Ok its Dec 3rd!

[NecrotechMaster]

i havent watched G4 in a long time, but from what i know its been going sharply downhill

they rarely play the japanese version of ninja warrior anymore, all of the good show hosts have left, and they play COPS for the other 3/4 of the day

[dwturducken]

Didn't they play ST:TNG for a bit? That's nerd-related, I guess.

[corvus1970]

Its geek-related, yeah, but did it belong there? No.

[dwturducken]

While I'm hardly defending them, as a fan of TNG, I was actually pretty happy with them for playing it. Ditto for Firefly on the Science Channel. I'd still much rather watch a series about how the states got their shapes/names/mascots/official birds than 95% of the crap on the History Channel, though the American Pickers guys have their store just across the river from me, and I actually like American Top Gear.

But, to bring it back to the game, I thought I read that X-Play and Attack of the Show were being cancelled, which were, I believe, the last shows that were devoted or devoted time to games. Like I said, I don't watch that channel, so correct me if I'm wrong, but that's two voices that we can't try to sway to our causes.

[corvus1970]

The History channel has gotten ever more horrid as time has gone on. the Discovery Channel held on longer than most, but it too has started to succumb as well.

The decline of many cable networks is what led me to ditch cable-TV 4 years ago, and I haven't looked back.

[Lydiastar]

Even if the NDAs have expired, developers are still going to be very careful about what they say out in the open.  You have to remember that the gaming industry isn't that large an industry and if you say the wrong thing, suddenly you have a reputation that will follow you into every interview you ever have in the industry until you either retire or die.

If it we me and my livelihood, I would not risk my ability to be employed in the gaming industry. It's hard enough to get in as is, but I 100% respect devs who will chose to say nothing. It sucks on this side of things, but the way the world works...it makes sense.

[johnrobey]

The wheels of business turn slowly and then faster.

I would fully expect this to be happening "IF" Disney is interested:

1. They call in the Lawyers to see what and who is tied to the IP
2. They call NCSoft and set up a conference
3. They say how much and then walk away for a week
4. They come back and say we will give you this much.........NCSoft walks away for a week
5. Repeat until someone says Yes
6. Lawyers again - another 2 weeks
7. Money changes hands
8. IP gets handed over to whoever buys it
9. hire programmers and server dudes, marketing geeks and start training service techs
10. servers up and code loaded - testing
11. Beta of Issue 24
12. Live

This would take 2 or 3 MONTHS - shortest time.

That is reality - nothing happens without throwing money at lawyers.

That sums what I would expect as a laymen with no experience at all in this area, save that I would add time for
0.1 Disney receives the pitch (V.V. already verified they did.)
0.2 Disney has to decide whether this looks interesting enough to look into (Hoping that's yes & I'm confident the pitch package is stellar! even without seeing it.)
0.3 Disney does its own financial analysis
0.4 Disney internally pow-wows about this, more analysis

as well as any other steps you and I didn't think of.  So, yes, I think this is likely to take months.

[Victoria Victrix]

I can give you this much hope.  Brian Clayton pretty much said that if the funding is there, he can hire back the core group of devs.

[Perfidus]

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.

[eabrace]

If it works like the rest of the software industry, they might have to pay back a portion of any relocation packages or signing bonuses if they leave, and if they found the job through a recruiter, the recruiter might lose part of the finders' fee (unless they stay in the job for 6 months before leaving again), but that would be about it.

That being said, I don't know how well the gaming industry compares to the rest of the software world.

[Victoria Victrix]

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."

[Perfidus]

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."

Well then that's good news. But it still brings up a good point. What if they're making more in their new position? Honestly, they all should be.

[eabrace]

In general if you offered one of these highly trained specialists a job as a contract employee they would probably turn you down.

Well, there's one difference between the gaming and defense industries, at least. 

In defense, if you're working hourly (contract) vs. direct (company employee), you have to pay for your own healthcare and benefits, but you make a much higher hourly rate and generally get paid for all of your overtime (often time and a half and double for holidays).  The tradeoff is stability (for the company employees) vs. raw income (contractors).  If you have a good contract house or find one really good, long-term contract, you can make out like a bandit.  (I'm not ruling out a short-term contract position now that I'm looking because I can make what I was getting paid for a year as a direct in six months as a contractor, take some time off between contracts, and go back at it again.)

[beveri8469]

that would definitely be awesome if and when the game comes back that they could get all the devs back.
would be a big homecoming celebration

[TargetOne]

I stopped watching TechTV when it became G4 and Leo LaPorte left what would become "Attack of The Show". Then I stopped watching cable TV altogether, partly due to the cost and partly due to the "50 channels and nothing's on" programming.