Vibe Check Updates July 2024

In a not so surprising twist, in my opinion, Singularity6 has been acquired by Daybreak Studios.

Why is this not a surprise? The writing has been on the wall since day one that Singularity6 hoped to be acquired by a larger studio. The first wave of lay-offs happened back around their open beta launch, which was then followed but two more rounds early this year. It’s typical of companies hoping to merge with a more established company to begin laying off employees to make the transition easier. As well as cut down on costs in the meantime while they court bigger names.

I speculated back in the May update that their laying off of nearly 40%+ of their studio was to prepare for a buy-out. The other option was that they were gearing up to end the project entirely and put the game in “maintenance mode.” I would speculate that this current acquisition is to pay off their remaining VC investments, as well as bring in some fresh perspective to the game.

Daybreak is the best company to have acquired them, let me at least give them that! They’re familiar with the MMO space, having spawned out of Sony Online Entertainment, and are comfortable managing a multitude of MMO titles — from my favorite Everquest to Lord of the Rings Online and Magic: the Gathering Online. At the very least, Palia will enjoy an expanded server capacity.

That said, I would expect to see another round of layoffs on the project. Almost all of Daybreak’s major titles had minor layoffs at the beginning of the year. We wont see the same numbers we saw in April and May, but with any transition there comes a small amount of people who will not survive the change.

I wish everyone who has lost their job in the gaming industry the best of luck in finding a new project. It’s a difficult time out there to be a developer. I hope you’re all able to find something soon!

In big news: Humble Games has laid off all of its staff as of the end of July.

This is huge as Humble Games has been behind a lot of indie releases over the few years that they’ve been active for. They provided a lot of the resources and help in getting new games onto a variety of platforms. With their backing, plenty of games have managed to make it onto the Switch when before they may have been Steam limited.

So far, though Humble has claimed this wont have a significant impact to the developers they support, some have already turned to Patreon for continued financial aid. Others are unsure how they will be able to push updates to other consoles, as in the case of Coral Island above.

It remains to be seen what will happen and Humble has not been forthcoming with details as of yet. More info as the situation develops.

This one is personal, in a sense.

One reason I mention who the investors are behind new games is because I believe it’s our rights as consumers to know who is funding the things we want. In the US, we are facing an increasingly oligarchic capture of our democratic system. We also have to contend with the likes of Christofascists attempting to push their agenda into all sectors of life — like with the recently revealed Project 2025 which bases itself off of Seven Mountain Dominionism. Knowing who is pumping money into what and then how they spend that returned investment capital is part of starving these projects.

To be clear, multiple investment companies do give money to start-up companies. It’s incredibly rare to find a project that has a single investor.

With that out of the way, I want to draw attention to Andreessen Horowitz. They are one of the the largest and most diverse portfolios in the VC world. According to their Pitchbook profile they have backed 1,900 projects in a variety of sectors: crypto, healthcare, gaming, and enterprise IT. They currently manage a portfolio worth $42 billion.

Their founders, Marc Andreeseen and Ben Horowitz, have said that they will pledge their personal funds to Trump’s 2024 campaign. It has not been disclosed exactly how much they plan to donate, just that they both are. They say it’s because “for little tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice” and that the government has become hostile to start-ups due to regulations on the crypto space.

Now, you may say “well, how they spend their personal fortunes is up to them, and it’s not as if they’re spending the funds from the company.” You’re right on that front. Though, if you trace that money back far enough — and you don’t really have to go that far — you’d also know that their personal fortunes come from the money they’ve made as a VC firm. So, maybe it isn’t directly coming from the firm itself, but it might as well be.

Take it for what it’s worth. I know that for my part, I wont be touching another A16z/Andreessen Horowitz backed project. They’ve signaled that they have no morals beyond their bottom line. I would encourage you to think through the pieces for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

That’s largely it for this month. See ya soon for more updates and please, stay safe and sane out there!