So what it sounds like, is if you’re working for a studio and they partner with NetEase, start looking for a new job. The layoffs are basically a certainty.
“We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game,” NetEase continued. “We’re excited to deliver new super hero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base.”
Translation: We’re gonna monetize the fuck out of our playerbase.
It’s shitty but to be honest also to be expected. Why would a Chinese company pay American devs significantly higher salaries after game launch instead of getting a China based team for a fraction of the cost. Americans are good but not that good
Developing that money more like it.
I mean, what did anyone expect? Americans employees are disproportionally expensive compared to their output. They aren’t just gonna flatly say that
It’s not without irony that the bougie class that ridiculed blue collar workers once the industry offshored is now crying Wolf when their jobs are offshored.
*Why don’t you learn programming now that your factory closed. Oh wait…
Take a page from the factory workers you look down upon and unionise, as in, proper multi sector union. Make investing and profiting from your country predicated on giving workers a fair share. When your garbage ppl go on strike, you strike too. When the auto plant closes you strike too. When nurses ask for better conditions for their patients, you strike too.
Yeah reading the end of the article it seems Net Ease is moving a lot of their overseas development back home toward China. It makes sense. From an American perspective we’ve been told for years by the news that our education system is lagging behind foreign countries. Why pay more when you can get better results domestically. I mean it sucks for the six contractors who were let go, but this is a multifaceted global problem.
