Glassdoor Reviewers Destroying CA's Eternally Incompetent Management

Deep insights with some comic relief as a bonus.
Creative Assembly employees (both current and former) letting the management have it, after they presumably ran the company into the ground over many years, with another massive round of layoffs apparently currently well underway.
The post bringing this to my attention yesterday:
/ cant_argue_much_with_t...
The reviews section on Glassdoor:
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#glassdoor #creativeassembly #gamedev
0:00 most recent glassdoor review "incapable of making a good game"
09:50 regarding recent leaks and long awaited Fred Fartsniffer DLC prospects
16:50 getting back to reading glassdoor reviews
21:50 salary discussions
31:15 further layoffs in April, numbers given
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[@LegendofTotalWar]

Great analysis of this situation. How many fires have to be lit under CA's ass before they actually get rid of the terrible management?

[@Volound]

cheers legend, been paying more attention to the warhammer stuff than i usually would recently thanks to your leaks. and yeah i really dont get it. how many indicators can they possibly need before they do something about it.

[@LegendofTotalWar]

@@Volound I don't think we're ever going to be able to make sense of what goes on over there.

[@hashutchampion8471]

I respect you guys as Modder on Total War Warhammer series I been fixing their game and enjoyable as possible but they keep ruining it ma man Legend and Volound

[@createcontent4me-dx8ly]

Why would they get rid of the terrible management? It got them Games Workshop, now they just have to hold the line til people forget, cut their losses and release another overhyped Warhammer title... If what you believe is true, and these recent losses will force upper management to rethink their business model, as in, realize they are a game company, not just a marketing company that prioritizes profits.. I doubt they have the money to push forward any real time elements in their games anymore, only to recycle the same formula. This may be the death we need to rebirth a new kind of historical real time strategy that isn't just Total War branding.

[@jarvee9407]

Never, noone would work there then... If they have incompetent people in management every one is probably incompetent. So the people doing the hiring are also incompetent and wont hire correct people who could fix something. It's the same in Blizzard, the same people doing the same stuff for years on years, because there is noone who could replace them. Unless you fire everybody and start over there will never be a solution. In my country this was the case with everything thanks to communism only thing which worked was fire all and rehire all, but still a lot of communist ended back at their posts..I think we can apply that to CA too. There is nothing we can do...

[@Norbert92]

Not even Bob the Builder could fix this shit

[@cyllananassan9159]

Not even super MARIO can fix the leaks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AimlessSavant]

Can we fix it? *_FUCK NO_*

[@AnalyticalReckoner]

CA is like one of the Kitchen Nightmare episodes where the owner telling his chef what and how to cook has no experience in restaurant ownership or cooking.

[@Nasmr1]

It's hilarious to me that the people who directly worked for CA recognise they're putting out bad games and are angry about it. But when we point out they're bad the total war reddit squad delude themselves and try to gaslight others they're not bad. Crabs in a bucket!

[@hardbrocklife]

And the shills are actually making it worse for those employees. Shilling is always bad for everyone. It rewards poor behavior and the worst actors.

[@morowenidi4621]

they have to justify for themselfs spending 500$ on warhammer and it's dlcs

[@honeybadger6275]

@@morowenidi4621 The people defending the game spend 10-20 times that on plastic/resin miniatures, they think warhammer total war is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[@F_Yale]

That behaviour is an expression of either a smooth or defective brain.

[@polomarco7053]

​@@honeybadger6275i doubt peoples who are into the plastic miniatures would be into the clone army of total war, more likely than not they would be into warhammer battlemarch instead.

[@justcreastive5513]

Its always the manager staff that fuck things up

[@stevejobs5533]

Not gonna be the cleaner is it

[@Grivehn]

Its across pretty much every corporations which grow too big for their shoes. CA is just one victim of thousands. Its almost as if there isnt even any need for these middle management parasites and all they do is just ruin everything.

[@McHobotheBobo]

Managers and shareholders - partners in crime

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Shareholders are very often just conglomerations of public pensions under the management of a separate corporate body. Basically it is managerial oligarchy all the way up.

[@michielwerring5846]

Managers, producers, leads, directors. In my head, they're force multipliers. You can have the best developers in your team, but if they are multiplied by 0.2x, they're not going to do much good. My current producer is incredible, I feel like she lets me do twice the amount of work in half the time. Most producers are bottlenecks, untrained, unskilled, and with the wrong goals in mind.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

Always reember that it doesn't matter that it says "CA", "BIOWARE", "UBISOFT" of those games. The guys who made the games i the first place are decades gone from there. They were pushed out because they prioritised the game over the profit and were replaced by incompetent yesmen.

[@blakecampbell-taylor2865]

I just want another Ass Creed Brotherhood/Mass Effect 2. Why does everything have to be so shitty now? 😞

[@123asds]

That´s such a good point. The people who made the good stuff. Rome ttw... Medieval... Shogun 2... These talented people are long gone.

