It's red... I like it.

 

A few days ago, as most of you know, THQ shut down both of its Australian studios.  Blue Tongue Entertainment in Melbourne, and THQ Studio Australia in Brisbane.

 

I’m still pretty upset by both closures.  Blue Tongue in particular was a home to me for the last couple of years, and a finer group of developers working together you’ll be hard-pressed to find.

But the die have been cast, and there ain’t much we can do about THQ’s decision now except rage against the strong Aussie dollar and shake fists at the falling stock prices.   It’s hard to figure who rolled the natural 20 here.

I left Blue Tongue a few weeks ago of my own accord, before this surprise announcement and closure.  I’ve been asked a few questions about that…

Q. Was Blue Tongue a horrible place to work?  Why would you leave?

A.  Definitely not!  BTE was an amazing place to be, and I’m so happy I got to spend time there.  Moving to Vancouver was a personal decision for me that had everything to do with going *towards* a new place/life experiences, not escaping something.  Leaving Blue Tongue was in fact a very hard thing for me to do, but I knew it was time for me to move on.

Q. Did you know something was up?  Is that why you left?

A. Again, no. There were some minor clues I guess, looking in retrospect, and the strong AUD was always a worry, but when we had a few layoffs a couple of months ago I thought that was it.  The words were along the lines of slim down now, to save ourselves for the long haul.  I scoffed at first, thinking I’d heard those before, but then I believed them.  Sigh.

But while I am definitely not seasoned in studio closure and redundancy (*cough* Tony, Robin *cough*) I have experienced it before when I worked in Pandemic, and I certainly know enough about this industry to know never to feel 100% safe.  Ever.  Always have a back-up plan, an out.  Just in case.  And I guess I’d like to share my experience, my views on a previous studio closure and what it was like being made redundant and searching for work, in case it helps any of my ex-colleagues out there who are going through this now, maybe for the first time.

Again, I’d like to highlight this is my experience and these are my views that I’m sharing. 

Pandemic Studios was an amazing place for my first foray into the world of game development.  I had such a great time there, making friends, learning the ins and outs of development, watching passionate people put so much effort into doing what they loved.  It was also the first place I ever worked at where I truly learned the value of company and team culture. 

I won’t go into detail on the extended drag and eventual demise of Pandemic, as it was indeed long and drawn-out, or the reasons behind it (which can be argued/trolled endlessly).

The first project cancellation and subsequent layoffs happened around Aug/Sept 2008, and the final studio closure happened in February 2009.  Between these two events were a few more depressing rounds of layoffs, extreme lows and also moments of hope for ‘new beginnings’.  But it really had been so stressful, full of ups and downs and change, and feeling like a big dark cloud was constantly hanging over our heads.  So by the time I finally received that yellow Pandemic folder containing my redundancy package in February it was almost a relief, a big one, finally cut free from this constant state of unknown and questioning my job security while watching my friends and co-workers lose theirs.  And I certainly wasn’t the only one who felt that way! 

But it was extremely sad.  Pandemic was a great company full of lots of awesome people.  It was my first job in games, but I already knew I’d stumbled onto something pretty special and rare, and I was so sad to see it crumble (ever so slowly) like that.

The EA redundancy packages were pretty good, well above standard, so I felt pretty safe floating along while I looked for another job in games.  I knew I wanted to stay in games of course, so I immediately sent out blanket emails to Krome, Studio Oz, Creative Assembly, Blue Tongue, Red Tribe, Big Ant, Firemint etc - pretty much every games company across Australia, as I was happy to relocate to continue my career.  I had some interest from Krome, so I thought I’d be set.  I was just about to go on a pre-booked holiday to Japan, and left feeling pretty safe that I’d come back to a new job immediately.

But when I came back I was a little dismayed to find out the interest from Krome had fallen through, and no one else was hiring.  Production roles are pretty rare especially in games, so I branched out and applied for other production roles across other mediums and quite a few administration roles too.  But still, nothing came.  I didn’t worry too much for the first couple of months, but by the fourth month of unemployment I was definitely starting to get pretty concerned. I was doing what I call the ‘unemployment shuffle’ - email, linked in, resume, contacts list, wait by the phone, email, linked in, resume…etc.  It’s a constant state of highs (when the phone rings), lows (when it’s just a telemarketer) and disappointments (“We currently do not have any production vacancies at this time, but….”)

I was just talking to my old hospitality duty manager about going back to bar work when I finally got a call from Blue Tongue Entertainment in Melbourne.  They were looking for a project coordinator, a perfect role for me, and had remembered receiving my earlier email. I flew down to have an interview with them, and it all happened from there!  Within minutes of being at the studio, I knew that I was on to something good.  It was with the de Blob team making the sequel, a really fun game with a great team under a really strong project lead, Nick Hagger. It just felt right to me, and luckily they agreed!

