Major Update Speculation Thread v12: Layoffs Edition - Games

One second, Bay Raitt was the guy who worked on the grordbort stuff right. RIP: Chances of the Scout/Medic getting laser guns. 2012-2013

No more Imagine they will pass on the 15min film idea? omomg

wait- matthew and keith must have been working on the new 15 minute video right? also why would you lay off a lead artist, i hope he just went off willingly to do his own thing. man, being laid off from valve must be the worst, there's like no better prospects after valve unless you see more value in working for yourself.

[QUOTE=Erfly;39578164]One second, Bay Raitt was the guy who worked on the grordbort stuff right. RIP: Chances of the Scout/Medic getting laser guns. 2012-2013[/QUOTE] NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAACK

thread music [video=youtube;oIdPPVkkHYs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIdPPVkkHYs[/video]

I will always blame Dota 2 for this. :( /emotions

Of course there's a reason for all of this and unless someone fucked up giga-royally somewhere along the line, it's not money. They have enough of that to last a few lifetimes.

If the 15-minute "film" is a pilot for an adult swim series as rumored, animation may be taken care of by Titmouse. Maybe the folks there learned SFM and were willing to do it for less? I hope not, most SFM makers... aren't that good. Even Story of a Sentry was pretty poor, looking back. Lots of robotic movements and floaty, lifeless limbs.

[QUOTE=wunderufl;39578087]That is a disturbing number of animators being let go. Wasn't there some female animator who gave a talk recently and hinted at working on animating for TF2 for some new "special project"?[/QUOTE] Fuck, oh man. Jesus Christ! She's killing them all off one by one! She just using "layoffs" as a cover!

[QUOTE=ned_ballad;39577973]Moby Francke, Half-Life 2 character designer and Team Fortress 2 art lead Jason Holtman, director of business development for Steam and Steamworks Keith Huggins, character animator and animator for Team Fortress 2 “Meet the” video series Tom Leonard, software engineer for Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead Realm Lovejoy, artist for Half-Life 2, Portal, and Left 4 Dead. She was also part of the original DigiPen-turned-Valve team that created Narbacular Drop, the inspiration for Portal Marc Nagel, test lead for Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and patch updates Bay Raitt, animator for Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal Elan Ruskin, engine programmer for Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Matthew Russell, animator for Team Fortress 2 “Meet the” video series :([/QUOTE] Out of the bunch, the strangest name on the list is Bay Raitt. This is the guy who made the facial animations for Gollum in LOTR while he was at WETA This is the guy who was the lead dev for Source Film Maker This is the guy who contributed heavily on the "Meet the" class vids. He's simply too valuable to be let go. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's found something else he's wanted to pursue...something that even Valve couldn't provide. Considering the amount of animators that left as well, I think they left with him. For Bay Raitt leaving to pursue something else, this is still strange considering Valve's "no managers, work on projects you are interested in" angle. If he was interested in doing something, Valve def has the time and resources to get any project he wanted to pursue done.

Maybe they are just disgusted at Valve's recent layoffs. I know I am.

maybe theres a sort of sensationalizing with this news like it says layoffs but maybe many of them left on their own accord

All leaving on the same day? It's possible, I suppose, but...

[QUOTE=Bling1907;39578188]I will always blame Dota 2 for this. :( /emotions[/QUOTE] Valve had to "sacrifice" a few employers to release the new hero for the test client. It will happen again! Probably. Or they just left Valve for private reasons.

[QUOTE=Bling1907;39578188]I will always blame Dota 2 for this. :( /emotions[/QUOTE] Valve employees realized they love Dota 2 so much they want to pursue loving it full-time instead of having to stop playing for a few hours to code stuff.

[QUOTE=wunderufl;39578316]Valve employees realized they love Dota 2 so much they want to pursue loving it full-time instead of having to stop playing for a few hours to code stuff.[/QUOTE] It's not like they had to -almost- kill their long time runner for it. Or maybe they had to, because of reasons.

[QUOTE=1Eevee1;39578301]All leaving on the same day? It's possible, I suppose, but...[/QUOTE] They could have left a while ago and we are just learning it now all at once?

i mean i understand if they stripped their hardware and mobile departments, but whats with the important tf2 people

Maybe they are all leaving to do something together. I can see them make a small film studio together and be pretty successful.

Well, all the Meet the team videos have been released, It really anoys me the fact they also made animations (which is one of the things tf2 lacks the most) [QUOTE=Bling1907;39578188]I will always blame Dota 2 for this. :( /emotions[/QUOTE] It's a cycle, they always send most of the staff to the newest project L4D, portal 2, now dota Dota 2 gets more hate because, well, it's dota, and it's taking more time and getting more attention than the other projects [QUOTE=Erfly;39578164]One second, Bay Raitt was the guy who worked on the grordbort stuff right. RIP: Chances of the Scout/Medic getting laser guns. 2012-2013[/QUOTE] :suicide: [editline]13th February 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=St. Burke;39578358]i mean i understand if they stripped their hardware and mobile departments, but whats with the important tf2 people[/QUOTE] They want to kill tf2, slowly, and without people noticing

The Shred Alert (taunt) - Harness the unholy power of the Dark One (Yngwie Malmsteen) and crush your opponents with blistering riffs, lava-hot licks and emotion-packed power ballads! YESSS

Wait, what if all these animators getting layed off has something to do with the SFM leak? Sorry if this is retarded, just...

[QUOTE=leonthefox;39578381]They want to kill free money, slowly, and without people noticing[/QUOTE] Makes sense.

The Brütal Bouffant - This brutally heavy all-class sideburns and mullet combo was hand-sheared from the manes of Icelandic headbangers, woven with sigil-encrusted knitting needles of occult significance, and air-mailed straight out of hell. BEST PROMOS WITH THE TOTAL WARS ONE :O

Mullet-Scout :v:

Layoffs and Brutal Legend Promos... Looks like I have a new Hat Wearing Man to work on besides whatever else Valve has in store for later.

*Items will be released on Thursday afternnoon(2/14) SOOOOON

I'm gonna' be honest, Valve's been very odd as of late. I mean they've been hinting at and participating in a number of weird projects. From the Steambox to the rumoured collaboration with the film director (which still makes no sense to me because he's a movie director, why go to him for game creation?). I just want episode 3.

an action item promo taunt?? ???

It seem to be a possible taunt kill :o.