Majority of Immortals of Aveum Studio Reportedly Furloughed

This needs to be considered a criminal activity honestly. It basically is a way to bully staff into quitting so they don’t have to be paid benefits. Any executive that is ok with this should be thrown into the sewer and left to rot. Just lay them off like a human being.

And this folks exemplifies why many young and talented creators don't want to join the video game industry.

This truly bums me out. I bought Immortals of Aveum and while it’s not the best game in the world it’s a new IP in a sea of sequels, remasters, and remakes. I hope these folks land on their feet. Meanwhile, I’ll go back for the platinum trophy when I find the time.

"We're very proud and supportive of our developers...unless they don't make us money. Sure we got in there and ruined each game with our focus groups but it's their fault not ours. Anyway talking this much was tiring, I need another 100k raise."

I’m all for supporting new IP, but they positioned Immortals of Aveum in one of the worst ways possible. $70, huge budget, in one of the busiest months of the year (BG3, AC6, Sea of Stars)

To me, we simply don’t know enough here to really judge anything. Given the right circumstances and if communicated and executed effectively, being furloughed isn’t the monster it sounds like. Benefits and/or unemployment can often be collected and there should be a timeframe discussed. It can be much more preferable to a layoff.

@Jimmer-jammer it's nice to hear a voice of reason for once. It's an unfortunate situation for anybody to find themselves in but at least they have not lost their jobs and can return when it's possible if they so desire. There is nothing stopping them from finding employment else where if that's an avenue they wish to pursue. I wish them all good luck and although immortals is a bit rough in places I actually really like the simple gameplay and old school shooter action. I can't wait to see what the new update brings.

@Northern_munkey They might still have their job but they're not getting paid, nor getting any severance payment. How is that a positive?

@AlekseyVolkov Who, Gina Torres? She’s awesome! What’s your issue with her?

Its weird its legal to abuse your workers so hard in some countries. Here in the Netherlands we had 0 hours contracts but if you worked a longer time for like let's say 20 hours they would have to look at the avarage and pay those hours when you get fired. Now thank God they made these contracts illegal but now they employments agencies from another country to abuse the foreign workers. Its disgusting to see how much abuse there is with workers even in a country like the Netherlands.

@Ainu20 I never said it was. They still have a job and are free to seek employment elsewhere. A lot of people don't even have that.

@Frmknst

“furloughed”: British English. The act of healthy privileged middle class professionals, sitting in their garden drinking Prosecco and ordering OLED TV’s from Amazon, funded by the tax of less healthy and poor working classes, who go to work in factories and shops and die from a virus, whilst earning less than the professionals are getting from the state to sit around chilling at their expense!🙂

Slightly different to the usage in this story!

I started it tonight and it absolutely hooked me straight from the beginning I was down with the Oliver twist vibes with an avenging tale.

Marketing for this game was horrible for me. Anytime I saw it. It was always showing gameplay which is fine and I thought it always looked fine but it never hooked me.

So far I’ve liked the characters, the world ,the graphics, the story, the gameplay, the exploration, the puzzles and I’ve liked the platforming.

If I knew I would’ve enjoyed it this much back when it launched I would’ve bought it day one or shortly after.

@SgtTruth Ah yes, the good old time in history where you either got to go to work and earn your wage as normal, or got to stay at home and get 80% of your wage. Not that I'm bitter of course 😂

@OmegaStriver I haven't played it yet, but the whole thing gives me Kingdoms of Amalur vibes, in that it was a big, ambitious project with grandiose narrative aspirations but always looked incredibly generic in (gameplay) trailers.

That game ended up failing and costing the studio dearly, but was actually a very solid experience with some excellent gameplay elements and became more and more appreciated by the gaming public as time went on. It's generally looked back on with fondness nowadays.

So I wonder if this is, or will be, a similar story at some point in the future.

@AlekseyVolkov nobody mentioned her skin color but you. Are you ok? Even still what does her skin color have to do with anything? Do you dislike her because of her skin color? Why?

Anyway, she’s awesome because of roles like Zoe Washburn in Firefly/Serenity, her cameos in Xena, cleopatra 2025, her work in the matrix movies (even though I didn’t really like those movies), her video game and cartoon VA work, Suits, 911 lone star (granted I like the original 911 better). For some American Millennials, and even Gen Z given her cartoon work , we grew up with her work. She’s awesome because of her wide range of works and acting skills. She has a cool sense of humor too. She can sing as well. You don’t sound like you know anything about her or her work at all.

And what’s wrong with “strong women”? Women are varied and her range goes from drama to comedy to scifi. Not sure how playing a “strong woman” as you seemed to type cast her in is “bad acting”. Are male actors that play strong men bad actors? Or do you feel only male actors can have such roles? I mean you do you, I’m sure she doesn’t care, bills are paid at her house.

Anyway, I do hope the employees land ok.

@Ainu20 LOL, I really liked Kingdom of Amalur as well.

Really no much job security for a developer these days! What kind of message does all of this send to future talent? Hey if you choose game developer as a profession best not try and come up in the world or mortgage a house for you and your family or buy a car cause your job be tooken away from you at any time. One day their going to want these people again and they won't forget. Used and throwed away

I downloaded the game and was surprised at how "young adult" it was. Really reminded me of a licensed game, but I don't think that property is a thing outside of the one game? That's a feeling I haven't experienced before, so maybe it did do something new...

@LikelySatan you have failed to understand my post, and got it all backwards. Read it again.

In the UK, workers on minimum wage (approx £20k per year) had to continue working during the pandemic. In stores, care industry and factories. Many were older or in high risk groups and lost their lives.

Meanwhile their tax was paying healthy young affluent professionals from wealthy privileged backgrounds, £25k a year to sit at home in the garden relaxing, buying PS5’s and OLED TV’s.

Ie the wealthy and privileged were getting £5K more a year to sit at home, than the poor were getting to work full time and risk their lives.

That is what “furlough” refers to. To criticise it, is to “punch up”, not down.

Very different to the concept of furlough being described for these video game developers, but that’s where the word “furlough” is most commonly known.

@SgtTruth my bad man, I'll need to take your word for it.

@SgtTruth that's such a weird thing to say. That's the reason that people go to college. To get a degree and avoid such jobs (though plenty of people do all sorts of jobs before getting a position in their field). Not everyone can go to college because they lack the abilities or the means to study, but it's how capitalism works (for better or worse). It's one of the many perks that people that land great jobs have.

@Lexluther23 the message it sends is try to save some money, because there is no job security. So, before you get a loan, make sure you've saved enough for a rainy day.

@SgtTruth

That's quite the line of nonsense you've attributed to " furlough"
Actual dribble