed as I loved the hell out of Stray, one of the most unique and intriguing experiences I've had in recent years. Really enjoyed it very much.
Something very SUS had to have been going on that only those on the inside will know about. That something to affect an entire team who would rather risk being unemployed than continue to work is wild. Never heard of anything like this.
Let's just hope this isn't another "Second Wind" situation where the rot and poison of the company is the one that caused the split and followed the actually talented people at Annapurna Interactive.
Pink hair, side shaves, and talks of unionization. The odds are not good, but I'm still going to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them ruin their reputation of their own accord if they decide to...
I was wondering why "Annapurna Interactive" souded so d- mn familiar... Turns out they're the ones who made Flower! Such a shame... I really liked Flower. No DEI no politics no bs. Just you playing as a bunch of flower petals floating in the wind and pollenating flowers and bringing life to dead areas set to relaxing music. It was such a lovely game. On the other hand, they're also the studio that made Thirsty Suitors which is some weird action-novel that looks suspiciously similar to Dustborn, but under all that glamour it's just a cringey glorified wokie dating sim. At least the chars aren't as fugly as the ValiDate chars, so I'll give em that.
A Stray 2 would be nice, Stray is a masterpiece for a cat game, they got all the little details right on how cats act while incorporating a story into it.
That's insane for an entire team to do, but I praise their unity as a team!! And hey Smash, have you heard about the BEUC sending a letter to the European Commission about possible illegal activity by Ubisoft and other major video game companies with microtransactions?
Personally, From what i understand, the gaming industry needs 2 things to really manage to succeed: 1 - A CEO that actually cares and understand what the projects that the company is making, and selling are, and not have a mindset "how to milk everyone every last penny, with a project that has no bases to succeed" and never have in their life really touched a real game. 2 - a team of developers that are actually developers, and not have the 8-9/ 10 of them be activists that spend money to other issues than sit down and work to develop the game, because seriously, with all i have seen again i cannot believe that big giants had made better games on the past with better mechanics, and now they say "it is impossible" and we get games that many times are still in their Alpha stage, and yet being pushed as "completed". So either the people are inexperienced in the field, or they force the whole work to really small teams while the rest are doing anything else but working.
The negotiations probably broke down, because they actually expected the developers to get some shit done. God forbid those coddled developers actually have to, you know, work for their paycheck.
Hot Take: Annapurna Interactive was a bad publisher. The developer of Neon White made their money and that's all I could hope for that game. Hope this helps you get to over 100K subs, you're a little over halfway there!
The key here seems to be trying to turn Annapurna into an independent entity. What right would the team have to take away somebody else's thing? At least now they can start up their own independent studio and create their own independent IPs. So they sort of got half of what they wanted.
OK, so this company is a publisher, not a developer. It provides the money to create things. It doesn't create things. So where are these people going to get money to finance the next Concord? They'll just have to go work for somebody else like Megan Ellison.
@@IcyTorment True, but the way the group are acting, they're after *sole* control of the things they create *retroactively*. Guess who still has partial control over that? That's why they want to have the publisher too.
First and last mistake was getting tied to a corporate publisher. Publish your own work guyss. Gamers don't want anything to do with greedy corporations anymore
That's true, but I think most of us would be fine with greedy corporations putting out quality games that entertain instead of push ideology that we're trying to escape from by gaming in the first place.
But these guys *are* the corporate publisher. They're not a developer. EDIT: Apparently, they started an in house studio that's codeveloping a game, but they've never developed a game of their own before.
Those 25 that left will be fine. Choosing to stand up for yourself and have the dignity to walk away from money that comes from tyranny, that is power. Every human being on the planet can use this power, but few even attempt it these days.
Annapurma as a game publisher was as woke as they come, so whether they fill in the spots with new (hopefully competent and non woke) people, or just scrap the subsidiary altogether, nothing of value will be really lost in the end. :)
1:12 The only game out of that list I played is "What Remains of Edith Finch". Enjoyable game. Along the lines of "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" and "A Story About My Uncle". All enjoyable games. Have to say Story About My Uncle is my favorite out of those. Haven't played Stray yet.
Not really more details in this video. Its pretty much impossible to know who was at fault. What does spin off into an independent entity mean? It means sell the company to the staff, right? And no longer have any control? And i assume let the contracts go with it? That sounds like a massive pain for a company that is building synergy between their divisions. And still puts them in the position of losing the staff? Or some keeping them but not being able to direct them? It wasnt going to really be much different for the team, im guessing one or two people at the top if the new company would control instead. Or if they were going to get a slice of the pie, then why? They are just employees. As they proved they can just walk away from it at any point. It isnt their massive capital that is invested in it, they are just cos playing, wanting the benefits without the risk or the investment? I dunno im just trying to understand what has happened. And i guess they must have some new venture lined up together now they all left. Otherwise they have painted a massive risk factor onto their backs for anyone they want to work with in the future. For both being employed, they could easily destroy an indie venture with this kind of action. For working with them, they could destroy your game when your publisher randomly implodes. And this team are publishers themselves, not developers or creatives. Not the kind of crew that normally get love. More like the people that put the squeeze on the developers finances and force them to make changes aa thet see fit.
