The Shocking Death of Annapurna Interactive.

[@BellularNews]

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[@Squirrel_Alt_Delete]

2:26 to skip the adspace

[@L1m3r]

Hi Bellular News, YT already recommended your other video about Sony's Concord and I would have watched it if the title wasn't clickbait garbage. Why don't you directly name the other "party" we don't know about? How is anyone supposed to find this video from memory in a few months? Text search for Sony + Concord + Failure will return hundreds of results. Searching for Sony + Concord + Failure + "name of other party" won't return your video. Please don't use this garbage clickbait techniques like "uhhhh I know something you don't but you need to watch this video to find out what's it even about..." Just put all relevant information in the title in a concise form. The whole world would be a better place without clickbait....

[@X862go]

@@BellularNews Wild

[@X862go]

Oh wait, they made outerwilds ok they're ok with me 👌

[@thelightsilent]

this is pointless when even current AI is doing this better then devs

[@LoveLearnShareGrow]

I don't know why but every source, including this video, fails to focus on the central point of interest (in my opinion). "Why did all the devs quit?" It's touched on so briefly in this video that I had to go back and listen to that part of the story twice. THE DEV TEAM WANTED TO REMAIN INDIE, WHILE THE BILLIONAIRE WANTED TO MAKE THEM TRIPLE-A. That's the core of the story, and I don't understand why it's not the focus of reporting!

[@Runeknight101]

Yeah basically the Nepo kid wanted to do AAA movie and TV tie-in games but the interactive team wanted to keep publishing niche and cool stuff and not turn into Disneyfied Starwars-style slop.

[@hughlion1817]

because the average person isn't typically interested in the core subject

[@reiniermoreno1653]

I don't know if we watched the same video because that's exactly what's told at the end lol

[@hughlion1817]

@@reiniermoreno1653 its burying the lead

[@reiniermoreno1653]

@@hughlion1817 what does mean?

[@ytivarg5371]

I'm gonna start calling the AAA games industry what it really is: the corporate games industry

[@TheBlargMarg]

AAA/AA games: MICROTRANSACTIONS AND TONS OF DLC.

[@Athasin]

You know what? I'll join you!

[@themikead99]

This is always what it's been lol. Realistically there's no firm definition of AAA games, but the only companies that produce them are big corporations. That's why we see lots of indie games reach similar quality standards but arent called AAA games.

[@JayDamaso78]

And the journos are state-run media

[@Athasin]

@@themikead99 But that's not what they've been called. They've been called triple A and it would be refreshing if gaming sites and shows started calling them "corporate games" instead.

[@blueredingreen]

I'd be surprised if this isn't a Second Wind type of situation, where everyone leaves to form a new team that does basically the same thing, just without the problematic leadership.

[@altcenter4944]

@@blueredingreen I think they went to the "problematic leadership" and said, let us leave or we'll leave. The problem is what the team that Left was doing, was giving out massive amounts of money as a publisher. I don't think they can do the same thing as a new company

[@KarlHeinzRom]

Oof, does anyone wants to tell him about the Frost - Second Wind situation?

[@icravedeath.1200]

@@KarlHeinzRom that's ultimately a blip on their so far spotless record.

[@Radicalbeast]

@@icravedeath.1200 but it does have problematic implications

[@icravedeath.1200]

@@Radicalbeast I don't disagree with that, I'm just saying if they properly learn from this fuck up then the chance of it happening again is lessened.

[@adas3497]

So the annapurna devs and the teams associated all left and can now do their own thing? free of corpo bullshit? Sounds like a great deal for them to have walked away. Hope the people who left actually win big!

[@Wonzling0815]

I hope they will find a way to do their own thing. Otherwise "free of corpo bullshit" would just be a side effect of "being unemployed" :)

[@fenix849]

The biggest issue is likely to be money, but if they can win a couple of their first games backed they might be alright.

[@Rafofshadows]

Except they are publishers, not developers. Corporate bullshit is exactly what they do. And I bet, it would be really hard to publish something without money.

[@Wonzling0815]

@@Rafofshadows It IS possible, but rare sadly, to be corporate without engaging in corporate bullshit (CB). CB happens when the actions of a publisher as well as the people engaging in them are completely disconnected from the work of the developers.

[@Greippi10]

@@fenix849 They must have at least some money secured, otherwise it would be a very bold call to just walk away onto nothing. But really, they don't need a whole lot, just a small egg to nurture. Indie games are pretty "cheap", and their industry connections are worth as much as the capital they can secure. They have priority among all the small devs.

