Gamasutra: Zenimax alleges that it provided Oculus with intellectual property and expertise from its employees, most notably from Carmack, under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement that forbids anyone from using it without approval from Zenimax.
The company further alleges that Oculus violated that agreement multiple times, most notably in March when it announced plans to be acquired by Facebook to the tune of roughly $2 billion in cash and stock.
Zenimax wants some of that money, and it's now demanding a trial by jury to determine whether or not its claims are legally viable. In an effort to better elucidate the issue, we've taken the liberty of reading through the legal complaint and highlighting some of Zenimax's notable allegations against Oculus.
Microsoft is laying off hundreds of employees at Xbox, with 1900 jobs cut across Activision Blizzard, Xbox Game Studios, and ZeniMax Media.
This actually pissed me off. I keep thinking of how Microsoft's PR was claiming that they had gotten the support form several workers unions... Everyone should have seen this coming. Also, people have a baby about Sony laying off 50 people. Those same people will now explain why laying off thousands of people is a good thing.
@Eonjay
Also what's scary is this is on top of the 10 000 layoffs Microsoft announced in January 2023 as well as the additional layoffs they had in June 2023. The instability is palpable!
@Eonjay
Sure, let me help you out, bud. MS is a company. A companies sole purpose is to make $ in exchange for providing a service or goods. MS recently made a huge purchase. In that, they have to A: recoup the outgoing $ they just spent and B: Get rid of overlapping positions. Thats life. Sure it sucks and you hate to see it happen but move along and find another job
@Vengeance
Obviously the separations are a result of the acquisitions but I personally think this is being accelerated by AI.
@InUrFoxHole
What you described is not the purpose of a company, but rather a corporation. The point I was making is that Microsoft was saying this purchase would benefit all involved. People were claiming that the purchase is what the workers needed to create a better work environment. This was all BS.
@Eonjay
Microsoft has created a better workspace by making them work somewhere else. /s
@TiredGamer
A corporation is a specific type of company. And within that you can actually have a non-profit corporation. What makes for profit corporations (and specifically traded for profit corps) unique is that they are companies who exist primarily to maximize the returns for investors. So when InUrFoxHole says this is characteristic of 'companies'.. I am just saying that his statement isn't technically accurate. It doesn't apply to ALL companies in other words.
@Eonjay
I hear ya man. But if you're MS you can't just blurt out... we're gonna make cuts. Again I know it's scrappy and I side with the workers but they had to know this was gonna happen. I can't remember the last purchase where 100% of the workers stayed.
Adults understand this is how acquisitions work. If n4g wasn't mostly children, and worse, fanboy children they'd understand this. When companies acquire another company thousands of jobs often get cut. Adults understand this. Microsoft even talked about creating a large team that could be used throughout the gaming division back when they acquired Bethesda. A team like that eliminates multiple positions from a new company. The people who lost their job will receive 6 months compensation and will most likely be in a new job 3 months in pocketing 3 months or more of pay. Learn how the world works kids. It is crashing down around you.
the woe of day-1 subscription service, for every studio they own they have to either get a proportional number of new subscribers, increase the subscription fee, or just outright cutting jobs to offset additional hiring costs. At least with delayed library like PS Plus you can get release window profit from early buyers.
@Optimus If you think this cost cutting won't trickle down and affect the games they produce ( you know, the stuff you allegedly play as a NON-SHAREHOLDER ) then you are an idiot.
***Are you a gamer or shareholder ***
Ignorance of the industry will only lead us to where they want us, not where we want.
@optimus well I mean it’s simple enough.. additional studios means additional salaries to be paid, but because of day 1 gamepass the game purchases are severely impacted. You need to fill that gap in the normal product cycle somehow..
People always have the option to not support Microsoft.
I didn't buy Starfield even though I was excited for it. I don't buy game pass even though it has games on it I want to play.
People do get to decide where the industry goes, that's why there aren't loot boxes in single player games and kinect got kicked to the curb.
***that's why there aren't loot boxes in single player games and kinect got kicked to the curb. ***
But there are SP games with loot boxes...