[@OneBiasedOpinion]

Big facts. People keep sucking up to them hoping they’ll get a crumb of nostalgia from “the good old days,” but all they’re getting is half-finished slime. And as long as these people keep buying the shit their old favorites shovel out, the companies will never learn.

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

Mass Effect 2 was the start of the slide. I never got an actual sequel to the first game. ​@@blakecampbell-taylor2865

[@zulazhar1259]

​@@123asds i saw thor saying that if you love a particular company game. You need to follow the actual people not the company name.

[@dooperdaa7676]

Breh what are these salaries? Overnight Walmart employees in my area start out at $15.50 an hour. That's 32,000 USD a year. 29,000 euros. If you went and worked as a stocker at Walmart, no education required beyond how to put boxes on shelves, you'd be making as much or more than most employees at CA. What is this clown world we live in?

[@NanoLT]

UK has very low salaries, comparing salaries to US in this instance is way more complicated than that.

[@ceoofthen-word8849]

This is called being British

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@NanoLT In the Netherlands you can start at Albert Heijn at 17,50 euro per hour, thats 36.4K euro per year stocking shelves. Brexit was a mistake, mate.

[@Scruffynerfherder10]

I’m working a full 40 hour shift at a company for the past 3 years, still on the same salary of £21,500, but what’s f*cked is new people are coming in on £29,000…and I’m asked to train them too…which makes it worse

[@adamm2091]

​@@TheSuperappelflap the U.K. has always had famously low salaries, I agree that I don't think brexit helped but it definitely isn't the root

[@agentduck9285]

This could honestly be a review of about 5+ companies that released games recently.

[@Volound]

almost like there is a systemic problem.

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

​@@Volound what's a system? As an American, I only understand the word "individual."

[@michielwerring5846]

@@Volound Hey, you again? Yes. There is a systemic problem. Most of the games industry lacks fundamental training, more so with people in management who either started as Artists/Coders/Designers/Whathaveyou, got a few hit games and now have no prior experience or new training to back them up in their management roles. Same happens to leads, I've had two days of seminar on my last job and that's the extent of my official training, the rest I got from other *good* leads from prior jobs, books and other sources I looked up on my own time. Directors, producers... Often the same problems. Game schools are also inadequate to teach *most* beyond junior level capability and needs. I got lucky, I had a mentor who was heavy into philosophy which planted seeds which long-term are paying off in making better work environments for my crews now, thanks teach. Schools that try to make expert students, at the cost of reduced output in student graduates, are often punished by governments wanting to see higher outputs, reducing them to churn out inadequate juniors who continue the issues faced. Then there's the exploitability of having too many people wanting into the industry out of passion, which makes actual professionals with standards (And price-tags) expendable, lowering the professional standards again. Three juniors are thought of as better than one good senior, while the Senior gets the job done in a quarter of the time with expandability in mind and the juniors barely get it to compile. The good ones are often chased out, lured out by better contracts, or promoted to their level of incompetence. Ultimately, this all leads to no incentive to improve, no understanding of how hollowed out the company becomes from its success years. The company succeeded before: We don't need to change, it's the newcomers that have to adapt to us. It's pretty bad. And anyone who asks about joining the industry I try to discourage politely. Those who insist and show promise I at least try to prepare for the shitshow they might get themselves into. Ahhh, joy.

[@DeeJy33]

​@@Crazy_Diamond_75 that's hyper-cringe bro

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

@@DeeJy33 I mean, that's literally the way people here think. Start talking about anything systemic and their eyes glaze over.

[@rebidiom2578]

To imagine that by looking at the newest wh3 dlc and see person playing it not notice the "PLACEHOLDER" in the game.

[@Volound]

LOL that is still going on over there

[@rebidiom2578]

@@Volound noticed by accident so I should be able to review footage again and pin point the placeholder. More importantly it's footage of a polish that normally bought the "cheap and fair and fixed dlc pricing". Still seeing placeholder name is funny and softly sad.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

Certified Rome 2 classic

[@KvltKommando]

It always bugged me when I'd bitch about a developer announcing a game or that they were working on some series / genre / dlc that I hated and people would stupidly say stuff like 'you don't have to buy it' or 'no one's making you play it' as if they couldn't possibly conceive of opportunity cost. Another opportunity cost that comes with it is when DLC splits a multiplayer community (like what happened with COD Modern Warfare 2 when the map packs started releasing) or obviously imbalances a game to try to encourage/shame players into getting the new DLC to keep up with the new meta OP weapon (like I saw Battlefield 1 get ruined from how fun it was on release)

[@Wourghk]

"It's not impostor syndrome: you really are incompetent." Scathed.

[@lucasLSD]

So happy that my money funded a custom porsche instead of better games! Thank you so much CA! /s

[@7632ios]

Total war is pretty much dead at this point. These videos are the only reason I come back to this “franchise”. Who knows maybe they will release a decent game by accident.