[@PowderedToastMan3]

Whoa another nepobaby ruining a media company? Color me surprised.

[@r.i.petika829]

@@PowderedToastMan3 eh, it’s grey and not black and white. You can see the appeal in allowing the films department to make shows and movies about games. And you can see the appeal in her using her capital to be hands off and allow 25 developers create some of the most beautiful and artistic indie games to date; which is indeed a risk. The fact that a game like outer wilds was so good was probably due to the fact that the leadership was so hands off. Regardless, shit happens, deals fall through; and mistakes were made.

[@SolDizZo]

@@r.i.petika829 Mistakes are still being made

[@housemana]

@@SolDizZo mistakes are literally where the growth is. don't be so obtuse. it's not about being a perfect person. it's about being a person with purpose, and being able to own up to our mistakes, and most importantly.. to use them to grow.

[@SolDizZo]

​@@housemana We're on the same side... Growth also refers to holding yourself to a higher standard than anyone expects of you. If you didn't have someone else to hold your feet to the fire, how would you grow? You'd have to hold yourself accountable. Not all stress is positive but some growths are cancerous. The closest thing to perfection is near-unyielding aspiration. When you have little to lose but you're not yet desperate. I can balance this dynamic tension by remembering that happiness is not taking oneself so seriously.

[@thomasneal9291]

@@housemana very wanktastic.

[@kanojo1969]

The ellison kids venture into film and entertainment has been predictably weird. It seems like megan really loves film but hasn't been able to turn a profit despite plenty of successful films. Meanwhile she's not a gamer, but the game studio she started just because it seemed like a good way to offset film losses has turned into a big earner. But she doesn't like games, doesn't like developers, isn't a nerd of any sort. And the money, while important as a measure of success, doesn't actually mean anything when you've spent your whole life marinating in daddy's billions. So she's actively hostile to the game company that has actually been successful.

[@thomasneal9291]

yeah, that's a pretty good summary. Seriously, with a dad like hers, it's a wonder she isn't a complete sociopath.

[@ReelityEngine]

She's just another creatively bankrupt corporate philistine

[@PigDogBay]

That's my read of it to

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

To me that just sounds like she has nothing to offer but money. Projects she participated in didn't profit. But projects she funded and left alone did.

[@wolfumz]

you'd have to be really bad for 100% of your company to resign.

[@cyprienmaccamley126]

I think it's apparent that the AAA game industry seems to be suffering the same fate of hollywood: soulless, and corporate and the general audience are finally starting to realize it's all a scam. I'm optimistic though as this means developer mentality will realize the efficiency and increased creative freedom that an indie studio brings, if Larian can do it, others can.

[@mechanical_chaos]

The triples As are struggle bussing but my gaming experience hasn't been better than the last year or so since BG3 dropped. The indie studios are just knocking it out of the park over and over ever since. I love having endless fun while also getting to ignore big soulless companies that have zero creativity or heart. 😊

[@Big_Toe_21]

Would be nice. But most people won’t listen. It’s the rule of I know what I know even when I don’t know. Which is just about everyone on this weird thing called the internet 😂

[@relo999]

A lot of "indie" games are really used to be called "single A games" with a gargantuan marketing budget relative to development cost and actual indie is just Russian roulette. And on the AAA side of things it's really not the soullessness that's the issue, it still sells enough in most cases. The issue is scale, development cost and risk, something created to meet consumer demand over decades. Or to put it bluntly, expect less technical and content to trade for design and risk from AAA games or pay more.

[@ShaneJoshua1980]

I'd prefer smaller indie studios that are leaner and focused. They just need to make sure they hire the right people.

[@cromcccxvi3787]

Everything Corporate

[@Klatchan]

IGN doing actual journalism? Must be chilly in hell.

[@defaulted9485]

Isn't hell already have a frozen pit called Cocytus already? Even if its just for one (two if you count the tongue) dude?

[@Marinealver]

❄️ 😈 🔱❄️

[@ricky_pigeon]

If they are not doing that they are rigging votes in GOTY.

[@PhantomHarlock78]

When this affect someone they are friends...

[@ricky_pigeon]

when they are not rigging GOTY i guess.

