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The Mole
05-13-2013, 05:07 PM
LOL LOL LOL LOL

Report: Gree Lays off 30 Employees at San Francisco Office (http://gamepolitics.com/2013/05/10/report-gree-lays-30-employees-san-francisco-office) May 10, 2013
http://gamepolitics.com/files/blogimages/gree_4.jpg (http://gamepolitics.com/2013/05/10/report-gree-lays-30-employees-san-francisco-office)
Mobile games publisher Gree has laid off an estimated 30 employees from its San Francisco office according to reports on Develop (http://www.develop-online.net/news/44143/Report-Gree-cuts-30-staff) and GII (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-10-gree-lays-off-staff-in-san-francisco). While the exact number of employees let go was not confirmed, the layoffs have been. According to Gree COO Anil Dharni, the staff reduction is part of re-alignment of its U.S. operations.
"We have recently aligned Gree's US studio to focus on creating the next generation of mobile social games," said Dharni.
"This shift in focus has been clearly demonstrated by the success and growth of our games," Dharni continued. "As part of ensuring that we are operating as efficiently as possible, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our work force. The employees leaving today have made great contributions to our success and we wish them all the best."
The current headcount at Gree's San Francisco office is unknown. This latest round of layoffs follow a staff reduction in December of last year that saw 25 employees let go after the company decided to abandon OpenFeint, its popular mobile social gaming network.

http://gamepolitics.com/2013/05/10/report-gree-lays-30-employees-san-francisco-office#.UZF_-crRZj4


__________________________________________________ __________________

GamesIndustry International reported on Friday that Japanese social networking platform and mobile social game publisher GREE (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=10863) laid off about 30 employees at its San Francisco offices. COO of GREE International Inc. Anil Dharni released the following statement:

We have recently aligned GREE's US studio to focus on creating the next generation of mobile social games. This shift in focus has been clearly demonstrated by the success and growth of our games. As part of ensuring that we are operating as efficiently as possible, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our work force. The employees leaving today have made great contributions to our success and we wish them all the best.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-13/mobile-game-firm-gree-lays-off-part-of-california-staff

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 05:45 PM
nope, still here

must be doing something right

How does laying off 30 employees demonstrate the success and growth of the game? Just hope that I and my
next cubicle over 10 bucks an hour buddy do not get laid off as well!

At1davis
05-13-2013, 05:46 PM
No wonder cj doesn't reply anymore. We will miss you cj. Lol sad

Meta Rage Trollbot
05-13-2013, 06:31 PM
I heard the world was supposed to end December 21st, 2012.

There were several naysayers 2 years ago. Many are still playing.

No offense, but your post suggests we should Get a sign and find a street corner. Gree is not as clueless as you may think.

glitters
05-13-2013, 06:59 PM
If the game doesn't end, you'll all just keep getting recycled content after each event cycle. The prizes will be slightly different each time and with slightly different pictures. The mechanics and nature of the events will be the same. The content is probably generated by some sort of computer program.

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 07:06 PM
that happened today for me actually.

one day people will wake up & think to themselves "why did i spend actual money on this stupid game?"

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 07:16 PM
thanks,

i feel pretty liberated today.

so does my bank account.

welcome back to real life bro. go a day without collecting pixelated money from your pixelated buildings and get back into your life.

congrats on breaking the addiction.

Crime Time
05-13-2013, 07:48 PM
Does anyone in business actually believe that to grow a company, you let go employees in the number that Gree did? Especially in the customer service arena?

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 08:01 PM
It just depends.

Maybe the 30 that they laid off, could have been re-hired into different position within the company. This happens a lot in the Aerospace industry. 1000 layoffs from Boeing means that they terminated the contracts of most and resigned them.

Another way it could be profitable - outsourcing.
Maybe 10 people from another country could do the same amount of work as those 30 did for a fraction of the price.

Also, if most of the people that were laid off were developers, they would have already developed enough programming to keep GREE quite profitable for awhile with just copying the same format over to other games.

so many ways that it could be profitable as well as grow the company.
Does anyone in business actually believe that to grow a company, you let go employees in the number that Gree did? Especially in the customer service arena?