Counter argument is that the textbook reason for acquisition is economies of scale. You can make more money by reducing overhead in redundant PR, HR, Legal, etc...
Will be interesting if we get visibility into what types of roles were impacted, that will be more telling I think. I'm not surprised there's post merger layoffs though...
And now we're starting to get that visibility. Physical Xbox games appear to be on the chopping block... This is a big deal if true
https://twitter.com/JezCord...
Physical games in general is going the way of the dodo. Im seeing less and less physical media in stores where they sold movies and music... games was next. Why have a division whose job it is to make something on a disc when discs are going away? PC havent had discs for over a decade... consoles and handhelds are heading the same direction and will take people with them, kicking and screaming, regardless.
I cant really recall when the last time i inserted a disc into any of my systems. I swapped out the lasers in my saturn, dreamcast, and gamecube for ODE. I have a modded og xbox with tons of games ripped to it, same with a PS2 modded with a hdd also with games ripped to it. I use the PS Portal to play 4/5 games and my steam deck to play PS1/NES/SNES/N64/NeoGeo/Genesi s/TG16 as well as Xcloud. Im practically all digital now anyway. Convenience is a hell of a drug, maybe even more addicting than collecting shelf candy was.
PS3 is prob the only one I still use discs for but that will change soon enough.
@darth
Even if that so, why start shifting away from physical in the middle of a console generation?
Beyond the actual impact to those that DO buy physical and happen to have an XSX, bigger deal is the perceived retail presence of the brand compared to it's competition. Xbox would be taking the L in every retail outlet in every country. Kinda a big deal if this is really happening. Obviously we don't know anything concrete yet though
@dumahim... because, by the time the next one starts, people will already be acclimated to it. Sony was already doing their part little by little with the current trend of collector editions not including discs even though they may include steelbook cases. This is their way of saying it is inclusive to those with and without the optical drive on their PS5.
By making them disc neutral will make it easier for people to accept the inevitable change over to no more discs and they will be happy with all the other stuff those editions do come with as a trade off. It starts with the CE but then it will progress into the standard games as well. Getting cases with just a DL code instead of a disc. We already know Nintendo switch games like that.
@crazyCoconuts
Looking at stores in my own area, Xbox doesn't even have a section anywhere near as big as Nintendo or Playstation, it's almost non-existant. I wouldn't be surprised if they had been planning this for a while because that would explain the lack of presence in stores.
@darthv72
I cannot think of any Nintendo Switch case I've picked up that didn't have a physical disc/cartridge in it, that must be an incredibly small number of games, then again, I'm only buying their first party games and exclusives because I can't buy them anywhere else.
Gotta help pay that $375 million in compensation to Bobby Kotick when he left in late December somehow /s
Time sure flies it’s 2027 already?
.
Edit: I guess in Microsoft eyes it’s better to cut them down in batches than 100,000+ on 2027 🤦🏿
...but they ARE profitable. They also don't need X amount of overlapping employees. This is pretty standard stuff with mergers. The employees who are doing the same jobs as others already in the company are the first to go. I had it happen to myself several years ago. I went and got another job.
Chances are these people will be fine and who knows... they may form a new company and get right back to making games, or cleaning toilets, or filing HR paperwork. It all depends on the job they performed before being laid off. Not all of those affected were game developers, many of which just worked for the company doing non developing stuff... keep that in mind.
Activision/Blizzard has 13,000 employees, Bethesda has approx 2300. So 15,300 total... They laid off 1,900. That's almost 12.5% of the total workforce of both Activision and Zenimax/Bethesda combined. More than 1 out of every 10 heads got cut...
^^its over 22,000 employees across the totality of MS/ABK/ZB and losing another 1900 will still leave them with over 20k. And like I said, not all of them are game devs but other overlapping employees. It sux when it happens (I know personally) but it is what it is.
That's still nearly 1 out of every 10 heads (8.6%)... that isn't a small number. It's such a large number, that it is unlikely that they're all just janitors and office workers like you seem to be trying to imply.
The abuse goes on both ends. The answer is that Microsoft offers some tools but tradeoff is that whatever tools are available will reduce need for human labor. This deals with many lives so it’s based on the metric as well as implementation of those metrics, watching those who implement it, to portray an accurate ratio of labor and productivity.
