- This topic has 21 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 3 months ago by
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I’ve heard rumours that PopCap’s Dublin office has been closed. Is it true?
Very sorry to anyone affected, I know how it feels.
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I really hope this is not the case it would be a blow to the Irish dev scene.
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Crap,
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Glad I got the hell out of PopCrap earlier this year.
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My Popcap mates are posting some very saddening messages on their FB pages. And Twitter’s rife with the news… and job offers.
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Same story posted on Gamasutra:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/176308/Layoffs_at_PopCap.php -
My sympathy to anyone adversely affected by this, job losses specifically.
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Good interview about it with Games Ireland’s David Sweeney on RTE1 Drivetime:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/drivetime (towards the bottom).
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This was published yesterday
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0822/fears-for-popcap-jobs-in-dublin-business.html
No decision about PopCap’s Dublin operations yet
Updated: 16:19, Wednesday, 22 August 2012A spokesman for gaming company PopCap has said that no decision has been made about the Dublin office at this time.
PopCap announces review of Dublin operations
The ”Dublin office has not shut”, the spokesman said in a statement.
This follows concerns for 96 jobs at the company after the group laid off 50 workers in its US operations.The company employs 500 people worldwide.
”In the past year, we’ve seen a dramatic change in the way people play and pay for games," the company’s co founder John Vechey wrote in a blog to staff.
PopCap expects to end the year with roughly the same number of employees as at the start, after it "hired aggressively this past year," Vechey wrote in the blog.
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Lol @ the PR machine damage control :roll:! You have to keep them politicians happy.
It may not be official yet but I’m sure Dublin will b gone in a month, or at least 90% of people given the boot.
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Weird thing though.
They still have job offers in their website. And 10 of them…
Anyways, Popcap is a very good company, I’m sure they will overcome this. -
Anyways, Popcap is a very good company.[/quote:05d9fe4bfe]
I think you might find several people on here who may have a slightly different opinion and are in a much better position to comment ;)…
EDIT: Spelling.
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Amethyst, people always tend to speak from experience. I have met a few Popcap employees and have a fairly good knowledge of their products. In my opinion (which comes without saying, right?) and from what I have seen, Popcap is a good company.
Nevertheless, I get what you’re saying! ;)Cheers.
Pedro -
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Dublin office closes
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/popcap-dublin-closes-its-doors/0103364
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That is a shame but not a complete loss. As far back as I can remember there has always been one big games company here and a bunch of small indies/ start ups. Emerald, then Gremlin, then Funcom, then PopCap. Now there is no big studio. Three start ups (two in games dev) have already spawned from the PopCap studio before it closed and I really hope that there will be more now. There’s plenty of talent in there to pull it off. Hopefully this will lead to a change in attitude with regards indies and the industry in general. We need more support for indies….cos that’s all we have now.
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It is a real shame that they have closed their office and all their staff will loose their jobs. 96 people in development following on from Jolt closing earlier in the year is a real blow to development here in Ireland. I think we should all try to offer support via various social networks etc. to those looking for jobs.
It might be worth realising that this is mirroring what has been happening in the UK for quite some years. Foreign ownership, shifts in technology or profit margins not met, and then projects shelved or developers closed. In the UK at least there are other companies for the staff to go to or you see new companies opening up.
We need to really support our indies and help those who want to set up new companies. Otherwise these people will be lost to the industry or worse still, the country.
Aphra
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And some of the Jolt guys ended up taking jobs in PopCap too. So hopefully that’s end of their run of bad luck. But yeah, the focus needs to be firmly fixed on the indies now. I’ve already spoken to a few who are considering it. I guess it comes down to how decent the redundancy settlements are.
I’ll be around to offer any advice or help that I can (for what it’s worth) in support of any new indies that might spring into existence. Enterprise Ireland have already been in there with them to offer some encouragement. I think that’s been a big help.
I’ll also try to drag some ex-PopCappers to the next Shindig etc.At the end of the day I don’t believe this is a negative reflection on the games industry here, or on the industry in general. This is NOT a company that has gone bust and lost it’s staff (despite what their founders have been saying). They’ve seen expanding profits in double digit percentiles for years.
No, this is a company that sold out to a bigger company that really only wanted their games IP and ended up with a lot of staff doing duplicate roles.
It’s pure cut throat business. Though I’m sure the fact that they hadn’t put out a new title in several years did not help. Either way it’s a model nobody should follow and there’s nothing to be learned from it (apart from don’t sell out unless you want your company gutted and skinned).
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