[@nerath639]

they should finally go bankrupt and sell the total war ip to someone more competent

[@honeybadger6275]

Gaming is dead as a whole, actually scratch that western civilization is pretty much dead at this point.

[@Scruffynerfherder10]

I genuinely think this review of CA can be applied to every western studio that’s been putting out bad games in recent years, it’s all management, they’re either incompetent and/or have no idea how to run a games studio or a business in general

[@NaimHrustanovic]

It's not that they're bad, it's that they have entirely different goals. They treat their company like a Factorio save, looking to minmax every single facet as much as possible with the end goal of selling product - not necessarily making an actual product worth selling. From the POV of their bank accounts, I'm sure they're doing great.

[@Succuladeath]

Just like in my factory, the whole top team is interconnected, a family business so to speak

[@Volound]

yeah and they all look out for each other and throw the people under them to the vultures. typical shit.

[@Riri_734]

Typical middle & upper management mindset of the best way to make profits is to cut overhead costs instead of retaining talents to provide stellar service and quality products. They'll make themselves look good at the expense of the employees and the customers. Once they get the handshake and payout they'll move on to the next company to destroy. Or if the current company is too stupid to narrow down the root cause to them, they'll stay till the company go bust.

[@Whoisthis911]

Honestly we can stop reading at the "custom porsche". Anyone who can fire more than 60% of their employees and then enjoy a custom porsche is not a human.

[@eOlRaNcH1]

Down goes the ship !

[@Dolfy]

Hoooly fuck Bob the Builder DLC will revitalize the numbers

[@ranfan1820]

This unrelated to the video but I like your profile picture. Looks like Houraisan Kaguya.

[@absinthe6854]

@@ranfan1820 It is, it's an edited spacezin pic.

[@olefredrikskjegstad5972]

"Fred the Fudsniffer III" is my new Tusslemallet OC. Original character donut steel

[@adamm2091]

My brother was QA for CA. He was given a healthy severance package. Edit: this could even be his post, it reads in his style, hes big on calling out incompetence and he was always a big fan; shogun 1 was his first game iirc

[@decp6601]

What salary do they offer QA in England? In Scotland, mid level QA get anywhere between £30000(low) to £55000

[@Scruffynerfherder10]

Funny, I thought every western company got rid of QA, I’d love to know what the process of QA is like now, I did an internship at a games studio as QA for a summer, I loved it at first but gradually knew that all my feedback wasn’t being listened to really.

[@adamm2091]

To reply to both of you; not sure what he was paid, but he had years of QA resting experience prior to joining CA so I think it was the realm of 30k GBP. He was one of 8 quality technicians a part of a team of 36, with 3 more being leads who probably didn't do anything more than middle/upper management. There was no shortage of testers but I think your experience as an intern is their experience as well.

[@arandomuser6665]

@@adamm2091 if your brother signed an NDA then I hope you realize your posts are potentially evidence of his violating that NDA, which I assume would cost him a whole lot of money. All for a few imaginary internet points.

[@Ashen_Night116]

@@arandomuser6665 Doesn't involve any sensitive information, so no, it's not breaking NDA to call people idiots.

[@ProgPiglet]

The solution to this problem is so obvious, and so are the benefits that would come from said solution, monetary or otherwise. And yet year after year, it seems like nobody at SEGA cares to know, so long as the warhammer teat keeps on getting suckled by hordes of strange peasants. It's weird because most businesses run on the principle that the buck stops with the management because the management is the idler wheel for quality control. And yet here we have a case study for the opposite happening, which just so happened to spawn the worst investments in gaming history, Hyenas. It's gotten to the point where even a random lobotomized lumberjack would do a better job, if not a clamfish. Even if they just regressed to their old engine, and just plonked some new textures and models into it and wotnot, the result would be vastly superior to anything they've released in the last decade. That's such a damning indictment lol

[@Volound]

i dont understand it. something really weird going on with this company.

[@jakubs.5966]

Haha. Topic is already locked on Steam. You struck gold.

[@Volound]

did you see the knuckledraggers there saying this was about "one review". the video thumbnail alone contains pieces of about ten of them.

[@Warmaker01]

RIP Creative Assembly 1989-2012 You were wonderful and sorely missed.

[@pigspigs76]

I always think back to shogun 2, I applied for a job with CA; in my application i talked about the ninja cloning retainer glitch, making arguments on both sides to demonstrate perspective and the value of a happy accident… they never replied and the glitch was patch shortly after 😅

[@Volound]

you had a good attitude and approach to applying. ive heard of similar stories from other companies where they are charmed by that sort of acuity and give people a shot based on it. honestly i think you dodged a bullet lol

[@pigspigs76]

@@Volound fair enough, I’d still sacrifice a couple of years to make shogun 3 😂

[@taylorturant8567]

I love the image of artists and designers sitting around spitballing game ideas *for years* with no programmers around to make it happen. What an absolute shit show CA has become. Star Wars seems like the perfect IP for "modern" Total War. I think this studio gets shut down within a few years, incredible fall from grace to oblivion.