I don’t like corporate greed but being on the workbench I have seen slackers too for whom I just want to work harder and self-initiate.
I know. It's like having the number one selling console by a large margin and laying off people. "Clutching my pearls"
What does profitability have to do with any of this? Out of all the layoffs happening recently. This was the one that was most expected. Layoffs almost always happen after a big acquisition. It's not because of finances. It's because there's a lot of overlap in the job positions.
I was hoping it wouldn't be too bad because they want to keep Activision Blizzard as a separate entity.
But I guess when it's a 70 billion dollar acquisition. There's inevitably going to be a lot more overlap than normal.
Sucks for those that were affected. Hope they land on their feet quickly.
How many years do you think it would take to pay off 70 billion with the salaries of the people who lost their jobs?
And let's not even bring up the fact that Microsoft was getting all these games anyways, so these people lost their jobs for essentially no reason.
@Einhander1972
The layoffs were gonna happen regardless. Have you seen industry news lately? Everyone is having layoffs. They Would it have been as bad as this? Who knows. But they were against unionization while Microsoft supports it and it turns out, None of the Union workers were affected. So I'm gonna say it would have been just as bad if not worse.
Activision Blizzard was on a downwards spiral. In the next few years we'll see if MS can turn it around for them.
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and Blizzard’s chief designer Allen Adham also departing, according a new report of Tom Warren.
It’s entirely possible. Remember Nokia?
This raises the total Xbox layoffs since ACTI announcement to 11,900.
“Move along, nothing to see here”
@zaanan Nokia is exactly a case where MS spent a substantial amount on an acquisition and then proceeded to pull the plug.
Nah Mike Ybarra only just said in November they would have to drag him out to make him leave, he's in for the long haul...... now 3 months later he has left its fishy
Have to make that 70-80 Billion Dollars worth of acquisitions back. Why so surprised? The writing was always on the wall for everybody to read. Wonder how much of the restructuring is geared towards their third party publishing plans?
Take this with a grain of salt; according to Jez Corden Microsoft has also shut down departments dedicated to bringing Xbox games to physical retail ... which if you've seen the digital-only Xbox console leaks ... well, you can get an idea of where Microsoft is going here.
Things are changing across the board for physical media... Its been declining for movies and music, games were next.
its absolutely horrific for those1900 people.
the 3 trillion dollar company "has to" fire so many people, and for what?. for a "sustainable cost structure"
thats almost 10% of their staff lol
There is no justification for it. They have the money to afford literally anything in the world.
To cancel Blizzard's game six years in development is the twist of the knife when everyone's already down.
For smaller companies that are running with tight costs, layoffs are one thing. What Microsoft did today is a complete other and benefits the big wigs at the expense of everyone else.
Good on Mike Ybarra for leaving. Phil Spencer should follow his example and look at everything that's happened to the developers impacted by his decisions.
Deep sixing an acquisition's game deep into development is the most MS move ever.
They Fable Legends'd themselves again.
They're the WB-cancelling-finished-movies of the gaming industry.
"To cancel Blizzard's game six years in development is the twist of the knife when everyone's already down."
I'm really surprised by that. Spencer doesn't usually cancel anything already in development. Even Redfall, even though the devs wanted them to cancel it. But then again, Redfall. Maybe that game's failure made them change their mind. With it being 6 years deep in dev though it doesn't make sense to cancel it. Pretty stupid decision.
That's what happens when you buy a company that's in the same business as you. There's a lot of people doing the same job, so they're going to save money by getting rid of people that aren't needed anymore.
@dumahim Ive heard that before and worked in a job where they merged with another company let go of their newly acquired staff and expected me to take on a whole host of extra work but I was already at 110 percent capacity and not the only one the outcome was morale dropped to an all time low and good staff left in droves.
I make you right Taco. What this hammers to me is that sustainability issues are due to weak hardware sales and weak gamespass concurrent subs. Something has to give. I definitely see them pivoting to becoming a 3rd party publisher.
