One of the dominant stories that 2024 has continued and even bolstered in some ways is the continuing tale of companies laying off staff or straight-up shutting down companies. In fact, just today, The Embracer Group revealed that they had shut down another studio, despite claiming they weren’t going to be doing that again after having “balanced things out.” Obviously, that wasn’t true, and with the continued streak of layoffs, many companies are getting worried about whether they or their teams will be next. One company that appears to be safe is FromSoftware, as it won’t have layoffs happen so long as a certain someone is in charge.
In a chat with PCGamer, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki noted that when it came to layoffs, he never wants it to happen:
“Speaking to myself and this company, I want to say that this is not something I would wish on the staff at FromSoftware in a million years. I’m pretty sure our parent company Kadokawa understands that and shares that view.”
Kodama is a big name in Japan, as they’ve been raking in the money not just from video games, like from Miyazaki’s team, but also doing well in manga and anime. So, with all of these factors, they’re unlikely to need to cut people to “make back profits.” To that end, Miyazaki cited a former president of a certain gaming company about why these layoffs are bad for business overall:
“I think it was the old ex-president of Nintendo, Iwata-san, who said that ‘people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.’ I’m paraphrasing that, but I totally share this view.”
Iwata was famous for being blunt and honest about his gaming industry views, and he also refused to let layoffs happen at Nintendo during the Wii U era where profits were at an all-time low. Instead of releasing people, which he knew would damage the product later on, he took a pay cut to ensure that everyone could keep working.
That’s obviously a stark contrast with people like The Embracer Group, who aren’t afraid to make people jobless despite the fact that the dev teams didn’t do anything wrong and were poorly managed from the literal top of the food chain.
Hearing Miyazaki not only quote Satoru Iwata, but promise to do all he can for his team showcases that all is not lost in the gaming industry. That even with all these dark times, there are still good people doing work.