[@JB-hp5ii]

We really need a DEEP dive documentary into Hyenas (Hyenas: Horrorshow in Horsham(?)). It seems such an epic failure there could be a Netflix-commissioned mini series in it for you, they'll have a crack at anything! Before Hyenas was pulled, CA might have been wayward, but after I'm surprised Sega didn't torch the whole thing immediately.

[@Volound]

alien isolation really deserves that, i was thinking. for one thing, it was actually a good game. but yeah this is one of the biggest failures in gaming history - hyenas. they should be writing about it and studying it for decades to come.

[@JB-hp5ii]

The behind the scenes would be incredible, put it up there with HS2 as one of our nation's greatest omnishambles! To get so far down the road, to be so creatively and commercially blinkered, and then have the overlords shut it down entirely, not even some sort of throw-away Redfall-esque release. The whole project written off as a loss, impacting global operations. Oh my boys, oh my, what a shit storm it must have been.

[@phantomjoker5]

hell yeah more downfall of CA/redditors

[@Asstronauts93]

I just started an empire campaign of Russia. I really wish they would do another game based off of Napoleon or empire. I just love muskets and cannonballs and stuff

[@Volound]

theyre "completely incapable of making a good game at this point" so no thanks, they can keep their turd and polish it.

[@spiffygonzales5160]

Empire is my favorite game strategy game of all time. But that kinda just makes me even more mad that CA refuses to fix it. That being said... yea, if they could recapture that old magic I'd live it. I don't really have any hope for it anymore, but there's always that part of me that thinks "man what if they DID though?" Till then, I will continue playing as my favorite faction. Three guesses who it is lol :)

[@BrettonianKnight]

​@@VoloundNapoleon had big issues with making each country uinque.

[@King.Leonidas]

testing if my comment gets puffed

[@lolasdm6959]

@@BrettonianKnightwhy do they need to be unique they tried making ottomans unique by taking their guns away. Like everyone had guns Turks didn’t run around with swords.

[@RomanianReaver]

Creative Assembly should rename themselves to Leakin Park.

[@peterrehm490]

I see salary figures like that, and it makes me feel blessed. Sweet Christ.

[@createcontent4me-dx8ly]

I remember the difference between me and my buddy Josh. See, Josh started with Rome 2. He tried Rome 1, Medieval 1, even Medieval 2, but the graphics were lacking and the game play was requiring effort to learn; so he stayed with over fluffed Rome 2. (Not to mention he already bought and paid for all the dlcs) I couldn't stand Rome 2; having to pay to play as Greece? What the actual #$%^? Medieval 2 had plenty of replayability; it was the last total war to feature a complete modding toolset that allowed you to edit the map and add your own content, a toolset that was very obviously lacking in Rome 2. Where is the great community of modders making masterpieces for Warhammer titles that aren't just QoL fixes for Dev oversight? Gone, because they pose a threat to Games Workshop slop... Josh loved the slop that CA made and I couldn't bring him over to the glory of previous titles like Rome Total War... he even bought REMASTERED... and played it for A DAY... proves to me half of capitalism is betting on every poor sucker alive to make a mindless business transaction.

[@DeliCiousTZM]

The last DLC, which i dubbed the appeasement DLC might look like an improvement to people that aren't that active in Warhammer. But to me that play Multiplayer campaign exclusively, the lack of balance and overall understanding of how abusive these mechanics are and can become is extremely obvious. With DLCs updating factions in the past, a faction is brought up to par and slightly higher perhaps, or in some cases they are so careful with upgrading factions that they lack much impact. This DLC just unleashed everything tho, here, have all the toys, get all the OP units, get all the mechanics, get all the gamebreaking fun stuff. Drowning us in broken features that makes those factions borderline unplayable in Multiplayer campaign. For me Creative assembly has performed adequately/good up until recently for me. The warning signs have been there for a long time, but it feels like a tipping point.

[@jasonvega9942]

This is telling me what I already knew. Aside from 2040 for med 3. Now ca is just a macabre novelty which in it's snowball into self destruction provides me with an ounce of amusement

[@Crucial_End]

And yet despite all this, despite the state of the game, the zealot playerbase are worried that they wont get as many dlc as they want before CA moves on to the next game. Who needs teams of programmers when all you need is small overpriced dlc's to whip people in to a buying frenzy...

[@shreyanssolanki8582]

Just sell the ip man, there are a lot of good companies which can make a very good total war game

[@stephenhartley2853]

makes you wonder what kind of oversight sega give. pretty sure iv been hearing about bad management for at least 10 years now.

[@Volound]

people were hoping they took a wrecking ball to the company and fixed all this over the past nearly a year. apparently not. just culling from the bottom really.

[@MinusIsDeceased]

So often I wish my favourite games were just under different studios.