The results of industry consolidation, the only people that benefit are CEO's and shareholders... gamers and the workforce gets ****ed
I can see way more cuts in the short term too as parts of what where competing publishers in the industry merge, and lets not forget the introduction of AI, MS is set to be a big pusher of that.
Yeah this is terrible. MS has the money and resources to support that staff. None of these large companies need to do any of these layoffs.
People said this was going to happen after they acquire them but not this many. Makes you think that Sony is doing a better job with not acquiring but just partnering up with studios and funding the games.
Oh it was happening with Sony too... Bungie, Media Molecule, insomniac... all of them lost people after being acquired by Sony. And it will happen again because its inevitable when you bring on another company that has people like you do. No need for multiples of the same job.
Huh? Sony has not only laid off plenty of employees, they've also shut down 1 or 2 of the new studios they just bought.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was able to try out the Playstation VR 2 at CES and was "blown away" by the experience.
Yeah, you've got to be thinking he's used plenty of headsets. Not a bad person to impress!
True. And this PSVR seems to be pushing the envelope for VR with its marriage of eye tracking and foveated rendering. I have a feeling the fans are in for a nice surprise.
This is the guy who recently created a VR headset that kills you when you lose right?
Was that a joke? I read that and was like is it april fools? Lol I ask because even creating such a thing would be considered a crime.
For the people that try to downplay the original PSVR's success by comparing to total PS4 units, he also said:
"The first PSVR was arguably the biggest success of the generation, this version will do even better".
🤣🤣🤣 spec wise it weaker then what on the market already so, gotta be talking about games.
And he says that like it's a bad thing. Aren't games the most important part?
Pay no attention to the troll and they'll go back under their bridge.
it has the highest resolution of any currently available headset. Is the only one with eye tracking or foveated rendering... only one with full haptic feedback... sit down.
And it works, sonyslave has 10 replays. Some guys like him and Orchad love the attention when they talk negative about Sony cous they get a rush out of it.
technically it'll be the most advanced VR headset when it's released. Sure there will newer headsets that push the envelope further, but this will be a huge step up from what we have currently.
PSVR2 has the highest specs of any headset outside of the $1500 and above headsets out there which are not aimed at gamers, and even gives those a run for their money due to marriage of foveated rendering+Eye tracking.
It also has specs that the other headsets (even the $1500+ headsets) dont have which are game changers. Foveated rendering+eye tracking, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers.
PSVR2 is the biggest launch in VR and you could tell by the way it was treated at CES by the press and crowd. It also won headset of the show at CES.
Overall PSVR2 specs are well above anything out there currently.
I'm debating on getting the PSVR2 but not having backward compatibility is currently my roadblock
What game(s) specifically are you wanting? Loads of devs have confirmed they're working on patches, many for free, some we don't know yet.
I'd like to hear if this is happening for Superhot, but nothing as of yet.
Yeah, by release they have 30 and there are about 100 games in development.
That a sign that developers believe in PSVR2..,,
I was in the same boat(and still ticked about it), but I caved. I just love tech toys too much to hold that grudge I guess.
While it would be nice it's a silly road block imo. Maybe some devs will do a free upgrade or a patch or something but I wouldn't say eh I can't play my psvr games with my psvr2 so f that. It seems this one is gonna do good in the games department so there won't be a shortage or anything.
businessinsider writes: "His exit came on Friday, the people said. Carmack, who has been openly critical of Meta's advancements in AR and VR, core to its metaverse ambitions, posted to the company's internal Workplace forum about his decision to leave."
I hope he starts up another new company and can get another new game engine on the market too.
He's apparently focusing on AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, AKA trying to get AI to be sentient. Which according to Ray Kurzweil could happen by 2029.
Then I need to look more into this because it sounds like the backbone tech I need to make Projekt Monika a reality.
AI advances are really starting to open my eyes to us not even having scratched the surface. But with the field itself growing exponentially and stuff I'd never considered before like putting AI to work finding cures for major diseases - it's exciting but also kinda scary tbh.
More on topic - sentient AI. Creating a digital soul so to speak. Spooky in a what have we done and is it good or bad kind of way.
He is like: "Im done with F#@#$%NG nonsense, pff Metaverse da funk I was thinking!!, Im out!! :D"
Yeah he put a smile in his face too in the end.