Vballmadam
05-13-2013, 08:04 PM
It just depends.

Maybe the 30 that they laid off, could have been re-hired into different position within the company. This happens a lot in the Aerospace industry. 1000 layoffs from Boeing means that they terminated the contracts of most and resigned them.

Another way it could be profitable - outsourcing.
Maybe 10 people from another country could do the same amount of work as those 30 did for a fraction of the price.

Also, if most of the people that were laid off were developers, they would have already developed enough programming to keep GREE quite profitable for awhile with just copying the same format over to other games.

so many ways that it could be profitable as well as grow the company.

My brother workss for Boeing!

DME
05-13-2013, 08:04 PM
Does anyone in business actually believe that to grow a company, you let go employees in the number that Gree did? Especially in the customer service arena?

Yes. If they're heading in a different direction that those employees wouldn't be suitable for. As for the customer service side many large companies go the way of outsourcing or cut back on the numbers and give those remaining more work for the same pay.
Whether that's the case here is another story though.

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 08:18 PM
come on now.

i don't attack your helpful posts.

as limited as they are, i leave those be

let's leave the helpful posts be so newcomers can get something out of these forums besides our quips and banter
Nice try...keep your Greedy job a bit longer.

Jhenry02
05-13-2013, 08:19 PM
I used to work for a company that was contracted by Boeing.

Golf4life
05-13-2013, 08:20 PM
what company?

i was going to intern at Boeing before i realized i didn't want to be an engineer the rest of my life.
I used to work for a company that was contracted by Boeing.

Jhenry02
05-13-2013, 08:54 PM
C.F. Roark Welding and Engineering

thunder
05-14-2013, 05:25 AM
Right now MW is number 7 on top grossing apps on the app store it will go up to 3 or 4 during wd. Usually Mw is somewhere about 15. So why would they have to lay off 30 people?

Agent Orange
05-14-2013, 06:04 AM
Being the curious type, how many people were in the CA office? Thirty seems like quite a bit on top of the 25 nuked in Dec. if profits were so stellar why would you lay off employees? Glad I'm not a shareholder, I'd be dumping this stock faster than a hot coal on a cold December eve.

Zach3432
05-14-2013, 06:12 AM
The profits have been fairly high for Gree in regards to players. The stock hits they took when the Japanese government started investigating were not so stellar, unless the negative is also being considered stellar. The owner losing $700,000,000 was not so stellar either because of the investigation. The games may make a ton of money, but try replacing those losses.

Aussie Juju
05-14-2013, 06:39 AM
Right now MW is number 7 on top grossing apps on the app store it will go up to 3 or 4 during wd. Usually Mw is somewhere about 15. So why would they have to lay off 30 people?

Ummmmm... How about because of Gree(d)...

yankeefreak
05-14-2013, 07:24 AM
GO ARMY...always steady income as long as you can do PT

Rowdydowdy
05-14-2013, 07:50 AM
So the company is doing great and looking to the future in the business. Then they fire the people that made them successful? I thought this was a foreign company didn't know the US Government was running the place. That explains a lot though.

GuyInLobsterSuit
05-14-2013, 08:59 AM
I knew a guy who's friend's niece once flew on a Boeing.

JCL
05-14-2013, 01:13 PM
To demonstrate their great success! Apple got rid of that guy who invented the iPod. Err, wait, they didn't. I know there's gotta be a business climate book somewhere that says to motivate your people, fire them for being successful. I'm sure my boss has a copy.


Right now MW is number 7 on top grossing apps on the app store it will go up to 3 or 4 during wd. Usually Mw is somewhere about 15. So why would they have to lay off 30 people?

JCL
05-14-2013, 01:17 PM
You know, thats probably the absolute worst thing you could ever do: Fire people after being "successful." They're going to now go work for your competitor, or worse, start their own company. Hershey said no to one of his own people who brought the idea of Reeses (peanut butter cups). So, they left, started their own company and outsold Hershey's. Hershey's has never had a product match the popularity and sales of Reeses from what I remember reading awhile back.