[@bonalste]

The comments on Horsham are silly. A population of nearly 150,000 is not a "village", and when only 800 of those 150,000 people work at CA I find it nonsensical to suggest the company adds any economic value. I live there and it's hardly a "retirement village". It's large, and contrary to the 1h 30 commute to Brighton claim, Brighton is about a 30 minute drive. Stay in Brighton if they want, drive to work in Horsham. Hardly a big deal. Ridiculous. The people making those comments are telling blatent inaccuracies about something I know about, which makes me question the validity of the other comments they're making.

[@juggernaut9994]

The future of Creative Assembly

[@Volound]

my how the turntables have turned.

[@Sharp393]

The CEO: Costs are up guys, my custom porche is more expensive!

[@druzillakay945]

Honestly, at this point as fans any of us who still pre order a CA game are brain damaged. The management is trash and they refuse to ever listen to even customer feedback let alone the testers the content creators and even their own damn devs.

[@hammerheadxray8152]

I'd love an Empire 2 but at this point I don't trust the company to produce a good product

[@redeoghan]

Been getting hours of enjoyment out of a mod for Medievel 2 under active development called Insularis Draco. It really has been nothing but down hill since then.

[@Elendrian]

Honestly, if they hired the Stainless Steel or DaC modders, and started bankrolling development, I'd be happy to pay for the mod. The EOP- Engine Overhaul Project is still new, and there are a lot possibilities for future M2 modding

[@michaellynn8]

The CA salaries are really low for that part of SE England. Even £40K doesnt get you much in Horsham.

[@chazz00999]

CIG (star citizen & Squadron 42) at this point probably is the largest developer in the UK with their HQ in Manchester having space for 1k employees. Albeit, their total employee numbers are at 1300+ world wide currently with the bulk of that in the UK and Germany.

[@kapixniecapix3869]

So they fired Rob Bartolomew but its turn out that he was fired because he sayd the truth and the thruth is not allowed.

[@CesarJoel94]

He's also incompetent himself

[@cyllananassan9159]

i have warhammer 2 pirated and i cant even bother to install it.......

[@tokiwartooth4404]

I lost access to Steam due to Windows backdoor business deals benefiting them both and screwing me the previous customer. As far as I know Med 2 does not truly exist on disc? I know the early 3 games do work with only my discs. So I already bought it on Steam a long time ago and they have now stolen it from me. Gladly I wasn't playing anything on Steam at the time because I got tired of the app annoyances every damn time you open it. For a single player game. I found Med 2 easily but I'm still playing Rome 1 right now with my own mod work. I don't even care about WH thankfully. Never did. I do have Warcraft 1, 2, and 3 offline plus mods. DOSBOX mods War 1 to sharper visuals. War 2 I have an HD mod called WarGus. I have the older version of War 3 with the last good patch before they messed it all up. Same with Diablo 1 and 2. I have the classics with mods which is far better. Diablo 1 is the most metal of them all. I saw WH TW the first had a pre-order faction and I was like, "Yeah I don't care about Warhammer." I don't like Starcraft 2 either. But I love my Starcraft 1 disc with Chaoslauncher. Freeware game helpers instead of monetized content and singing into accounts then waiting for forced update. What if I don't want the patch?

[@jarvee9407]

Shame it's actually a good game

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@jarvee9407 define "good game", cos the combat , sieges, and AI, are dead

[@jarvee9407]

@@cyllananassan9159 in what total war do you have better features than in warhammer 2?

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@jarvee9407 a big menu of crap is not better than a nice old fashion steak and fries, what is the point of features when the core gameplay is not up to task, also features......agent movies,speeches, river battles, family tree, unlimited constructionin cities ...etc... all gone cos CA GREED and LAZYNESS ...warhammer is a wet noodle game, no comparison with med 2 after 20 years, no sieges, no Ai , combat is a health bar with no collisions....etc.... it is also insanely expensive the crusaders , the indians, 4 extra campaigns for what i remember $35 back then, now is $10 for 8 units and a "new" lord .....you need to play more older games and see the difference

[@Richie___]

CA sat fat and happy on their laurels without progression on meaningful fronts. The problem for the them is, the majority of their playerbase isn’t the regular consOOmer and are dedicated players in a niche market. The leash is getting shorter.

[@NicoTheCinderace]

I don't even know who CA are. But for some reason, this just got pushed into my recommended. Whoever they are, it must be pretty bad if *this* got pushed into recommended.