I hope he goes back to traditional games.
VR gaming is a flop and the Metaverse has (fortunately) completely failed to take off.
VR has much more potential than flat screen games. Just need to tap the right market and fund AAA development. Meta is a rotten company though so good to see him leave.
That's where it becomes a catch-22 problem though. Very few companies (if any) are going to spend AAA amounts of dollars on VR if the market isn't there - and the market isn't there.
If it was the future of gaming we'd see the big publishers getting involved - and basically none of them are.
Agree on Meta 100% - horrible company and I really do hope FB (and social media) dies some day soon.
There will never be AAA games until VR sells at the rate of mainstream consoles. Understand that even if Sony do sell 3.5 million VR in the next 2 or 3 years like they hope, that isn't ever going to get any commitments for AAA budget. No investor would ever sign off on that.
The adoption has been terrible and the market basically non-existent as a result of that.
We're now 10 years into PC VR gaming, 6 years into console VR gaming and it just hasn't taken off - the reality is, most consumers don't care for it.
Even with a huge install base like the PS4, only a few million adopted it, about 3-4%.
He only thinks it in his mind. Because Microsoft isn't offering "high fidelity VR." Only Sony is offering "high fidelity VR" because they actually deliver.
I just read today that Honda is moving forward in using VR and has vehicles that were built in VR without an actual real vehicle.
Orchard just doesn't know any better. He claims he's a PlayStation fan but doesn't want Sony to succeed in growing the VR market. But he's okay with Microsoft buying up the industry and game pass. Tell you where his mind is actually at. Or he has investment in it.
But Carmack leaving is only that he was frustrated with higher ups. But he's very interested in AI. And that's a good field of investment too.
If any of the big 3 had sales were like VR for their console, they would fold like the Saturn. Right now VR is nothing more then a high priced peripheral and no one should expect AAA for it.
By the way , I am one who would like to see VR succeed, but it has a long way to go before that ever happens.
@Apocalypse
"Only Sony is offering "high fidelity VR" because they actually deliver."
And the reality is, from what we've seen thus far, the vast majority, about 97% of Sony customers don't care about it in the slightest. They can't even sell out of PSVR2 devices, which are supposedly in short supply. Better to just invest in traditional experiences instead.
"I just read today that Honda is moving forward in using VR and has vehicles that were built in VR without an actual real vehicle."
Yes. And that helps gaming how? I've said time and time again that AR/VR is great for enterprise. Just not great for gaming.
The lack of customers, lack of customer interest, and lack of AAA game companies investing & AAA game experiences being crafted says everything we need to know about the state and future of gaming VR.
When uncle philly announced true vr experience and demoed fallout 4 in one x, some xboys sings different tune..
'Just not great for gaming.'.
That's your heavily biased opinion. You are in every VR thread trying to project your doom and gloom. Why?
There are many genres where VR is at least equal to or better than flat. VR in a driving game destroys the flat experience.
FPS, horror games, even Tetris is better in VR.
You speak about AAA as if it's the only consideration, moving goalposts.
Capcom.
Are they not a AAA publisher?
Is RE4 not a AAA game? RE7? RE8?
The Metaverse is one big flop but VR gaming on its own still has steam and growth potential. Remember Mark and his Meta wants you to associate gaming with the meta verse the gaming industry and its large number of users has the capacity to sway the opinion of the mass market.
Incidentally, Meta is haemorrhaging money and expertise that’s what this article is highlighting.
See, the problem orchard is that you see what you want to see. Sony sold PSVR at profit. They made money on software. They made money on a 10 year old peripheral. Yeah. It didn't sell 100 million. How many games sell bucket loads when they cost almost 10 times less than PSVR was at launch? That's why the new headset is coming. Before, there was no console VR. There is now. To grow the market, you must keep pushing and not be afraid like Microsoft. Facebook, HTC, ByteDance, Varjo, Valve, Sony, etc are growing the gaming market. Did flat gaming sell millions overnight? No. It took time. Just like any other product. Fads fade. VR is not a fad because it has potential in many areas. Sony doesn't want PS VR 2 to be a Kinect. A fad. Millions on advertising but no substance. It's why PS Move still exists and works on PS5. And Kinect is dead. Move had substance. PSVR had substance. Which is why PS VR 2 exists.
