Speaking with Game File (users will encounter a paywall) at the Game Developers Choice Awards, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse gave his take on the current state of the industry, including some sharp criticism on the wave after wave of mass layoffs we’ve been seeing.
“They are an avoidable fuck-up,” Douse said. “That’s all they really are. That’s why you see one after the other. Because companies are going: ‘Well, finally. Now we can, too. We’ve wanted to do it for ages. Everyone else is. So why don’t we?’ That’s really kind of sick.”
That doesn’t mean they’re not doing it to appease the market - it just means that the stock market existing and them having shares gives them misaligned incentives.
The “market” is awful for demanding that and they’re awful for giving in to the idiocy.