I'm not sure I believe that. Wouldn't that entail buying out contracts? It's not like, say, Synapse could just tell Cryptic he's going home, and run out. These people signed contracts for their services. Not to mention, some of them may be making more than they did at Paragon.
It's not that I don't trust Clayton. I just feel he's being overly optimistic.
Actually it depends on whether they are
independent contract employees or
company employees. An independent contract employee is, indeed, contracted to provide his services for a set length of time. In return he gets money. Sometimes more money than he would get as an employee, but he also gets
no benefits package.
Most of the employees of game companies seem to be
company employees, and no, they are not required to provide services for a set length of time. They are required to give notice, usually about 1 month worth, but after that, they are free to go wherever they choose. They get a benefits package; usually paid vacation, health, dental and life insurance, sometimes other goodies like a company car or gym access, or paid lunch on Friday, yada yada. I know the core group at Paragon were all company employees; they had some programmers who were contract employees, but not a lot of them. In general if you offered one of these highly trained specialists a job as a contract employee they would probably turn you down. Of the PS folks I actually
know who got a job, they are all company employees, and they would be able to be working at a new PS in a month, if they chose to.
Depending on who was doing the ultimate hiring, and how deep their pockets were, it could be the case where their new boss would wave his hands in the air, say "No way I can match that. Go with my blessing."