Bummer Morning: Nintendo Power Closing, PopCap And Funcom Layoffs [UPDATED]

Nintendo Power was a big part of my childhood, it's sad to see it go.

RIP Nintendo Power, my first and favorite magazine

RIP, sweet prince. Thanks to you, I will always be playing with Power.

Nintendo Power...that takes me back. Some of my fondest memories of childhood were taking poorly shot photos of high scores in hopes that I would win the monthly contest of a mountain of video games :/

This makes me a little sad. I still have the first few years of Nintendo Power when it was first released alongside the NES in North America sitting in a musty box somewhere.

Weird about PopCap. Here's hoping it's only the social games staff, the full-release Bejeweled and PvZ staff are fantastic at what they do.

Honestly, while I love the legacy Nintendo Power once had, if I knew someone who was devoted to Nintendo Power as a grown adult, I would immediately mistrust them in all things games.

I am going to be "that guy." Sucks to be owned by a big corporation that cares more about the bottom line than keeping people employed. I feel like Double Fine would have been shuttered after the cancellation of Brutal Legend 2, had they been owned by a publisher, but here they are. They carved our a great niche for themselves and are paying the bills.

@BannerThief said:

What the hell is happening with social games companies?

The casual market is now saturated. The value of companies is being reassessed.

Fuuuuuuuuuuck...who else is old enough to remember when Nintendo Power had comics in it? Legend of Zelda, Mario, Star Fox, Metroid...this IS a bummer news day.

@BannerThief said:

What the hell is happening with social games companies?

Will Smith said it perfectly on the Bombcast: It was always a bubble.

Huh, Nintendo Power? Really? That's a shame I guess.

@BlackLagoon said:

There are also rumblings on NeoGAF about massive (50-60%) layoffs at Funcom... :(

Oh fuck. Secret World must not have gone well, huh? :(

There are also rumblings on NeoGAF about massive (50-60%) layoffs at Funcom... :(

PopCap games, really? I don't much like casual and social games, but Bejeweled and PvZ are fun like a motherfucker. I really hope this isn't EA clamping down on them and trying to get them to produce the same great content with less staff.

Really weird hearing this about Popcap, I thought they were basically printing money with all those popular franchises.

Okay seriously, what the fuck does George Broussard even do anymore? It seems like his job ever since 3D Realms closed down has been breaking studio closures and downsizings on Twitter.

I had a Nintendo Power sub for years. Sad to see them go. I loved the free codes, used the Animal Crossing ones back in the day.

Nintendo Power has still been going for all these years? WTF.

What the hell is happening with social games companies?

UPDATE 2: PopCap has also confirmed layoff reports in a lengthy, surprisingly classy post from co-founder John Vechey.

"Today’s news is something you expect periodically from a company in a fast-changing industry, but it sucks if you’re one of the people losing his or her job," said Vechey. "These people are our friends and we don’t like doing this."

Make sure to read the whole post over here.

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UPDATE:Funcom has also acknowledged layoffs, though it won't confirm various reports the changes have impacted more than 50% of the company worldwide.

"As we announced in the stock notice that went out on August 10th," said the company in a statement, "Funcom is in a process of reducing operational costs and this process includes temporary layoffs as well as other initiatives. As we are currently in the middle of this process we can not provide any further comment at the present time. Rest assured however that we have long-term plans for the company and that we remain fully committed to all of our games."

Here's how Funcom phrased this in its stock notice from August 10:

"Funcom is currently implementing several cost-adjustment initiatives due to the expected lower initial revenues from The Secret World to secure future positive cash flows."

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It’s a sobering morning for the video game industry, as news reports indicate longstanding publication Nintendo Power is closing, and layoffs have hit fan-favorite PopCap Games.

Ars Technica initially reported on Nintendo Power’s demise, which was later confirmed by some of its writers on Twitter.

“Well, that got out,” said writer Phil Theobald on Twitter.

“For what it's worth,” he told me in response, “we have something pretty sweet planned for the final issue.”

The officially-sanctioned Nintendo publication, today distributed by Future Publishing, has been running since 1988.

Elsewhere, there's word of layoffs at PopCap Games. 3D Realms co-founder George Broussardclaimed on Twitter that roughly 50 employees were laid off at PopCap’s Seattle studio, and PopCap Dublin and Shangai have been either shut down or "shrunk."

The company recently announced a sequel to the incredibly popular Plants vs. Zombies is coming next spring. PopCap was purchased by Electronic Arts in June 2011 for its success in mobile and social.

PopCap has so far not responded to my requests for comment, but I heard about impending layoffs from multiple sources this morning. I’ve been unable to nail down specific details. Stay tuned.