Honda is an example of VR entering other sectors. It's fairly obvious that it "ain't no 3D TV." Bugatti also uses VR as well as other car manufacturers. VR is here to stay. I know it hurts you that it's growing bedsides flat gaming being successful too. Just like mobile.
You just like to lie to yourself and others. VR is in education, in construction, in the automotive industry, medicine, real estate, music.... AND GAMING. The market wasn't there. Now it's here and it's growing in every sector besides gaming. But you want it to jump out there immediately like some viral video or fad. That's not how it works.
Chances are, you developed something, because you call yourself a developer. And no one wanted your product. So you're projecting.But there are other companies and developers who are successful in making VR work. You just sucked at it.
You claim Sony isn't selling out on pre-orders. But you don't even know what numbers they have allocated. Or how many they are producing to meet demand. You just pull it out from you know where and lie to everyone that Sony is failing. Sony has said they will have headsets for launch and not have to worry about production. What do you have that goes against Sony's statements on the matter? Absolutely nothing. Put up your facts against Sony's production lines?
But tell us. What software you made for VR that failed so that we all can know where your mindset is?
@Knush You just highlighted the problem perfectly - the only AAA taking part in console VR is Capcom. Where is COD VR? Battlefield VR, GTA VR? All the big pubs are skipping on it because they don’t believe in its future - if they did they’d be investing in it now.
@Apocalyspe At the time I thought MS were insane for not getting into VR, but looking back on it, given where we are now, that seems like a very smart decision.
Honda making VR for car showrooms or whatever means nothing for gaming. The vast majority of gamers - PS gamers included - don’t care in the slightest about VR. The numbers show that.
I’ve never worked on a VR game nor do I want to. The market being non-existent means salaries are substantially lower when compared to AAA salaries. I wouldn’t take the pay cut - I’ve been in AAA since graduating college, and I intend to keep it that way.
But that’s also the good point of being a developer, ultimately it doesn’t really matter to me if the game sells well or poorly - I still get paid the same at the end of the day.
It’s funny that you mention Kinect because I consider the Kinect a failure too - but it still had 4x the sales of PSVR and a way higher attach rate.
We are supposedly still in the tail end of a chip shortage, so clearly we would expect a new device like PSVR to sell out - Sony themselves were too or they wouldn’t have done invites to get one initially - they thought it was going to be difficult for people to get one (so did many on here) but when it turned out it wasn’t they opened it up to everyone.
Clearly it isn’t moving as many units as they’d anticipated.
Come talk to me when we’re all sitting in our living rooms with VR headsets on and the attach rate is so high they ship it in the box as the default controller method - so I guess I won’t ever be hearing from you again :p
@Orchard
'the only AAA taking part in console VR is Capcom'.
No, EA and Ubisoft have VR games on console.
https://www.ea.com/games/f1...
Problem with VR is that it hasn't have legs. Everything from mevement, enemies, pacing, puzzles has to take that into equation.
Replies(2)I agree with you. I remember when Second Life was as the dogs bollocks and big business had store fronts or ambassador land parcels but soon discovered that it was pie in the sky. Second Life is still operational but only frequented by a stagnant population of people who were with it since it’s launch. New people sign up to try it out but tend to not stay. People want to browse the internet or use it to play games not live in it.
"And yet, you can provide me no evidence to the contrary."
Compare sales of gen 1 VR headsets with sales of gen 1 home consoles.
One of if not, the best game engine developer in the world. I hope he gets back into developing game engines.
They need to stick VR back in RnD departments everywhere that or let the porn industry lead the way like everything else that's been introduced then brought to mass market after porn made it a thing lmfao
Yea VR has that virt-a-mate thing which seems to be quite popular with adult Quest 2 owners, but i mean there is Half Life Alyx, few other things.. nothing huge after those so far.
Hmm. Zenimax actually seems to have a pretty strong case here. I don't agree with what they're doing, but it does seem like John Carmack isn't as innocent as he made himself out to be.