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Health & Fitness

Game Over for Timonium, Hunt Valley Video Game Studios?

Studios will continue to change their name, sweep the debt under the rug, slap a new logo on the wall, and keep on going with the same agenda, the same failing mission statement.

I find myself disliking the game industry with every new studio entering what I call the game developer graveyard.

Recently, Baltimore has been hit hard with closings of Big Huge Games, Zynga East, and Impossible Studios.

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  • Timonium-Based Big Huge Games Shuttered
  • Zynga Fails To Impress After Opening with $1 Billion IPO

Then, there was also Wargaming's acquisition of Day 1 Studios during the end of January that flew under the radar.

To be honest, most people in the game development community saw the Zynga closing way before top executives started leaving. Everyone who I talked to used the term "abandoning a sinking ship" to describe what was going to happen once the stock failed to perform.

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There was also the changing market of the Facebook games. TechCrunch's Josh Constine wrote a great article back in October called "Why Zynga Failed" which was very accurate.

But, this post is not about Zynga. This post is about how horrible I feel for all my friends, networking buddies, fellow industry peons who got left behind. The ladies and gentlemen who work 60, 70, 80+ hours a week for less than market pay of what they are really worth. When speaking at local colleges, conventions, and social networking events there are three questions I force those wanting to get into the industry to ask themselves.

"Am I all right with no job security? Am I all right with being underpaid to work more hours? Am I all right with having to relocate?"

If you answered yes to all three of those questions than you will have to deal with your decision. We all got seduced by the "glory" industry we love, and that is our own fault. The companies hold all the power.

We accept these conditions blindly because we get to make games, but in the end, we are making other people's games. Even worse, most of us agree to not work on our own games while working for a company.

Yes, think about it, we agree to not do what we went to school for, trained for, dreamed of doing because ... why? One of my best teachers once said in my capstone course (Final project course for seniors in college) that

"This will be your last chance to create a game you want."

Continue reading the full article here 

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About Gabriel Pendleton: 

My name is Gabriel Pendleton, a tech enthusiast, game developer, entrepreneur, programmer and active community builder living in Cockeysville, MD. I like helping people succeed, giving advice, trying new technology and new ventures.

Read more of my posts on BaltimoreGamer.com or follow me on twitter @GabeTHEGeek. I am also the IGDA Baltimore Communications Manager, Podcaster, Professionally Unprofessional! 

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