[@DAC936]

“She’s really gutsy with the billions of dollars her family earned and made me a bunch of money supporting my horrible movie idea. “

[@KaiHouston-m6j]

"She is erratic, sometimes that works in your favor"

[@housemana]

@@KaiHouston-m6j lmao actually tho

[@mintparfait]

Judging by the comments, you may need to make a video explaining what a publisher is compared to developers next.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

It's pretty easy. Developers are like movie directors,writers and on the set talent. Publishers are like movie studios/producers they provide funding, advertising, and connections to right people but they can "pull the strings / rug " so to speak. We're seeing some studios cut out the middleman publishers(Tripwire, Techland, IO Interactive. It doesn't really make sense to get a publishers that is just going to f you over if you can self publish on steam. R.I.P Spicy horse, and so many others.

[@cy-one]

@@balsalmalberto8086 However, in this case people are rooting for the publisher. ;)

[@Jabarri74]

Seems to me it's like an unneccessary middle man who just takes a slice from the pie

[@mintparfait]

@Jabarri74 It can be. But a lot of development studios simply don't have enough money to make a game. Even low-cost indie ones. So they can be a necessary evil. So it's especially sad to potentially lose good ones like annapurna

[@Jabarri74]

@@mintparfait I still see them as another level of leeches. I loved stray but never played it, I loved it so much watching the trailer i pinged the money to my daughter to play it as she grew up with a ginger tomcat

[@SloMoMonday]

So, a nepo-exec that has a chip on their shoulder and no idea how to publish a game, grabbing control of the company through slimy tactics. Genuinely believing the force of their ambition and strategic genius could put everyone in line and drive the company to AAA greatness. Seriously, she could have had the best of both worlds, if she just didn't two time the people she was in active negotiations with. For people who justify their worth by their decision making skills, a lot of them don't understand consequences.

[@Dnote_Z5]

She owns the whole company, why would she give up part of it by letting them create a joint venture? I fully believe they all quit because they didn't want to deal with the parent company's interference, but at the end of the day, if the owner wants to interfere, that's their right, they're funding everything.

[@ma.2089]

I wish these ppl with these ideals would let ppl do their job. They think way too highly of themselves. Her willigness to finance creative projects was a genuinely unique attribute most rich ppl don’t have. She lost the plot.

[@nathanabel8169]

It's not that they don't understand consequences, it's just the classic "man I'm bad at math" meme.

[@Dnote_Z5]

@@ma.2089 She might've lost the plot, wouldn't be surprised if she's trying to one-up her brother, who's foray into games has been less than stellar in comparison.

[@jokerledger5400]

@@Dnote_Z5 No one is disputing their rights, people are just pointing out they are abusing it and reap the consquences.

[@rd-um4sp]

Larry Ellison? The same Larry Ellison that said that "AI is on the verge of ushering in a new era of mass surveillance" Those applications including keeping everyone "on their best behavior" through the use of constant real-time machine-learning-powered monitoring? That Larry Ellison?

[@claybford]

@@rd-um4sp yep, that Larry Ellison, who also somehow straight-up owns one of the Hawaiian islands!

[@whydidyoutubeaddthis]

@@rd-um4sp that's gonna happen

[@null6634]

It doesn't sound like he's wrong.

[@KaneYork]

Larry Ellison, of the famous quote "Do not make the mistake of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle"

[@LSB001]

There are no moral billionaires. It's impossible to control that kind of money and not be a psychopath.

[@MakeDoor]

AAA has lost its meaning long time ago.

[@ytivarg5371]

Lets start calling it the corporate games industry then

[@rabbit2686]

@@ytivarg5371 'The Corporate Games Industry' flows off the tongue surprisingly well.

[@imarobobot8795]

We up to AAAA nowadays, baby

[@wcjerky]

AAA has meaning only when applied to bonds, and AAA are the best.

[@IamJustA]

It's lost it's meaning and has gained a new one Corporate gaming

[@numberyellow]

Since you used the cat from Stray in your thumbnail, i think it's absolutely worth pointing out that Stray was DEVELOPED by BlueTwelve, and PUBLISHED by Annapurna..

[@josh___something]

I think it was plenty clear that they were publishing games, and not developing, yes. I don't think the video even implied that Anna Purna Interactive was anything other than a publisher for most of those games (except the bladerunner one).

[@numberyellow]

@@josh___something But you can see how people might get the wrong idea, without knowing better beforehand, right?

