this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
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Video-Game Company Unity Closes Offices Following Death Threat (www.bloomberg.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ylai@lemmy.ml to c/gaming@lemmy.ml
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[–] mrbubblesort@kbin.social 67 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but this seems very much part of the PR script for any controversy of the past 20 years or so.

  1. Cause controversy

  2. Get backlash

  3. Say there were death threats in basklash

  4. Paint opposition in bad light, claim to be the real victim and bask in all the feel good comments from people saying "it was controversial, but come on, death threats are not cool"

  5. Conversation derailed, continue as planned

Seriously, go look at one of the comment threads on that other site. It's now all about how "deranged indie devs" are hurting honest hard working Unity employees. Maybe it was a real threat, maybe it wasn't, but they're sure as fuck going to milk it for all they can now.

[–] Seraphin@pawb.social 17 points 1 year ago

Makes sense.

But is it just me that's unaffected by such a script? I'm just like "Death threats? shrugs Fair enough." Unity threatened a lot of dev's livelihoods. What did they expect, for them all to just roll over and take it?

[–] mifan@feddit.dk 13 points 1 year ago

Plot twist: the death threat was the pricing change.

[–] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They can stay closed.

[–] pixel@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

im super on the fuck unity train right now but like, real normal people work there that need employ and have families to support. I hope unity changes course due to public sentiment but i don't really think that death threats forcing an office closed are going to be the way to invite that change

[–] turtlepower@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

And those people can find employment at a company that isn't such a piece of shit.

[–] Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well these days I'm not sure sure

[–] turtlepower@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's why I used the qualifier "isn't such". They're all shit, it just depends how much and what kind of shit is worth it.

[–] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think it’s more the “find employment” thing, not the “piece of shit” thing. Tech companies have been doing massive layoffs recently so the market is flooded with people looking for jobs when fewer places are hiring.

[–] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Tech companies have been doing massive layoffs recently

A. Sort of big, not recession-inducing.
B. Intentionally done by the larger companies to price-fix the tight job market so they don't have to pay so much.

[–] Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

As the other guy has said, I was more thinking about the chance of finding more employment

[–] pixel@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

I hope they do. But for now I'd rather them not all lose work overnight, nor do I want all of the indie devs getting blindsided by these changes to unity to have to give up on, port, or delist their projects. I want unity to change for the better more than I want them to crash and burn. But I do think this will serve as an awakening for some segments of the industry to not put all their eggs in one basket with a company as greedy as unity. I hope Godot takes off in use, or Epic keeps using fortnite money to make unreal an attractive development platform and continues to be a good steward of it. That's wishful thinking though, given the current state of unity lol

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Saw a post that said a lot are leaving over this. Take with a grain of salt because I dunno who the poster actually is, but one can hope right?

[–] SatouKazuma@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Yup. Honestly, no sympathy from me here. Fuck those shitbags.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Death threats are not ok. Maybe just switch to Godot instead.

[–] SatouKazuma@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you really believe they received a death threat? I'm calling bullshit on this one.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No idea if it's real or not to be honest. It seems pretty believable to me on its face but that doesn't mean it's legit.

[–] SatouKazuma@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

I'd say it's suspiciously-timed. My guess is Unity were tired of the shit PR, then tried to flip things around and use this to cast themselves as the victim. So I'm taking this one with about a planet's worth of salt.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Given current events, it seems very plausible to me they got at least one - but let’s not pretend it means the backlash is all wrong and we should start giving up all indie revenue to the great lord engine provider.

[–] shininghero@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

While I have no sympathy for the upper management behind this stupidity, I would like to remind people to ensure their fire is focused away from developers and other non-management staff. They generally have no say in these calls.

If you have the connections to pull their staff away into jobs at other companies, please do that instead. It may not feel like it, but it will do more long-term damage if you can extract their senior talent.

[–] Murdoc@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man that website is annoying. Say, where's that summary bot?

[–] SeethingSloth@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Sure.