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Sounds like the industry in Japan is a lot more stable! From what I hear, there's also a lot more loyalty, in both directions, between employers and employees than what I'm used to.

Here in Australia, most console devs worked on IP they didn't own, and their existance proceeded at the whim of American publishers, who were less willing to risk money when the US economy started to collapse. I'd estimate 90% of our local console games industry has been wiped out this past decade. Many of the laid-off staff have formed small iPhone companies, etc, but they're even more risky.

Personally: I've lost count of the number of times that colleagues of mine have been made redundant due to studios downsizing - maybe about 6 culls... I've been made redundant twice, because of whole-studio closures, and have resigned twice due to working conditions. I've worked on 5 cancelled games but only 2 shipping games. Two of those four companies were consistently late with pay-cheques, but at least only one of them has demanded overtime.

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Sounds like the industry in Japan is a lot more stable!

Here in Australia, most console devs worked on IP they didn't own, and their existance proceeded at the whim of American publishers, who were less willing to risk money when the US economy started to collapse. I'd estimate 90% of our local console games industry has been wiped out this past decade. Many of the laid-off staff have formed small iPhone companies, etc, but they're even more risky.

Personally: I've lost count of the number of times that colleagues of mine have been made redundant due to studios downsizing - maybe about 6 culls... I've been made redundant twice, because of whole-studio closures, and have resigned twice due to working conditions. I've worked on 5 cancelled games but only 2 shipping games. Two of those four companies were consistently late with pay-cheques, but at least only one of them has demanded overtime.

...

Sounds like the industry in Japan is a lot more stable!

Here in Australia, most console devs worked on IP they didn't own, and their existance proceeded at the whim of American publishers, who were less willing to risk money when the US economy started to collapse. I'd estimate 90% of our local console games industry has been wiped out this past decade. Many of the laid-off staff have formed small iPhone companies, etc, but they're even more risky.

Personally: I've lost count of the number of times that colleagues of mine have been made redundant due to studios downsizing - maybe about 6 culls... I've been made redundant twice, because of whole-studio closures. I've worked on 5 cancelled games but only 2 shipping games. One of the reasons I resigned from my last job was bad job security. Two of the four companies I've worked for were consistently late with pay-cheques, but at least only one of them has demanded overtime.

...

Sounds like the industry in Japan is a lot more stable.
Here in Australia, most console devs worked on IP they didn't own, and their existance proceeded at the whim of American publishers, who were less willing to risk money when the US economy started to collapse. I'd estimate 90% of our local console games industry has been wiped out this past decade. Many of the laid-off staff have formed small iPhone companies, etc, but they're even more risky.