[@atomicgames9150]

@@numberyellow you are completely right, I actually got worried that they were the team behind stray lol

[@TheClanAdventures]

I thought they were developers doesn't make it clear at all they are only publishers in this video.

[@numberyellow]

@@atomicgames9150 🙄

[@rakly347]

This video is really hard to follow. I'm actually more confused now than before watching it.

[@trax72]

The background music doesn't help, it's pretty distracting IMO

[@lesterchua2677]

Agreed. All over the place and full of fluff instead of getting to the point.

[@Tustin2121]

I think it’s his style of presentation. It feels like his sentences don’t end and everything is equally as urgent as everything else. If he had more ebb and flow and less “everything in italics”, it might help people follow along. It was only halfway through the outro when I realized he was done with the topic and promoting another video.

[@luipaardprint]

Completely agree, I mostly zoned out with the endless string of people doing things.

[@mariusvanc]

I genuinely think most of it was written by AI.

[@PostNoteIt]

When comparing AAA to AA games think about batteries.

[@FuzedBox]

18650 master race... which is more or less indy.

[@felisconcolori]

Lost, mistaken identity far too often, dead, dead and surrounded with the ends leaking so they can take the power input system with them. When they are the right battery for the occasion, they can still be difficult to place. And hopefully it wasn't dead but placed dead into new packaging.

[@felisconcolori]

@DPH_Psychosis@FuzedBox Please don't unite... no one needs two unstoppable fires. So if you stay separated, that's still both of them burning uncontrollably but not at the same time in the same place. And your juices probably don't mix together well either.

[@boomkruncher325zzshred5]

@@PostNoteIt So where’s the C and D publishers? 1.5V Publisher Gang, where u at?

[@ZeroXSEED]

AAA, smaller, less capacity, yet more expensive. Seems legit.

[@midegola5623]

ima be honest. you had me thinking they developed all these games. you gave so much credit to annapurna on all these games, most ppl wont know they were just the publisher and not the developer.

[@reiniermoreno1653]

Publishers gave the devs all the possibilities to make their product real, while there's publishers with more or less participation in game development their still part of it, even if their only role was to put the money, and because most of traditional publishers will not give you money for these risky concepts you have to gave credit to annapurna game's division at least for trust in developers and gave them money, this gave opportunity to developments we wouldn't see otherwise

[@gorilladisco9108]

They are the ones who finance the games.

[@midegola5623]

@@reiniermoreno1653 I understand that, but he gave 0 credit to the devs. He didn't even say the devs names. If you were to listen to this video without watching it, you would think they made every game he listed off.

[@josh___something]

​@@midegola5623 Plenty of the video implied they weren't on the active side of developing (e.g. the dozen mentions of "Taste making"). It wasn't explicitly stated that they were NOT the developers... But it's literally one step removed if you listen to the rest of the descriptions of what Anna Purna does.

[@SovietReunionYT]

@@josh___something Normally I'm the one who calls out people for crediting publishers instead of developers, but in this case I agree with you, the video made it sufficiently clear that what the Annapurna team does is pick projects and developers to invest in, and that they're good enough at that job to deserve some credit.

[@kenzorman]

I've met far too many film prodjucers who think they'll make great game producers even though they don't play games. They utterly fail to understand the software developement process , and try to make it a film developement process.

[@ScottHess]

@@kenzorman To be fair, games-only studios also don’t understand the software development process.

[@whahala555]

@@ScottHess Video games are a type of software. So, they very much understand a type of software development process.

[@kenzorman]

@@ScottHess I've spent 15 years working in game dev, and 15 years working in film

[@ScottHess]

@@kenzorman Great! My point is more that people don't understand the software development process, even among the most elite software-only companies. In the 80's and early 90's, there was a sense that it was a tractable topic. These days, we've pretty much just defaulted to aiming in the right direction and using quick-reaction systems like agile to prevent getting too far off track. We still have little predictive power, and routinely just grind developers into a paste attempting to provide deliverables which were never plausible in the first place.

[@arthurdent6256]

When the cooks leave the kitchen, all you have are some expensive facilities.

[@Beatle1283]

The original team left and they are hiring anyone and everyone just to fulfill the contractual obligations. This sounds like Annapurna will be making shovelwere of the "gollum" type for the foreseeable future.

[@168original7]

Anpura are publishers not game developers. Man it is wild how you don't know the difference.

[@JetBalrog]

@@168original7 The thing is, there's *two* teams with that name. One of which is a game developer, the other the publisher. That's why it's confusing.