[@oM3RC]

My favorite game franchise is cooked wtf. SELL THE IP TO SOMEONE WHO CARES

[@SpiritofHonor63]

I have said it a million times and I will say it again. I have effectively quit total war as an entire franchise and will not buy anything they put out until I see that they finish Warhammer 3. That means Nippon, Khuresh and Ind are put into the game. I want to see a complete game. Personally I will not put a penny forward until I see Nippon and if they never release it then sucks to suck for me I guess but they permanently lost a customer. I was deeply engrained in Three Kingdoms, just for it to drop dead, be given a half-hearted apology and stabbed for my troubles.(figuratively). They betrayed us and I have zero reason to believe what with their garbage marketing practices that they will finish Warhammer 3. If they cant finish this when modders already implemented the maps themselves clearly proving its not that hard - Then where is the proof they will finish the next, or the next, or the next. This dlc means NOTHING to me and they can shove it until they finish the game. I don't expect anyone to follow me with the boycott but I think I am rightfully pissed and weary.

[@Renyth]

It's like if they removed Sonic's legs and they spent years kicking him in the face, trying to get him to run, wondering where did it all go wrong.

[@LegendaryAbysss]

Just in time to listen at work 👌

[@NaimHrustanovic]

It's crazy how similar this sounds to the school I just stopped working at. Feels like a global financial phenomenon.

[@Cynndora]

genuinely laughed out loud at that advice to management.

[@TheRussian1]

A HRE DLC........jesus, never thought I'd hear those words. 🤮🤮

[@BogdanLarchenko]

This is exactly how IT companies operate these days. At some point upper management starts "cutting costs" which inevitavly leads to layoffs, since management needs to find ways to increase their own pay at the same time, you could say that this is industry standard these days.

[@cryohellinc]

Creative disassembly

[@TribusSuionii]

So much for "Our rules have changed"

[@CM-ls6fh]

I actually read this review just a few days ago. At this point the only modicum of entertainment they've left is this entire shitshow hahaha

[@Volound]

been more fun than the games for a long, long time.

[@pigspigs76]

Success stifles innovation is applicable

[@Pandarian300]

CA north is the latest "new" studio in newcastle (2023)

[@Volound]

yep i know. i looked for it in the locations. ive even been fed some clues about what they are actually supposed to be doing.

[@garethmartin6522]

You have to wonder how up CA ended up this way. You;d think it has been prominent enough for long enough to have attracted lots of people who wanted to work on their titles. That they had their pick of graduates who grew up on their games and were inspired by them.

[@Wourghk]

What's sad about these parting shots is that the authors wrote them because nobody at the company would hear them out. They've been disrespected to the point of prompting this, in a professional world where seasonal layoffs are common and expected. CA's management can't be anything but abysmal.

[@meppho]

I can't phatom how it must feel to have defended the pile of shit that is TW:W3 for 2 years and then have the actual people making the product you bought and gorified aggressively tell you, flustered, that it is indeed shit and your defending it actively made it worse for everybody. But I can absolutely imagine them not changing their behaviour a single bit. It must really suck to be an NPC.

[@thatoneoctopus7494]

Won't surprise me when (and I do mean when) The Great Book of Shills joins the new program CA is starting

[@Coconut-219]

"Completely incapable of putting out good games at this point" I respect it, but lets be honest we didn't need anybody to confirm that which we already knew.

[@IVIRnathanreilly]

How many devs are leaking to you? If it's enough, they could make their own title. The ones that care are the talent holding things together, there doesn't seem to be any other reason to stay.

[@Volound]

dozens. more than worked at CA when they made medieval 1 maybe. lol.

[@NanoLT]

Wasn't CA North made literally for continued live service support of Hyenas?

[@Volound]

theyre working on 2 different non-total war games at the moment. i think the studio making hyenas wouldve been doing that, and thats the one that got shut down, definitely.

[@williamhenry8914]

It's good to see are company that bullies critics and co-opts journalists failing.

[@cyllananassan9159]

we want MORE VIDEOS

[@Volound]

got some ideas. ill always be around.

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@Volound regards from the triple banned STEAM CA forums

[@bar_jumper1312]

To buy fancy car as a company is only nessesary if you want to impress the buisness parnters but just for the yolo custom porsche .... i would never invest or do buisness with this company... you learn things like that if you got a degree in managment and marketing... guess the dont have one :v

[@bar_jumper1312]

35:25 this is shoking and sad to see my god

[@cyllananassan9159]

Not even super MARIO can fix the leaks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@spiffygonzales5160]

I miss CA

[@vahlen5281]

And this is the same management that supposedly wants their devs to make a SW or 40k Total War? Talk about dead on arrival.

[@hashutchampion8471]

probably gonna see 40k TW as disaster tbf

[@devilsmessanger]

all upcoming DLCs for this year sound MEH at best, boring at worst .

[@alexmannen1991]

hilarious that the post is deleted by the mods...

[@Dictator1999]

British moment

[@DerSteppenwolf1979]

Is Rob Right to Discuss is a Priviledge Bartholomew still in CA?

