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Can somebody explain why game makers don't start their own companies together? (programming.dev)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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It seems like every other week a game studio is massively laying off employees; sometimes after years of development. What I'm reading is that it's a quick way to lower expenses and pad the investors' pockets, flooding the market with developers and reducing their value, to then hire them back a few months later at lower salaries.

So, what's holding back gamedevs from banding together to either unionize or start their own companies with better conditions that the purely money-driven studios? Why aren't they trying to be better? Nobody willing to invest in them? Does starting a company together mean they will now be the bosses who have to answer to the investors, ensure returns, and fire employees? Is the world just an entire shit-cake?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (25 children)

Beyond just game studios, why aren't there more employee owned companies?

When Starbucks was unionizing I made the comment that if I were the corporation I would just get out and let the employees run it. I got flamed for this attitude. What is so terrible about employee owned companies?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Employee owned companies are more stable in economic downturns but they also require much more diversification to replace the owner/manager roles where there is actually shit to do. Big item being the book keeping it's simple enough in theory but in practice even smaller companies can take hours just to understand where you're starting from.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm not following on why manager roles are different from traditional companies.

The book keeping? You mean splitting the profit? Why wouldn't you assume everyone has a % stake?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Not splitting the profits, tracking bills, making sure they're all paid on time, making sure the company is getting paid on time depending on your business plan, tracking any special taxes you gotta pay, tracking price increases in long term contracts, list goes on

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