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STAR CITIZEN ALLEGEDLY GOING BANKRUPT, DEVELOPMENT MIRED BY TURNOVER, RACISM, SEXISM
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Sailerius
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Closehttp://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/features/14715-CIG-Employees-Talk-Star-Citizen-and-the-State-of-the-Company
A game with a larger budget than Metal Gear Solid V is allegedly (by several employee reports) going bankrupt with virtually nothing to show for it. Also, this gem:
Yikes.
A game with a larger budget than Metal Gear Solid V is allegedly (by several employee reports) going bankrupt with virtually nothing to show for it. Also, this gem:
author=article
It was also alleged that Roberts' wife and Cloud Imperium Games Vice President of Marketing Sandi Gardiner enforced discriminatory hiring practices. CS1 reported that they were instructed to, first, check the education field on a prospective employee's resume. If too much time had passed, Gardiner reportedly informed people not to hire them, because "they may be over 40, which makes them a protected class and harder to fire." It was also claimed that Gardiner used race as a determining factor in selecting employees, allegedly once saying "We aren't hiring her. We aren't hiring a black girl."
Yikes.
Shinan
4314
So... Derek Smart was right? What?
edit: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14979-Chairmans-Response-To-The-Escapist
edit: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14979-Chairmans-Response-To-The-Escapist
Ahahaha that is magical. I hope the employees can get out and find a real job though because that place sounds awful. I'm betting Roberts blames the ultimate failure on his employees and insufficient backers throwing money into his black hole. My fucking car is worth as much as some of those backer packages where you get were promised some virtual ships.
author=ShinanI intentionally put "allegedly" in the thread title because none of the accusations have been proven but wow, the fact that he tried to deflect the accusations by doing an ad hominem hit piece on The Escapist really doesn't help his case much.
So... Derek Smart was right? What?
edit: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14979-Chairmans-Response-To-The-Escapist
Odd timing! I was talking to my brother last night about this game. Neither of us were paying too much attention to the news surrounding it, and we both guessed a release date sometime next year. Now, this story...
Welp, there's still Myriad Cypher!
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
About time someone put that "cig" out.
oh shit
Thanks to your support, the project has become bigger than I ever thought possible and there’s no question that opens us up to criticism from anyone looking to make a name for themselves.
oh shit
author=articleNice typical entertainment industry bullshit, there.
It was also alleged that Roberts' wife and Cloud Imperium Games Vice President of Marketing Sandi Gardiner enforced discriminatory hiring practices. CS1 reported that they were instructed to, first, check the education field on a prospective employee's resume. If too much time had passed, Gardiner reportedly informed people not to hire them, because "they may be over 40, which makes them a protected class and harder to fire." It was also claimed that Gardiner used race as a determining factor in selecting employees, allegedly once saying "We aren't hiring her. We aren't hiring a black girl."
author=articleLike wow... How is it possible to create a work environment like this?
"She would write emails with so much profanity. She would call people stupid, retard, faggot. Accuse men of not having balls. And she was incredibly hostile to other female employees," CS4 stated. "Sandi is very jealous. She has to be the queen bee at the company. Whenever I was around her, I felt like I was in the presence of a cobra who, at that moment, might not have been inclined to strike but was completely willing to. You don't get on her bad side," CS3 added. "There were two things you were told, when you were hired. One, you don't talk about being married, to anyone. Ever. And two, you don't make Sandi mad."
"This could really severely damage crowdfunding, at least for games. Who's going to want to do that again? People will look at everything and think 'but what if it's another Star Citizen?'"
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
-Statements made that the Austin office will be closing, as is understood by employees.-
CR: This is completely false. We’ve actually made public statements to this fact. All Austin employees have been advised of a fairly minimal restructuring where some roles have been moved to LA or Europe for overall team efficiency. The majority of our Texas employees will remain in the Austin studio (indefinitely, by the way). As I’ve mentioned previously we are actually increasing our worldwide headcount in order to complete the game as effectively as possible. I would hope that the backers want us to be constantly trying to increase efficiency and making the hard choices that will benefit the game.
That's a clever choice of words to describe keeping the lights on while you liquidize your assets.
I'm getting a big bullshit vibe from that escapist article... This is just another avenue for Derek Smart's insane vendetta against Chris Roberts. Read CR's rebuttal instead. He finishes games and knows what the hell he's talking about.
For kicks I was curious what people really thought about Cloud Imperium Games, so I looked them up on Glassdoor, and found something interesting. Out of the 13 company reviews since April, 5 of them were 1 star reviews posted this past week. It's clearly bullshit fabricated by Derek Smart and his buddies that echoes the sentiments written in that article to a t... which puts the credibility of that article into question even more so than after reading what CR had to say. The rest of the reviews range from reasonable to glowing.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Cloud-Imperium-Games-Reviews-E776546.htm
No company is perfect, but that negative stuff just seems really far-fetched. Chris Roberts is an experienced game developer who knows how to run studios and finish games. Derek Smart & co. are just butthurt because they built up the unrealistic expectation that a game like Star Citizen could be finished in 2 years. They can fuck right off. Even games that seemingly come out every year are still worked on over numerous years by multiple studios. It's why you only saw a Treyarch CoD or an Infinity Warn CoD every 2-3 years, and those are games that are backed by publisher money.
