Kotaku Australia did the sensible thing and managed a response from Auran CEO, Tony Hilliam, on the recent news posted at Angry-gamer.net about the latest mass sackings at Auran. Tony downplayed the situation, stating that Auran are not finished, but just aren't requiring a full 60 man team for future projects. From Kotaku...
As I explained to the staff yesterday, whilst FURY has started off slower than expected, I still see a bright and long future ahead. However, that future will not include the full 60 man development team who have worked on FURY for the past year. The future will focus on a smaller, more agile core team of Fury developers...
So the rumour mill got a number of things right or close to it, and I am happy to be able to add a little more detail. As they say in the classics, the death of Auran and FURY has been greatly exaggerated.
Tony's response is extremely revealing in regards to the immediate direction of Auran, their thoughts on outsourcing, and also tells of the news that Tantalus is setting up shop in Queensland and right next to the Auran studio!
For the entire response, head on over to Kotaku Australia...
1. Anonymous Fri, 7 Dec
well thats good news
The damage is already done. Many sites have picked up the rumour that Auran are on the verge of folding.
Angry-gamer dot net == tards
He doesn't sound too happy with ex staff breaking nda's
dammmageee contrrrooool
"Shit got expensive so we're gettin' the Chinese"
Yeah, that sounds about right ;). I wonder if this might be the shape of things to come... ?
Yeah, and couple that with the bit about only keeping on the sweatshop workers...
It's a global economy. When the Chinese are just as talented and willing to work for less, of course you're screwed. Either become more talented, regionally aware, or work for less.
Exactly. Why do people think some of this work comes to Australia in the first place?
work for less?
most people aren't in the industry for the money to begin with, and last time i checked, living in australia costs a little more than $50 a month.
And i don't think getting "more talented" factors into the equation when the suits are talking about the "bottom line" either...
"most people aren't in the industry for the money to begin with, and last time i checked, living in australia costs a little more than $50 a month. "
What fricking planet are you living on? $50 a month? You're off it mate.
didn't you know? auran is the new EA in staff treatment
this comment was ment to be under #9... fixed.
you obviously haven't checked since the 60's.
average 1 bedroom apartments in inner melbourne are around $200 per week.
The A-G story was from multiple sources AT AURAN that said the same thing. They're losing their jobs. Auran isn't folding, but they aren't developing anything here.
I agree. If people actually read the original article, all it really said was that there were people losing jobs at Auran, not that they were folding altogether. But the titles given to the articles at both Angry Gamer and Kotaku were worded in such a way to imply it was a sign of the company collapsing, rather than just shedding people, Fair enough that a lot of people reading the articles drew incorrect conclusions.
Funny. I know a bunch of people at Auran and they have all been told to find another job. Tony seems to downplay the issue, but it's still going to affect a large amount of people. I'm happy to see that they're not shutting down completely, and it's sad that Fury didn't turn out to be the blockbuster they had hoped.
while i do agree that this angry gamer post was written by a sensationalist idiot, i'd like to point a few things out:
fury is going to be proudly australian made...in china?
only keeping people who work till 4am every day for no benefits?
with that kind of attitude towards your staff, i don't think you have to worry about hiring more staff...ever...
Didn't you know that Auran is the EA of Australia?
yes, angry gamer was written by a sensationalist idiot. But he was right.
So the box says made in australia right? Doesnt auran get government funding too? Then why they just firing people and outsourcing it to china?
Way to go Australian Industry, Go team... Go TEAM!
qld government will not like this... will they?
They probably won't care. Fury was mostly invested by Chinese company, CDC Games, with AUD$4 million in funding. Makes sense that they're handing it over to them.
so when the chinese company hands over that much money do they get the australian made thrown in the deal aswell?
i know a few ppl there too and sayn shits hit the fan most are getttn saked, pretty much sucks aye.