Yes, they’re a publisher. They supposedly have/had a small team working on a Blade Runner game, but they have yet to release a game they developed on their own. Publishing is their thing, so Annapurna Interactive is kinda fucked. I mean, jeez, it looks bad, I mean they all walked out.
LOL, they say they’ll replace the staff and honor existing contracts. It’s gonna be shit quality. All their partners will be better off severing ties, reclaiming paid funds, and going with the new company that inevitably forms from the department previously known as Annapurna Interactive.
They likely had some outlandish request or policy that was anathema to the department’s mission, and just assumed that they would cave. Seems like good leadership stuck to their principles, and the good leaders were followed by teams who weren’t willing to lose that.
If the owner is smart, they’ll backtrack, make concessions when hiring everyone back, and learn from their fuckup. In reality, I hope the new company that forms from the exodus finds fast success.
Every single time I have played an Annapurna published game, I had a fantastic time. I won’t say that everything they did was equal, but everything they did was entertaining, and thought-provoking.
I can’t quite follow the legalese required to parse EXACTLY what this means going forward, but I am sure it is not good, and that is disappointing.
Ahh fuck, stuff being published by them was usually a decent sign that it'd be interesting in some way. Best of luck to the actual team, I hope they can put something new together
This is true! But I think the “good” (?) news there is Annapurna Studios is not going anywhere, and they retained all the IP their subsidiary holds. Sucks for the former Annapurna Interactive folks that they can’t bring the IP with them, but c’est la vie.
The investigation found that Barrett called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio, suggesting that he could help advance their careers, according to two people familiar with the case.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, Barrett said that throughout nearly 25 years at Bungie, “I feel that I have always conducted myself with integrity and been respectful and supportive of my colleagues, many of whom I consider my closest friends. I never understood my communications to be unwanted and I would have never thought they could possibly have made anyone feel uncomfortable. If anyone ever felt that way about their interaction with me, I am truly sorry.”
Uh…
That might hold water if it was just casual flirting (though you should seriously be trained at any company near that scale that even that with anyone in your “chain of command” puts them in a really bad spot). But not for (alleged) open quid pro quo.
Seriously, I just finished my annual “preventing harassment’ training and there’s a whole section on power differential and how just asking puts employees in a bad spot. Just…don’t.
It’s one thing to say “your hair looks nice today, Susan.” I don’t think 99% of people would take that as anything beyond an innocent compliment.
Asking to play truth or dare is another thing entirely, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the guy saying that, probably isn’t going to just be complimenting Tina’s earrings
I knew a dude who worked at Activision Blizzard and his description of his workplace sounded horrid. The weird part was his fawning bright eyed love for the office culture. He viewed it as a perfect dream workplace. I don’t even know it there’s a takeaway from all that. It just always struck me as notably odd
bloomberg.com
Aktywne