With that said, I think some of the ways Star Citizen is raising funds is highly unethical. $10000 for a virtual spaceship? Fuck off. I know he's trying to appeal to bored hedge fund managers with deep pockets, but still. That kind of monetization is excessive & irresponsible, because it could hurt someone financially who isn't as good with their money.
Edit: Also, Escapist just flat out sucks.
For kicks I was curious what people really thought about Cloud Imperium Games, so I looked them up on Glassdoor, and found something interesting. Out of the 13 company reviews since April, 5 of them were 1 star reviews posted this past week. It's clearly bullshit fabricated by Derek Smart and his buddies that echoes the sentiments written in that article to a t... which puts the credibility of that article into question even more so than after reading what CR had to say. The rest of the reviews range from reasonable to glowing.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Cloud-Imperium-Games-Reviews-E776546.htm
No company is perfect, but that negative stuff just seems really far-fetched. Chris Roberts is an experienced game developer who knows how to run studios and finish games. Derek Smart & co. are just butthurt because they built up the unrealistic expectation that a game like Star Citizen could be finished in 2 years. They can fuck right off. Even games that seemingly come out every year are still worked on over numerous years by multiple studios. It's why you only saw a Treyarch CoD or an Infinity Warn CoD every 2-3 years, and those are games that are backed by publisher money.
With that said, I think some of the ways Star Citizen is raising funds is highly unethical. $10000 for a virtual spaceship? Fuck off. I know he's trying to appeal to bored hedge fund managers with deep pockets, but still. That kind of monetization is excessive & irresponsible, because it could hurt someone financially who isn't as good with their money.
Edit: Also, Escapist just flat out sucks.
I find the fact that many employees individually and independently corroborated similar stories highly suspect. While it isn't definitive proof, where there's smoke there's fire and when this sort of thing happens, it turns out to be true more often than not.
I found the rebuttal to be more damning than the report itself. It reeked of desperation and an attempt to change the conversation through ad hominem attacks.
I found the rebuttal to be more damning than the report itself. It reeked of desperation and an attempt to change the conversation through ad hominem attacks.
To me, it seemed like he was frustrated that he had to take time out of his day to deal with that crap. Imagine starting a company with 290+ employees, and suddenly the one game being worked on by the company is "under attack" by some spoiled internet brats who want to see you (personally) fail. I'd say his tone was justified. I can't even being to fathom that kind of stress.
It's still too early to tell whether the company is in rough shape or not. There are around 100 job postings for them on Glassdoor... so they obviously still have some money left, and what CR is saying about expanding the company more holds water. I just think this article stinks, and Cloud Imperium Games doesn't deserve the bad press because they ARE making stuff. When a company is truly sinking, the writing will be all over the walls. (See: 38 Studios)
It's still too early to tell whether the company is in rough shape or not. There are around 100 job postings for them on Glassdoor... so they obviously still have some money left, and what CR is saying about expanding the company more holds water. I just think this article stinks, and Cloud Imperium Games doesn't deserve the bad press because they ARE making stuff. When a company is truly sinking, the writing will be all over the walls. (See: 38 Studios)
Yeah, ad hominem immediately says to me, "I can't deny the allegations BUUUUT"
Bit of a letdown considering the scope of the project.
Bit of a letdown considering the scope of the project.
The scope of this project looked pretty impressive. It's a real downer if the allegations are true. The game industry can be pretty cuthroat and jacked up.
So why are you posting? Fuck, I hate it when people do this shit.
author=BizarreMonkey
Don't even know what Star Citizen is and so I don't have to care about this revelation.
So why are you posting? Fuck, I hate it when people do this shit.
Yeah, that's basically like saying "This topic doesn't interest me so I don't care about it but I think I will post anyway. Byyyyeeeeee!"
Take heart, indie devs, in knowing that even companies with a zillion dollar budget and a lot of experience will still manage to massively overscope!
That sucks though; I know a few friends of mine were pretty psyched about the idea, but it sounds like this company is a bit of a wreck. I guess they're still just allegations, but some of those quotes from the hiring emails are intense. It's hard to believe people still try and get away with that kind of shit.
That sucks though; I know a few friends of mine were pretty psyched about the idea, but it sounds like this company is a bit of a wreck. I guess they're still just allegations, but some of those quotes from the hiring emails are intense. It's hard to believe people still try and get away with that kind of shit.