So I moved to Melbourne and started my new role, just in the nick of time really. The redundancy money was looking pretty thin.  A lot of ex-Pandemites had found something locally by this stage with Krome and Studio Oz etc, and a good chunk of people had taken off to join games companies in cities all around the world… an epic couch-surfing world tour, if ever there was one!

But for a lot of us, the difficulty with being in the last group of people to be let go from Pandemic meant that the local job market had already been flooded with talent from previous lay-offs, and there really wasn’t much left.  This is always a major factor when companies do rounds of redundancies, which is sadly often the case, so many were forced to look for working at companies beyond Australia.  Of course when people relocated around the world, we lost a lot of Australian talent to the overseas markets. Pandemic was very multi-cultural; some of it was borrowed talent already and they returned back to their homes, or were transient developers who came from afar and then moved on to new places. But for those Australian developers who jetted off overseas I don’t see this as necessarily a bad thing to the Australian industry.  Many of them will return to Australia eventually (some already have), and just think of the experience that they’ll bring back with them!

The truth is, like many other industries, the games industry is one where it can be about who you know.  Connections in places all around the world are invaluable, as I discovered when Pandemic collapsed and my former co-workers expanded across the globe.  You’ll often find out about vacancies through connections before they are advertised, and a lot of people I’ve met have specifically said they’ll look at hiring someone especially when they’ve been recommended by someone they trust.  This is an industry full of talented, creative, intelligent and passionate people, and team/company culture is so important, therefore it makes sense that you not only find the people who have the skills and talent for the job, but who are also the right fit for the team.

I’ve sometimes heard negative attributes associated with the ‘who-you-know’ aspect of this industry.  But for every Joe Bloggs who’s intent on hiring his buddies whether it be to the credit of his team/company or not (and they will suffer for that, believe me!), the majority of hiring managers are truly looking for the best person for the role.  So why not give yourself an extra edge by taking advantage of word of mouth to hear about vacancies sooner, or ensuring your resume goes to the top of the pile?  You’ll still have to prove your mettle of course, but a glowing reference from a former co-worker could be the extra spark that puts you ahead of an equal competitor.  

It’s an unstable industry, so protect yourself a little bit by branching out and you’ll have better luck if the time comes that you need it.  This doesn’t mean you have to be a 24/7 extrovert out there, promoting yourself and getting up in everyone’s faces (the smell of desperation is killer), but it means take opportunities to network a little bit.  Get to know people in other studios through friends, if you can.  Create a Linked In profile to connect with others. Use Twitter to follow other people in the games industry, as not only is it a great knowledge sharing tool, but you’ll be surprised at how many contacts you can make. Keep your portfolio/showreel/resume up to date to save time. If you get the chance to attend a workshop/conference to hone your skills, learn something new and/or network then make the most of it!  And most importantly, don’t burn bridges. This is a VERY small industry. Don’t lie or exaggerate on your resume or Linked In profile. You will be found out! 

I’ve always been a big fan of the saying that with change comes opportunity.  And it really is so true.  If Pandemic hadn’t come to its unfortunate demise, I would not have met my wonderful Blue Tongue family.  When I think of all the awesome people and fantastic times I had at BTE, I realise how lucky I am that the fates worked out that way!  And while I only recently left Blue Tongue of my own accord to pursue a new life in Canada, I have to reiterate that it was a really hard thing to do. I was very happy there, and could have quite easily stayed on if I didn’t have Vancouver calling my name so strongly :) 

The current state of the Australian games industry is a sad affair compared to a few years ago, especially when looking at the standard console development model which kept it thriving for so long.  But with so much talent out there now, start-ups and indie companies galore, and many new and varied ways of looking at game development and genres, there is a wealth of opportunity available to us!  With the strong Aussie dollar and declining share prices, Australia may not be the best place for foreign-owned companies to outsource their development to, but I think this opens the doors for our own experienced and talented developers to really push the boundaries and see what the Australian games industry can do independently of foreign investors. Between the successes we’ve already seen from Firemint, Halfbrick, etc, and numerous other iOS/Android and social game start-ups (3 Blokes Studios, Rocket Bunny Games, and The Voxel Agents alone have roots with ex-Pandemites!) I’m quite excited to see what comes next out of all of this, actually.

So this is the message that I’m passing on to all my retrenched ex-colleagues. Good things come out of change, always. Look out for new and exciting avenues, keep your eyes open, remember you really can go anywhere or do anything. This could be the perfect boot up the butt that you needed to refocus your career and remember your passions.  So go for it!

Oh, and at least we have a new wank fun word to add to the pile.  Right-sizing!  :/