In all honesty its sorta rough right now. In the past year roughly 2000 game developers have been laid off or lost their jobs due to their studio closing, flooding the market with devs. Being a game dev itself is already a rough run as job stability is very rare. Most jobs are for 6 months- 3 years then its on to the next game/studio. There are a few “oasis” companies like Blizzard and Riot but these jobs are in super high demand (in some cases leading to mistreatment of employees) and as shown in the last year even these companies are not “safe”. The amount of game studios that have closed in the past year and a half is staggering. I am not sure what the future of this industry looks like.
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Why hello there! I haven’t seen you log into the actual game in a bit, and assumed since your last post was December… Well, we all know what assuming does… Ha! Thanks for answering the forumer’s question.
I had no idea so many layoffs have happened. I feel like the gaming scene is only growing. Especially eleagues… I mean, articles are being featured on non-gaming sites such as ESPN. In fact, it’s only recently that ESPN has made an entire esports section!
I wish you the very best of luck in your current and future endeavors, @Nivmett!
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Overwatch League has been broadcast on ESPN since the first season, and this year it’s on Disney XD and ABC as well. Esports definitely is moving into the mainstream.
My interested outsider’s take:
What’s happening in the video game industry is what happens in all industries as they grow, and the video game industry is bringing in massive amounts of money – far more than Hollywood, for example:
But that money isn’t evenly divided – it’s going to a few large publishers, as Nivmett points out. There’s also a lot of consolidation going on, making the job market very unstable. If the industry follows the Hollywood trajectory, power is likely to end up in the hands of a few giant conglomerates (like Tencent, for instance), and it will be harder and harder for smaller studios to find a way to compete.
Longer term, there will likely be a more reasonable balance between smaller studios and the big entertainment companies, just as there are now well regarded and successful indie production companies outside the big Hollywood studios. But who knows when that may happen.
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It’s you Nivmett??? The balance master!!! We miss you a lot!! (As you can read in several threads). Why Zekent and Sonata didn’t learn from you? 
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Oh, hey there! Just wanted to say hello 
You are now the dev in charge of balancing Command and Conquer Rivals, are you? Or I’m mistaken?
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esports is definitely growing! Just a lot of studios that specialized in console games are taking major hits. Box games have trouble making a decent amount of money. =/ That’s why so many companies are going mobile.
Thank you so much!
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Hey there. Yes I am the one leading balance on Rivals. From balancing one game to the next lol
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Ah thank you. I miss you all as well. VG will always be dear to me. <3 Each balancer has their own perspective and way of doing things. I personally feel that its important for a balancer to consider how it feels to play with and against every item and hero and that’s usually the foundation of how I balance.
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Hi nivmett and welcome back , I think what we complain about in the balancing is no communication , why you buffing that hero or nerfing that hero , or is that enough , like I think you guys did that when you were there , is it obvious and doesn’t need explanation that they just change without comments , why there is heroes untouched ? , do you think having a small team an excuse ?
Yeah but… you know, nerfing SAW… making Vox a burst mage… buffing Kinetic when everybody says she is OP… At least when you made some controversial changes you wrote something explaining it, they just don’t care about that.
How about the option of unemployed devs going into their own games, as indie developers? Is it sustainable, how many people do this/consider it as a possible option?
Being an Indie developer is terrifying. You make no money unless you get funding. It requires far more skills such as rigging, art, animation, vfx, engineering and design. Then when you have a prototype to pitch you still need to go to an investor or kickstart and pitch it to them and hope your funded. Most of these developers can’t afford to be without pay in the time it takes to make a game. (Could be 4 months to 2 years depending on the project)
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Hmm I think it has to do because my form of balancing was more than data based. I personally feel feeling should be considered when balancing. I believe their form of balancing is more data driven which is another way to go. So while Kinetic may be OP at upper tiers her win rate at lower tiers was probably low. Explaining it takes time and money (You need to pay to localize your notes) which they would rather divert towards something else.
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Ahhh I see that it was a luxury back then, people didn’t care for much (since it was a normal occurrence) and since we lost that luxury, people are sad and angry that its gone.
I didnt think of that 
I guess that saying “You never miss something until its gone” fits my situation. I took dev notes for granted and now that its gone, its (Im) sad.
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While what you say is correct, don’t forget that all those small details leaded to the liking of the game as a whole, so in a sense - it was noticed.
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Remember when you explained some balance changes in Excoundrel’s interviews? They could do something like that, or put a thread in reddit…
Their balance is, right now, poor (if not a joke). OP heroes still OP and remain untouched and weak heroes gets nerfed… I try to understand their changes, but I can’t. We need you back Nivmett 
I would love to bud but its not my call. <3
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Whats your stance of the newest hero Caine? Not using his kit numbers and such though. 
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I think hes fun. I enjoy him. His ult is probably my least fav part but the rest is great. =)
Btw, they managed to do something you couldn’t: the killed the forever meta Vox, for multiple updates.