Another blow for Dundee development scene - but studio is still in business
Looks like it won't just be former RTW staff getting their CVs ready for a raft of last-minute recruitment events run by publishers in Scotland this week.
Nearby studio Cohort has also cut staff this week, Develop can confirm.
But the firm insists that unlike Realtime Worlds, which went into administration on Tuesday, it will live on - and still remains in business.
The studio's most recent project is Move-compatible The Shoot for Sony.
27 staff have been given notice cutting the headcount in half.
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Founder Lol Scragg told us: “With The Shoot nearing completion we’re taking steps to move back to our core business model, which is lighter and leaner in the interim periods between large publisher-led projects.”
He continued: “We are entering advanced stages of discussion with some big partners that should see us ramp up again towards the end of Q4. In the meantime, we’ll be scaling our staffing levels back in order to concentrate on some in-house projects, and focus on strengthening and improving our proprietary technologies.”
Cohort is a member of the UK government's Investor in People scheme, which places special focus on employee relations, and says that through this it is working hard on 'ways to ensure that staff affected by the changes are treated in the appropriate way'.
Not so Lol anymore, eh?
(sorry.)
Disappointing that they have to scale back on staff, especially at a time where opportunities in Dundee are scarce. Not particularly good project management.
Still - my best to everyone affected. It's a horrible situation.
@JS
You could also look at it that the people let go have a better chance of finding other positions with the amount of recruiters going to Dundee today/tomorrow for RTW staff. I am sure they would not turn away anyone from Cohort
Why don't developers (and publishers) adopt the freelancer model like much of the Film and TV industry. Then saying "we don't need you now the game is finished so goodbye" isn't such an issue to the staff concerned. Of course developers would then need to pay freelance rates....
Realtime just released nearly 170 people into the Dundee market. Cohort release another 27. When Cohort come to ramp up in Q4, which they're openly talking about, that means that they'll have 200 people to choose from.
This is, sadly, a common practice in the games industry.
The 27 people let go from Cohort, I suspect, won't be rehired when Q4 comes around - Cohort will be expecting to pick up some of Realtime's better people.
Just a guess... based on what's happened in other regions of the UK.
What qualifies RTW staff as being "better" exactly?
That if you are made redundant and someone takes your previous job within six months then you can take your old job back/sue them....
Ramping up in Q4 would be suicide on Cohorts part. Unless they are going to rehire those 27 staff first.