I was thinking, Devs should have a clause in their contracts - that if they are Laid off for redundancy or corporate mishaps - the company should give them a separation fee of at least 3 months pay. That's a decent amount of time to find a new employer - and it makes sure the corporation is punished and not the employee.
From what I understand of US labor laws it can be harder to unionize in a large company since they can demand the entire workforce have to vote to unionize rather than a small subset of workers. It goes the other way with franchises, collective bargaining only over one not the entire workforce.
Sit tight for their crowd funded project that either sneakily becomes an epic exclusive, or just bilks money out of fans for years before showing good progress
Oof, that hurts. I don't know any of their other games, but Outer Wilds was absolutely sensational. I haven't played anything this fresh and innovative in many years, and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all times. In fact, I'd place it somewhere up there with the best games that have ever been made. You'll NEVER get anything remotely like that from an AAA studio.
I understand standing up for yourself but honestly if I were a business owner I wouldn’t touch these people with a 49 and a half foot pole. They sound exactly like the activists that get into a company and demand full control of it.
Those devs are incredibly talented, looking forward to their future work. Maybe they'll just start their own company and get the freedom and paychecks they deserve. Well done for taking a stand!
If unionization was the breaking, I couldn't blame the owner completely since unions tend ask more and more demands as the linger but the owner should of at least compromise on a agreement without formin a union.
AP involved with What Remains of Edith Finch... that game affected me in ways most games never do. I still go back to the Finch House for repeat playthroughs... sometimes to just soak in the atmosphere of the place.
I love that the developers stood thier ground and all together went away! The gaming industry is a wildfire right now. It’s going to be interesting who will rise from it‘s ashes when it’s over.
My guess is that they'll all go look for jobs with other publishers. Can't see how any of them would have the money to start their own publishing company.
Bad Take. The Employees at Annapurna Interactive bad horror stories of mismanagment and abuse and toxic culture. There are articles and videos about it. Some were related to illegal or unethical matters. When Megan Ellison pulled out of negotiations, this was a sign this was not going to change and any attempt by the company to repair the situation was null and void.
"The people in charge with the money make all the decisions and hold all the power." Well... yeah. Because it's their money. The devs can go be independent. Good luck with that. Fund your own stuff then. Unionisation is fine, but you can't just demand the way a company looks and operates, you can only demand worker's rights to a certain degree. Demanding an independent studio but simultaneously expecting the billionaire to keep funding it (unless I'm missing something) is deluded.
Yes, but that approach also leads to products like Star Wars Outlaws. Something that has zero passion from the developers behind it, but was pushed by marketing and executives, who thought it would be a money printing machine. Same with Assassins Creed, the series must continue so the money keeps coming in, despite being creatively bankrupt for a long time now. Just doing what the people with money say, with zero input from the ones who are responsible for making them, leads to products of terrible quality.
@@gameoverinsertcointocontin8102 I think that IS "passionate developers" - just that passion at a certain point is not a substitute for a single shred of talent. After all, we hear them drone on and on about how exited they are to bring their stunning and brave diverse vision to 'X intellectual property'. The thing we never hear them talk about is how excited they are to make a good quality product...
@@gameoverinsertcointocontin8102 But the people who quit *are* the marketing, PR, etc. These people didn't develop any of the games Annapurna has released. You can't be a passionate developer if you're not even a developer to begin with.
@@czaczaczar 51k is very low though. however steam numbers are kinda flawed if it sells on multiple platforms. yet other games that are multi platform games get 100-200k. so yes 51k is a low numbers in recent years
I had written something else here, but I honestly don't know how to feel about this. The gaming industry is in bad enough shape already from where I sit. It sounds like the Annapurna crew walked because they were standing on their principles, but maybe I'm looking at it all crabbed. I think coupling Annapurna with Remedy is going to go _so well..._ (That'll be a slow-motion train wreck.)
It's not crazy to walk away from that if you budget right and live below your means. They might be going to make their own thing. You don't have to work for someone else.
Wow what unity. Well done. This reminds me of that Ants movie. Where the cockroach said something like "If you let one ant stand up, they might all stand up, We are out numbered and if they figure this out then our way of life will be over"
I can't take sides here. Those developers look sketchy and I can see them actually being the problem. I'd have to know exactly what decisions they were upset about. What were they planning on doing that was being denied? Then I'll know who the good guy is.
