According to a report on Australian Gamer this afternoon, Krome Studios today laid off between 20 and 30 employees at its Brisbane studio.
Former Krome employees have apparently contacted Australian Gamer to let them know about the layoffs. Further redundancies have apparently also taken place at Krome’s Melbourne office as well.
Krome is Australia’s largest game development studio and creator of the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger franchise. Recent titles include Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (pictured), Scene It? Box Office Smash, the Wii and PS2 versions of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the PS2 and PSP versions Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Krome is currently working on Blade Kitten, an action game that has yet to find a publisher.
It’s been a tough year for Aussie game development. First, Pandemic Brisbane was shut down after the failure of its Batman project then Melbourne’s Transmission Games suffered severe cuts ahead of the studio’s eventual closure last month. Now it’s Krome’s turn. We hope everyone affected by the layoffs lands on their feet as quickly as possible.
Friday the 13th hits Krome Studios [Australian Gamer]
Former Kroman
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 4:56 PMAll three studios have lost people, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
In terms of impact Brisbane has actually lost the smallest percentage of staff, and the controlling forces behind such wonders as Hellboy and Republic Heroes are still intact. Having to make redundancies is understandable in this economic climate when there is little work to go around, but there seems to be no acknowledgment for the reasons why Krome might be finding it hard to pick up projects right now and if the same team of leads is sticking around you can bet this won’t be the end of the losses.
Former Kroman #2
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:28 PMIndeed. But such is life, no?
You can point the finger at individuals, at cash spending, ramp-ups, or the fucking cancer of the games industry that is licensed video games.. but at the end of the day, cuts had to be made.
It sucks, and some really effing (professionally) amazing people were let go. It’s a shame companies make you sign a legally binding document stopping you from making derogatory statements.
Every studio has it’s bad points, I guess.
Daqtguy
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 5:09 PMI was going to apply for work at chrome as an effects programmer, but now I may have to aim lower for the time beingg.
Former Kroman
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 5:37 PMYou should still apply. There are paid projects going on at Krome at the moment and the roles being advertised are for positions specifically needed for those projects.
Hmm
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:22 PMYou might want to spell their name correctly before you apply ;)
Hut-Hum
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8:40 AMOr, just maybe, THEY might like to spell THEIR name correctly. If they’d like a little more respect in the wider community.
Either that or go right ahead and spell it kR00m3!!1!1!! or something.
Interrupted Transmitter
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 6:44 PMI really hope this is not true (I’ve not heard anything either way), but from a guy who worked at Transmission – heartfelt apologies to those at Krome that lost their jobs.
Let’s all hope we get jobs soon, eh?
SaintSkeeta
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 7:45 PMAnd apparently Krome in Brisbane were hiring….according to sumea.
John
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 10:39 PMYour already aiming low enough when you apply at krome these days
Phil
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 6:22 PMWell now, Captain Awesome, what great company do you work for?
How about showing some restraint when stuff like this goes down?
anon2
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 2:37 PMNah, he’s right. It’s a shit company
Another Former Kroman
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 10:53 PMFormer Kroman has it completely right. Every single one of us in Brisbane is thinking the same thing.
OldMate
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 11:23 PMTimes are tough for the Australian game industry and it’s terribly sad to see talented and dedicated people lose their jobs. Red Tribe has also closed down recently as well as big losses at THQ in a Brisbane a while back.
I think the recent 1500 job losses at EA really go to show that all is not well within the games industry despite the amazing sales of MW2 and other hits such as Dragon Age.
For the record, Krome Melbourne also did the Wii version of The Force Unleashed.
Kris Lyons
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:18 PMHowever Krome Brisbane produced the ps2 version of the force unleashed. And viva pinata party animals sadly :’(
Anon
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 12:27 AMIt’s a sad day indeed when such a respected and successful company has to make layoffs like this. How the fook crooked, two bit liars like halfbrick(that’s half-shit to you son) make it through unscathed is beyond me. Oh that’s right, they fuck over their employees and steal trade secrets before the shit hits the fan… That and HUGE govenment subsidies.
Everyone who was let go from Krome, good luck and stay away from places like halfbrick. No job is better than a job with them.
Halfbrickian
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 2:53 PMI’ve got no idea what you’ve got against halfbrick. Everyone who works there loves the place (only complaint I’ve ever heard is that the pay isn’t the best, but its a small company aiming at the smaller projects). Where did you get this notion of Halfbrick stealing trade secrets, I’m the head of the engine team so I know exactly what tech goes into each of our games (most of it is open source or in house stuff, then there is just one or two licensed middleware products).
If Halfbrick “fuck over their employees” then why do so many highly skilled people stay on. The reason Halfbrick comes through unscathed is because we only hire the best and manage the teams well, hence, there is never any fat to cut (I don’t mean to imply that everyone who has been fired was “fat”, but I know there is a bit of it at some of the larger studios, and that is what contributes to bringing them down, never firing anyone isn’t really a good thing from a business perspective).
Anon
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 4:40 PMNeedless to say “son” I’m before your time and know much, MUCH more about the history of half-shit than you would ever want to know… Fuck, I lived it… The more things change, they always seem to stay the same.. I hope for your sake and the sake of a lot of good talent there that I’m wrong and SHAME-Neil has leant some respect for intellectual property!
Azmodai
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 6:28 PMIf this rumour of layoffs is true (and going by the comments it appears to be) then my condolences to the lads who have just lot their jobs. As a person who has had two companies fall out from under him in the past 5 years ago (Perception and Transmission). It’s a pretty hard time for many. However, chin up and hit up the recruiters – we are lucky to have some fairly solid people capable of finding us more work if you’re willing to travel. Make sure you get your references, update your websites / portfolios and hit the ground running.
Oh and don’t take designer jobs, I still need one of those :p
to all you guys in the industry
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 4:07 AMnow im somone who is really in TO games and multimedia so i really want to know where does one start from and what are really good programmes that is needed/helps i doubt it but any hardware needed?
please if you can email me @ yaserbas@gmail.com
thank you for your time and i appreciate and for all the krome employers i wish use the best of luck
Ant
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 9:37 AMCommiserations to everyone at Krome, assuming this news is true. Not just to the people who may be out of a job, but to the rest of the crew who are losing their workmates and friends.
Nic Wechter
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 7:16 PMIts definitely true.
FormerKromian
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:34 PMAS someone who worked for Krome in Brisbane for about 2 years I can say that I’m sad to see the job losses, there’s some very talented people there (or possibly were, since I don’t know who left.)
I managed to leave the video games industry behind, and am much happier as a result, the Valley used to be a powerhouse for Brisbane Games development, but it’s suffered greatly over the last 3 years.
However, I personally could see the problems mounting up for Krome several years ago – partly from some key personnel that rule the roost because they’ve been there so long (not because of talent), partly the projects they’ve picked up (that not everyone believed in), and partly the company culture that didn’t encourage innovation, individuality, risk taking… well, lest just say I wasn’t too happy there…