[@Volound]

addressed in video

[@DerSteppenwolf1979]

@@Volound Hey Volund. I've opened a thread in steam forums about your video ("CA's management is a disaster") and guess what? They locked it up

[@Volound]

yeah i found out about your thread almost immediately once people started engaging in libelling me and making defamatory statements with lying and claiming i "harass" and "doxx" people. i have to take defamation and libel seriously these days. and people know to point it out to me whenever they notice it. i filed reports on those comments and they might have helped bring the thread to steams attention. also, did you see the knuckledraggers claiming this video was about "one review" when the thumbnail alone contains highlights from about TEN of them at least?@@DerSteppenwolf1979

[@DerSteppenwolf1979]

@@Volound there is half a dozen profiles there that spend ALL DAY EVERYDAY DAY patrolling those forums solely to defend CA at any thread. I call them the Simp Squad. They resort to lies, distortion of ideas, stupid rationalization. They have no limits. I'm not sure if they are linked to CA or just sick individuals.

[@Volound]

ive heard stories from CA employees that know the kind of "superfans" that have been cultivated over the past 25 years. they sometimes get invited to company events. they are men in their 30s and beyond sometimes and their mums have to pack their lunchboxes for them.

[@AkhshamiKsyAksKhaos]

Avarice…is never worth it…in the end…

[@Niwles]

Great video as always. Next time, no gum, please 😆

[@Volound]

half a pack all at once for the next video coming right up.

[@stephenlyon1358]

that accent.

[@skibidi.G]

Darth Journalist and Darth DEI are attacking all games, they are Sith 👎

[@mootedtols4865]

it's the tone in the games, going back to rome 2. all that annoying repetitive 'banter' if you dare go near any of your troops. Why is stupid stuff like that in the games? Who thought adding 'hilarious' voice lines all over the place that you can't turn off should be there> You've got a ( supposedly ) gritty battle going on and you have to listen to "those bastards, they're fighting back!" 300 fucking times. it's out of place. The voice lines are so clear as well, it sounds wrong. Like someone talking on a microphone, rather than one of your troops making a noise. There's no direction or source, it's just lazily overlayed. That's the kind of crap that's been going on in these games. It leads to believe the people making these games now don't understand their customer base. Like troops vanishing when you go near them with the camera. Why on earth would this be on default. Or the horrible arrow trails, or any number of issues. Whatever game they're making now, they should call it something else, because it's not total war anymore.

[@lucky-lu6tc]

I think your work is really important and immensely grateful for it But I think sometimes you are a bit too pessimistic (even though you have every right to be with CA) and i personally have a really hard time listening to your accent lol

[@Volound]

bit of a mixed message there. pessimism thats justified isnt pessimism. i dont get comments like these any more really. 10 years ago maybe.

[@lucky-lu6tc]

@@Volound that's just the way I feel about CA, I suppose Just when I thought that they really messed up and couldn't swing it around any more they brought us the best and most fleshed out Total War content since WH2 with Thrones of Decay On the other hand I know they are fully capable of fucking it up again and the leaks and these reviews in your video seem to underline that In the end I think that you became too pissimistic for your own good because you got burned too often by CA l, which I fully understand But try to not get into that habit of shitting of CA just for the sake of it As you said yourself in the video, most if not all people WANT CA to succeed and create good Games again Just my two cents :) Andy yea your accent is awful xD ❤️

[@Volound]

ive not spent any money on tat DLC and not fallen for any shit games in a decade now so its definitely for my own good. and not just my own: docs.google.com/document/d/1Kel8UWiuKhR9sTnHU0XitihE5OWapim_O05mrlksQXA/edit@@lucky-lu6tc

[@lucky-lu6tc]

@@Volound I completely get it man and I still play Shogun 2, Medieval 2 and Rome 2 to this day, though heavily modded Actually I never really played ANY CA games without heavy mod support lol For Rome 2 I use DEI which just makes it a superb experience and can't play WH3 without SFO

[@pigspigs76]

CA is an embarrassment to the OGs of the company

[@wawaweewa9159]

Show your support for israel or else.

[@fyiicheckforspies]

I hope their management can't sleep at night after flushing 100m down the toilet for literally nothing while underpaying their staff

[@pinkythemighty]

salty

[@lolasdm6959]

About what?

[@BloodwyrmWildheart]

Ironic avatar.

[@tokiwartooth4404]