DME
05-14-2013, 01:31 PM
To demonstrate their great success! Apple got rid of that guy who invented the iPod. Err, wait, they didn't. I know there's gotta be a business climate book somewhere that says to motivate your people, fire them for being successful. I'm sure my boss has a copy.

You can't really compare as you have no idea what jobs those people had, although it looks like at least some of them were in the customer service department. They may have outsourced it/changed the location of operation/given the work to existing employees for lower operating costs to maximize profits. If the exact same work can be achieved by less people or for less money then why would a business pay more?
This is all just conjecture though, as the only details we know are that 30 people were laid off and that it appears as though customer service was one department affected by this.

honest Abe
05-14-2013, 03:15 PM
They have 400 people in the office. The people have left the company. Prob synergies related the the acquisition or focused on less successful games. Given the ruling in Japan, hopefully they will focus on their us business. Cost the ceo 2.4bn as he owns 48pct of the shares.


Being the curious type, how many people were in the CA office? Thirty seems like quite a bit on top of the 25 nuked in Dec. if profits were so stellar why would you lay off employees? Glad I'm not a shareholder, I'd be dumping this stock faster than a hot coal on a cold December eve.

mwmark
05-14-2013, 03:26 PM
yah it looks like their SF office has 450 people in it, so less than a 10% reduction, and who knows what division of Gree this was part of

ProudClown
05-14-2013, 03:37 PM
Gree's US Studio was the highlight of their earnings report today! Looks like the recognize they need to refocus on customer service and player retention. Did you know they have telephone support staff in customer service? It's right there in the earnings report! Funny, I can't seem to find that customer service number anywhere?!

Jhenry02
05-14-2013, 03:40 PM
It's 1-800-867-5309

Dang you Tommy Tutone!

ProudClown
05-14-2013, 03:48 PM
Jenny?! Is that you?

mwmark
05-14-2013, 03:51 PM
Third Quarter Highlights:
- Overseas: Coin consumption has doubled on strong performance from titles developed by the U.S. studio

Interesting how much they make on US titles per month:
http://i.imgur.com/s8Vm4sf.jpg

Golf4life
05-14-2013, 06:13 PM
jhenry, jhenry, who can i turn to?


It's 1-800-867-5309

Dang you Tommy Tutone!

BADMARKX
05-14-2013, 06:59 PM
Anybody started War of Nations yet?

Golf4life
05-14-2013, 07:16 PM
cant even find it
Anybody started War of Nations yet?

King little fruit fly
05-14-2013, 07:22 PM
Yep, the sky is falling, the WD event is running at full speed to suck up as much as possible from you before the light is turn off.

Barefoot
05-14-2013, 07:22 PM
Out of frustration I once hoped all of Gree's Android developers would be fired.
But now this is happening I feel bad for those people. Being laid off is often a very unpleasant experience, it can turn your life upside down. Worse, it can affect the kids' lives in a bad way.

jjm521
05-14-2013, 09:20 PM
I knew a guy who's friend's niece once flew on a Boeing.

I think i knew her (the niece). Sweet girl

Opinvu
05-14-2013, 09:24 PM
Obama Care...lots of companies getting ready for new regulations. SF is a very expensive place to do business. Just saying there are other strategic reasons other than falling profits, or laying of the fat and buggy. As you do in your own factions. A fast paced company grows for production and reduces for support. Game launched, bye bye. Boeing, great example!

BADMARKX
05-14-2013, 10:35 PM
I was reading GREE stuff and I think War of Nations is only available in Canada and one other market.
I am in Canada and can at least verify that there are many Canadian themed guilds.
There is no forum I'm aware of, but there is a world chat in game.
I like the fact that its played on a map and the weaker players have to work their way to the rich in resource middle.
Sorry to discuss another game here, but again, it's seems very new and I would like to learn more.
This game has some promise....
More to come...