"You need to think of [Megan] Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about [Annapurna]." -- Bryan Cantrill, on the sins of the father, heavily editorialized.
This seems like a very different scenario -- don't be part of a hobby business that's so low on the owner's radar that they aren't willing to bleed for it.
Because if they lose interest and everything explodes, you're out of a job and they're still a billionaire.
so, 99.9% of all businesses? passion or not a company will gut your position if it means more money or power.
But yes, this is an extreme scenario. it sounds (crudely put) like Ellison saw the pandemic, completely retreated for a while, then decided to come back and act like nothing changed and just shuffeled stuff around. Then when her labor decided they wanted to be more independent she sat on her hands.
I'm just proud the workers for a rare time could actually just completely walk away. Many issues would be solved almmost overnight if workers could coordinate a joint walkout like this.
The majority of businesses are not run by billionaires, in fact most of them are more tightly affiliated than the average large tech company.
It's not nearly as simple as you're making it out, and those of us that work in large capital industries (tech), have a very different relationship than the majority of workers in America.
I'm not saying we don't share problems, or that they don't have their own issues that are worse, just that your view doesn't reflect the total of reality
Related:
Entire Annapurna Game Team Resigns
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41526074
Entire staff of game publisher Annapurna Interactive has reportedly resigned
For reference, Annapurna Interactive are not a mainstream publisher churning out franchise type games, but tend to publish unique games, some of them considered classics:
- Outer Wilds
- Stray
- Lorelei and the laser eyes
- Cocoon
- Neon White
...and others. https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/annapurnainteractiv...
This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.
> This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.
Is it though? Annapurna is a publisher, they didn't make those games. The games you listed were made by:
- Outer Wilds: Mobius Digital
- Stray: BlueTwelve Studio
- Lorelei and the laser eyes: Simogo
- Cocoon: Geometric Interactive
- Neon White: Angel Matrix
> I'm confident that creators of distinctive, original games will be able to find other publishers.
That confidence is (partially) misplaced. It's a really rough world out there for indie devs, and if you do find a publisher, many times they are not interested in paying as much attention to your title as you are.
Depending on the team that walked, this may be a new opportunity. Sounds like this all happened because they worked pretty well without Ellis, but Ellis would come in every now and then and cause a tornado of everything when she did. There's a name for this kind of manager, but it eludes me.
Shame they lose the name, but the talent is what makes the company. And I'm sure any small dev will be following them closely on their next venture.
You’re thinking of seagull management, managers who “flew in, made a lot of noise, dumped on everyone from a great height, then flew out again, leaving others to deal with the consequences”. That’s the polite version anyway.
Joel Spolsky called it "hit and run management": https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/03/23/command-and-conque...
As if the "team" will exit together and re-establish as one unit on the other side for the greater good.
How would you define "the greater good" for a publisher of small-medium scaled games?
The benefit was the funding that could be provided by Ellis, no? How are they going to make up for that if they make a new company?
That's definitely the million dollar question (literally). I don't imagine they got all 25 or so staff to resign at once if they didn't have a plan for funding. But there weren't any details about that aspect from what I read (could have missed it).
I imagine well get more developments over the coming weeks on that.
Ah yes, the Elon Musk special. The term you are looking for is “pigeon CEO”[1]: “he comes, shits all over us, and goes”.
[1] https://electrek.co/2024/04/22/elon-musk-pigeon-ceo-former-t...
I confused Annapurna Interactive with Annapurna Labs. Was lost for a bit there reading the article.
Annapurna is a mountain in Nepal. "Only" tenth highest in the world, but with the highest or second-highest fatality rate.
That makes it an attractive company name, I guess.
It also has one of most spectacular multi week hikes in the world, if not #1, the Annapurna circuit. I was lucky to take it in 2008 with almost nobody on the trail (just right after monsoons in second half of September), took 16 days, around 220km IIRC. No roads built back then although we saw few CAT bulldozers dropped in the impossible places in gorges, I guess part of construction.
From absolute tropical jungle, through all other climates to frozen high altitude icy desert and all the way back, top point is 5,400m high. Also at one point hinduism of lowlands switches to buddhism. Wild marihuana growing everywhere. Muktinath just after(before) the highest pass is an important sacred and pilgrimage place for 3 different religions.
There is one point in Kali Gandaki gorge where you look left and there is absolute tibetan-style desert with 0 plants, just rocks and dirt, going up to Manang region. You look right and its typical tropical jungle. And in between, in span of maybe 7-8km the whole gradient happens continuously on Annapurna western slopes. Another nice spot is IIRC Marpha where you are looking at almost 5000m pretty much vertical drop on cca top of Dhaulaghiri, its sister 8000m+ peak. Even after 2 weeks of constant exposition to himalayan giants I just stood there in awe.
A life changing experience for me due to various factors and also people met. It has a special place in my heart.
From Wikipedia:
> The mountain is named after Annapurna, the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment, who is said to reside there. The name Annapurna is derived from the Sanskrit-language words purna ("filled") and anna ("food"), and can be translated as "everlasting food".[8] Many streams descending from the slopes of the Annapurna Massif provide water for the agricultural fields and pastures located at lower elevations.[9]
It is also a popular name in the south indian boomer generation
Maybe we should just look at it and not try to climb it then.
> highest or second-highest fatality
Dramatic irony?
Unfortunately, with the recent coverage of Concord by IGN, I don't think any content they put out is to be taken seriously.
Doesn’t seem to be much information here except maybe that the next “Runic Games” but with Annapurna alumni will be called Verset.
you get the entire story of a collapse of one of the most renowned indie game publishers over the course of ~7 years, a situation where the entire staff of the house walks out, and all you get out of this is "well we'll see what game they release next"?
It's a long story, so if you are just wondering about their portfolio, you can skip to the end section "The Future of Annapura".
There is more content being produced than there are eyeballs and time to consume it all.
How does such an industry survive? In a very round about manner that has nothing to do with what they say they do.
General rule in life - Don't focus on the drama a fucked up environment produces.
> There is more content being produced than there are eyeballs and time to consume it all.
There's more than one person can ever experience. But the ratio of production to consumption is still quite small. Most stuff put on the internet is going to be seen by someone (e.g. 95% of youtube videos have at least one view).
> How does such an industry survive? In a very round about manner that has nothing to do with what they say they do.
can you clarify this statement? I just read this as "companies need to make money, creatives aren't focused on money".
> Don't focus on the drama a fucked up environment produces.
if you somehow found this politics/drama free work environment with no creative tensions whatsoever, congratulations I suppose. Most of us don't have that and are only one whim away from those "dramas" costing us our jobs, even if we keep our heads down.
This affects gamers who want indie games worth playing. So, yeah, why wouldn't we care? They're at least partly responsible for a handful of the best games I've played in the past decade. Their loss can't be understated.