skuski

Whoever posted yesterday asking for the article deleted their comment, but here is the article from the WSJ looking at a handful of the largest companies from 2018-2023. It will be interesting to see how this continues to develop over the next 12-18 months.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/tech-layoffs-keep-coming-why-is-head-count-barely-budging-760a314b?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1

Sure, I get that… unfortunately it’s not just a games industry or even tech industry problem right now, it’s an all industries problem, which absolutely sucks. There was significant over-hiring and consolidation over the past couple years (pretty much globally), and now the economy is un-gracefully attempting to reset itself in the so called “soft-landing”… Adding to the confusion of it all, equity markets keep going up, as there is so much excess capital to invest in the public markets. It’s beyond wild.

I want developers to have job security and fair pay, so that they can make great games. All these lay-off situations are terrible, but I hope this doesn’t dissuade companies from aggressive hiring in the future because some of the bets will pay-off. Hope my post didn’t come off otherwise.

Interesting piece worth reading. Somewhere else (maybe the Journal), I saw statistics that despite all the lay-offs, job creation in the tech space is still considerably up compared to 2019. I would have never guessed that, but I'll see if I can find the article to share here.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2024/02/28/tech-layoffs-ai-overhiring-and-the-silicon-valley-identity-crisis/?sh=467b3c504f46

I'll preface this by stating that lay-offs suck and our economy is an absolute mess. I do this for a living, so I pulled up their most recent SEC filings to see how much different they are from other public registrants. Many of you probably know this information well, but for kicks here is a breakdown of what I found.

Is it a lot of money, yes... but take a read through their Proxy (first link below), including the required pay vs performance disclosure. His base compensation is $1.3M with a maximum bonus of 200% of that base salary for FY23. The Board approved a 115% payout of that bonus for FY23. Under $5M, his cash compensation is not all that crazy for a public company with a market cap of $30B+. If you look at their most recent quarterly report (second link) and the Proxy, you can calculate that all C-suite compensation (around $9M) is less than 0.5% (0.25% was my approximation) of annualized operating expenses (also pulling out certain non-cash US GAAP expenses like amortization and impairment). That is not wildly off for public companies.

His compensation jumps to $20M when you factor in share based compensation (non-cash initially). To an extent stock awards are smoke and mirrors that just make C-suite compensation look massive (primarily for competitive reasons). Yes, someday he may realize that value (or more) but it is locked up under vesting provisions and requirements that he hold a target % of the Company's equity. If he runs the Company into the ground he will see none of that equity value... if you spend some time on EDGAR you can see all the 'insider' trading of the named officers and directors (Form 4) if you want to see actual sales, etc.

What I find more interesting in my research is that they are 9% owned by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund (also owns LIV golf and a number of sport franchises). Probably yesterday's news.

https://s22.q4cdn.com/894350492/files/doc_financials/2023/ar/418941-1-_8_Electronic-Arts-Inc-Proxy10-K-Combo_clean.pdf

https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0000712515/000071251524000007/ea-20231231.htm

Is it an insane amount of money, sure... but it's no different than any other public registrant and primarily tied into the same equity values that are fueling America's pensions, 401(k)s and all of our insurance.

Please, note that there is no intention in an argumentative tone here (although written words make that difficult). Merely an observation.

There is a general sentiment on Giant Bomb forums that all evils in the world are tied to capitalism and the free market... I think it is very odd to blame capitalism for supposed death of journalism. If anything, the free market promotes journalism. If you have value to contribute, you will be compensated for that. Look at all the journalists now on Substack in a direct to consumer model. Look at what Jeff/Vinny/Alex/Brad are doing. That is enabled by a free market.

Long before Sports Illustrated's demise, many of their highly regarded sports journalists landed elsewhere. The Athletic has been the new form of Sports Illustrated for a number of years. Brands tend to die out, but not the substance of what was once there.

I believe that ebbs and flows in consumer demand is what is to blame for the current state of journalism, not the free market. People willingly chose to stop paying for their local newspaper and that started the downward trajectory. Our parents/grandparents (depending on your age) had to pay for their news. Post internet, many people assumed they were entitled to the news for free, which subsequently broke the model. Who wants to be a journalist if you are no longer going to get paid by your readers (that's not a private equity matter).

Capitalism and socialism have their pros and cons. Generally, I would argue that the pros of a free market vastly outweigh the cons. Should we have universal healthcare, absolutely. Should we be entitled to our "wants" (not to be confused with our "needs")? Absolutely not.

That's just my two cents. Take it or leave it... the beauty of discourse.

Totally agree, but at some point, I believe the pendulum will swing back. While we may not have magazines again, there is a growing mainstream recognition that news, etc. is currently broken. To bring it back to video games, I think there is starting to be a similar sentiment that just streaming is not long-term viable.

I am sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but I could not find easily.

• Do Patrick Klepek or Austin Walker stream anymore? I could not find anything recent from Patrick.
• Has Jeff, Vinny, or Brad ever spoken to why they don't occasionally team up? Or have I missed a rare team up between the Nextlander crew and Jeff. I know that Nextlander has occasional guests like Dan, Austin or Abby for Patreon supporters, but I do not follow that closely (as I am not a Patreon supporter). Just curious.

Thanks!

What’s up with the missing podcasts on Apple? Was trying to listen to the original Alan Wake reactions on a long drive and most of 2010 and earlier is completely missing…

Bumping this because it’s an absolute gold mine.