LAYOFFS: DYNAMIX TO SHUT DOWN ON TUESDAY - DAVID ALLEN NO LONGER WITH ARTIFACT? [Author: Arcadian Del Sol]
DAVE ALLEN WHERE ARE YOU?
Two emails arrived regarding the state of affairs at Artifact Entertainment and its forward thinking online product, Horizons. The first one was a cut/paste of an update at another website, so forgive me if it reads like a stereo instruction manual.
Short of it… David Allen [CEO, lead designer of Horizons] does not work at Artifact Entertainment anymore. The story was reported by Dave on Horizons MMORPG.net [http://horizons.mmorpg.net] and I confirmed it tonight with an anonymous AE employee.
The second email was basically that very article on MMORPG.net…
Fearing the worst, I called Artifact Entertainment on Thursday afternoon. After first going through the company directory, I could not find any reference to David Allen. This is the first trigger which I found odd about the whole ordeal. Since I could not find David’s extension in the directory, I decided to go the human route and talk to the receptionist. Here is the part that really disturbs me. When I asked to speak with David Allen, the receptionist stated, “David Allen does not work in the office anymore. He is still employed with Artifact Entertainment, but he is no longer works in the office.” When I asked how long he has not been in the office, the response was, “David Allen has not been working in the office for about 3 weeks.”
The assumptions made are that David Allen is no longer with Artifact Entertainment, but the only stretch I’m willing to make is to say that it would appear he is no longer working on Horizons, and has not been for the past few weeks. He has yet to come up for air, and so far, nobody else on the Horizons project is saying anything.
MORE ON SIERRA LAYOFFS: DYNAMIX SHUT DOWN TO BE OFFICIAL ON TUESDAY
A lot of email on this one, so lets get started.
Heard Wednesday, confirmed Thursday. Dynamix is closed, permanently. Won’t be officially announced until Monday supposedly, but everyone was sent home on Thursday.
And then this email…
Tuesday 200 people will be laid off. Everyone at Dynamix has been laid off ( They do Tribes and tribes 2 ), 104 people, last Tuesday. They just walked in and threw everyone out of the building. The Employee’s there cant even come back for their personal items until Wensday. Apparently no-one at Dynamix even heard the rumors about the lay off’s.
My friend says that their dept. isnt going to be ambushed that badly but will be given 60 days to finish off their work and get out.
My friend thinks that Vivendi Universal Interactive ( the parent comapany) purposely left everyone in the dark so that people would not start stealing equipment and jumping ship. They are apparently offering a small but respectable severance package for the people being laid off.
And finally from “The Sierra Songbird”, a confirmed and reliable source, arrives this email…
The rumors surrounding Dynamix are true as posted on Tribalwar. Just as an FYI for you, Dynamix got scaled down when *** CONTENT FILTERED *** and it was always understood, or so I was told, that Dynamix could go away at any point once Tribes2 was out the door, so I don’t see why this comes as a complete surprise to the Dynamix folks.
As for Sierra itself…
Right now the employees are sitting around watching the rumors fly.
Nothing definate has been said nor is anything going to be known one way or the other until Monday.
Some of the folks being laid off this week are among the industry’s most talented individuals. I hope they land something soon, or this could be a bleak holiday season for gamers.