Overly Positive

Yesterday was apparently a rough day for the small rolodex of developers that I know from EA. The rumor going around is that layoffs happened at the publisher, with at least four different studios thought of to be affected. Being a slight bit more connected than the average joe gamer, I can say that while I can’t confirm exact numbers in the studios, I can confirm that they happened.

For both company and employees, layoffs are never really a good thing in principle. Even an optimistic person like myself would be really stretching it if I said that laying off a rumored “hundreds” of folks could be seen as nothing but good. But for both entities, one thing is quite obvious.

Sunrise always happens. What do I mean by this? I mean that every day turns to night and light turns to dark, but it always becomes bright again the next day. Sure, that might seem like the kind of Captain Obvious statement that you’d explain to a 5 year old who has trouble coloring within the lines (those coloring books were hard, ok?!), but work with me here.

When I say sunrise always happens, I mean to say that there’s always something to look ahead to, and that things always have a distinct possibility of getting better. For a company like EA, who has endured (and still endures) the stigma of being an evil, dark, corporate entity, there’s a sunrise to look forward to in terms of new opportunities and initiatives. The layoffs are coupled with the supposed buyout of Playfish, a social games developer which will allow EA to expand into new markets. And while companies under its umbrella have been struck with a hard body blow, no studios have been shut down as in the days of EA old for quite some time, so EA remains and improves its catalog of offerings as an “all-in-one” publisher, something few others can claim.

The statement about the sunrise happening, however, is more relevant and meaningful to ex-employees and the human element affected by these rumored layoffs. I’ve been directly affected by the darkness that is a layoff – it’s a stressful, harrowing experience and scrambling to make ends meet and find new work is hardship that is difficult to overcome. But it is not an insurmountable obstacle, and there is always light over the horizon. Folks affected will attend last hurrahs with their co-workers, cobble together an updated resume, put out all their feelers in the gaming world, all in an effort to cope with the loss of their livelihood. As the days, weeks, and sometimes months go by without work, these people may feel that in a down economy that work is almost impossible to find.

However, every day you take a step forward to hold your bills in check, sunrise always happens.

Every day you work for hours to secure an in with your contacts and “who you know”, even if it is fruitless that day, sunrise always happens.

Every time you choose to either silently suffer or speak about what you can about the circumstances of your departure, sunrise always happens.

I say the sunrise always happens because the thing that is also consistent with it, is your talent. When someone is laid off, it isn’t because they did a poor job, or that they spent their days reading Facebook instead of working, or that they had a terrible indiscretion involving marshmallows, a microwave, and the Vice President of Finance. They get laid off because the company believes they can suffer along without them – and they will suffer, because the excellent job that these people do is now spread across less people, and burden is shared.

The people I know that were laid off are among some of the most talented, bright, amazing individuals I have come to know in my limited time working in the community/fan segment of the gaming industry. They were all dedicated people that had passion for their jobs, not just a “punch the timecard” outlook, and it showed. They made contributions that were significant and meaningful to people and they were a part of something great. No layoff can take that away.

When the sun rises, as it always does, there’s always the possibility of that dawning on a new opportunity with a new company that knows everything I’ve just said, and more. So with that, my heart goes out to those that were affected, and trust me – even in the gaming world, people (and studios) look forward to a better, new day ahead – even after the darkness.