Corpo greed is ruining everything including food shrinkflation. Trying to sneak DLCs and live service model into other things like cars. I don't have a mobile phone because the service rates are insane. I'm not paying for PSN account or XBOX. Done with game apps like Steam completely. I prefer older games anyways because I like the visuals and the gameplay is always better. No influence from Sweet Baby firms. Early TW games had delightfully trolly traits like cuckold. The few amount of female characters in TW games are purposely being made masculine like all the other Western newer games. I saw Zhu Rong in a newer TW game and remember her from older Dynasty Warrior games. What a let down. Unless they want to sell you a $500 skin for Ahri the foxgirl. "It's free to play" apparently. For $500 you can get a free skin I guess? Let me get a dictionary and see if they changed the definition of 'free.' One of the only legit free games I can think of immediately is Battle For Wesnoth. You don't need any accounts you just download it and it's yours offline. With free mods also like older TW games. That's what free is. Stainless Steel for Med 2 is also free. It's just endless lies and manipulation from these big companies and I don't trust any of them. I barely buy anything other than basic survival needs. Most people playing these newer games have huge credit card debts, I have zero. Making things expensive means it's no longer fun. For me it starts with Shogun 2 and it's DLC list. You don't even get an offline version that works without a game app. Even if you buy a disc. No cool manual either. That's useless. Waiting until Steam adds the annual sub fee like PSN. You know they will eventually. Then why not sub fees for newer TW games? It's a live service now after all. Here's some ads in your game main menu made possible by game apps clogging up your PC. Pre-order the next game while you wait for them to fix the current game. If you don't pre-order you don't get this faction. They already tried that and got it away with it for awhile. Thankfully I don't care about WH at all. Never did. For me it all ended with Shogun 2 Greed and DRM. You all are late I've been keeping my money for over a decade and enjoying older games because there's so many of them. Newer games hurt my eyes because they are too bright and everything anyways. Games from the Rome 1 and Med 2 era had the best look IMO. A certain charm newer games lack because all newer games have is graphics which I don't even the newer styles anyways. It's like bad CGI in anime. Or classic Star Wars special effects using real world models instead of CGI greenscreen in the prequels and beyond. Diablo 1 and 2 visual style compared to the crisp cartoon environment of newer Diablo games. But it's Diablo so it's supposed to be dark, gritty, and gloomy. Again messing up female characters in Diablo games as a perfect example. Endless reasons to encourage me to save my money in hyper-inflation and mod superior older games for free. Fallout 1 to New Vegas are beautifully done with visuals. FO4 looks like a cartoon Pokemon game to me. But it's supposed to be Fallout. Playing Rome 1 classic with my own mods which is easy. Starcraft 1 classic with a mod launcher. Soul Reaver on Flycast HD widescreen mod. That's just my menu right now. Thinking about Diablo 2 with PlugY stash mod which lets me hoard loot and share it with my other characters offline only. My disc version that is stuck on an older patch so the mod does not break. I don't care about online because it's all a scam now. Had my fun with online shooters for years around 2010 era before Battlepasses became the norm. I saw the early warning signs.

[@youtuberobbedmeofmyname]

Is this company attached to SGAMY? Are they ruining this company so they can short it?

[@tokiwartooth4404]

Taking a break from my Rome 1 disc modded version. Been about ten years since I've played Diablo 2 and my mods are all ready to go with no hassle. Just had to transfer it to a different PC. I own the old discs version so I didn't have to use annoying apps to ruin my game purchase experience. I got widescreen mod with PlugY and modded loot drop rates for single player. I don't want to modify the graphics further because the time era similar to Rome 1 has the best look. PC only games from the era. Apparently there's a Pharaoh TW and 4-5 new Diablo games. I avoided all of them because they put more budget and time into DRM management for the customer to hassle with. As well as extending expansions to DLCs. Meanwhile people in my country are throwing a fit because a McD's somewhere is trying to offer drive-thru service without a bag for your food. To get a McD's brand bag with their ad on it you need to give them 15 cents extra service charge for a bag. The bag used to come with your food as part of the meal price. See? DLCs in fast food now. "The bag is just cosmetic." You keep giving the Corporates your business and expect further inflation of all types as a thank you for your support. Today's good game studios are completely indie until the point they attract a publisher which is the Corporate State Ministry of Truth. Pharaoh TW sounds like a Rome 1 Egypt campaign basically? I already know without a doubt that Rome 1 would be a better experience for this because of the gameplay mechanics. I prefer the visuals as well. Looks great with my simple GPU control panel remaster of it. Plus the sound effects and music are far better. I don't need Steam hogging up GBs of drive space and background memory. What's the point of new UHD graphics when your performance drops due to all the required apps having to be open to be allowed to use the product you fairly paid for already? I will only pay money if it's discs being shipped to my house that do work without apps just saying. You can still buy Rome 1 on disc and actually own it. You don't have to worry about Steam leaving you behind for Windows updates. This is just the beginning. Next you must have Windows 11 or 12. Then you'll be buying Windows every year like Call of Duty releases.

[@tokiwartooth4404]

Game devs are so spoiled. Easy sit-down job with a higher wage than most people in the world. They don't have to deal with the public either. They are also non-critical to our survival compared to other vastly underpaid supply chain workers out there. Devs complaining about salaries. The average modern wage is poverty for almost every job out there now. For people who work at a much faster pace in dangerous environments getting dirty, cut, and bruised. I have no sympathy for game devs. I live in a farm state and people here have to work for a living other than the management/Gov/welfare scum of course. Game devs just want welfare basically. Show me the family in a CCP work prison who manufactured the game dev's "smart"phone and I'll show you people who are suffering at work. These manufacturing industry workers don't get to sip Starbucks and play on their phone at work for personal time.