[@168original7]

@@JetBalrog no they are both publishers, one of them is movies, the other one is games. The games side do not make the games themeselves they just publish indie games like stray. The people who walked out are the people who were hand picking games to publish.

[@satsubatsu347]

@@168original7 Why are they are scrambling for an entire team to make Blade Runner then? Did you not watch the video? Publishers can and do have 1st and 2nd party dev teams as well as the more familiar 3rd party dev teams. To answer my previous question: They are looking for a team because Blade Runner is an INTERNAL project as stated by Anna Purna Interactive's CURRENT job listings. Jeez SMH.

[@JetBalrog]

@@168original7 Mm. Fair enough! I'm not super familiar with the whole thing as it is actually. Not that I have to say it for you to know.

[@FrancescoSeppia]

You need a compressor on your vocal chain to control volume drops when you don't speak directly in the mic

[@jamesstaley5611]

He does that a lot. It has become a chore to listen to him.

[@Umbra_TuSlayer]

This seems worse than normal

[@lotus_flower2000]

Dear god I thought I was crazy or sensitive to sound. Glad I'm not the only one.

[@gottagowork]

Compressor with more gain, or push back the microphone with more gain so that it's not so sensitive to direction/closeness. Yeah, this was friggin intolerable. And youtubers do the oral sex with mike thing for "better sound quality"? Gimme a break.

[@Byzz2077]

dude I thought my headset might be at the end of its lifetime

[@Deificus]

Take the entire staff, keep them at Annapurna Interactive which is going to be going into AAA gaming... meanwhile, you tell your wayward executives that you want to spin the company off from Annapurna _Pictures_ into its own entity. They think Verset is about to start taking off where Annapurna Interactive left off... meanwhile Annapurna Interactive takes off without them. This was likely Ellison's attempt to spin her execs out and leave them with a worthless shell. She underestimated the staff's loyalty to successful leadership over empty promises.

[@MadsterV]

I think it was omitted from this video that he people who resigned were looking to unionize and more.

[@kirbyjoe7484]

You are leaving out the driving force behind all of these sweeping changes and the orchestrator of the merger between the pictures and games divisions, Hector Sanchez. It is no coincidence that everything went to Hell right after he showed up at the studio and started making the sweeping changes to combine the games and pictures divisions. It is also no coincidence that he is the sole remaining employee of Annapurna. I think Ellison wanted to insulate herself from the ugliness of the hands on task of restructuring the pictures and games divisions which was likely something she promised to those she was indebted to. She went to Hector and used him as the blunt instrument to fix her problems and he proceeded to do a load of very sneaky and unpopular restructuring behind everyone's back while whispering sweet promises of the future to Ellison. Once the deals were done behind closed doors, he sprung it on everyone at the studio and the entire staff was not cool with it. Annapurna tried to negotiate with Elison, but she wanted to stay hands off and let Sanchez deal with the entire mess which is why nobody could get ahold of her at this point. Sanchez then did whatever he could to gain and remain in complete control over the new studio/pictures mishmash which are now combined, at least on paper. In the end, if that meant the entire staff quitting, then so be it.

[@staggerlee9362]

As an addendum to this video please note that Annapurna is a publisher not a developer. Basically they are money that comes from money. If you're going to mention a game under their umbrella then do the right thing and give credit to the developers not the cash hound.

[@kordelas2514]

Yes and no. They are the both. Their first game which is in development is Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth. Also it owns a studio called 24 Bit Games.

[@SotNist]

They obviously wanted to keep doing a wide range of creative indie and AA esque games, instead of getting completely monopolized by the AAA sandbag that is Remedy and all the culture creep that would have come with all the wannabe TV / movie stuff.

[@SomnusLucisCaelum]

It's all on Megan, not Remedy.She started the movie branch, not them

[@SotNist]

​@@SomnusLucisCaelum didn't mean to imply that, just state that both things are occurring in tandem. ie: a big AAA injection kinda necessitates consolidation of publishing resources with greater need for ROI and the movie / TV stuff would just completely overtake the staff's curatorial sensibilities.

[@icravedeath.1200]

That's not really remedy's fault, they could've always just said no. Btw what do you mean AAA sandbag, from what I know remedy's solo games are nothing but utter bangers and they don't always sell that great.

[@icravedeath.1200]

​@@SotNistI still don't see why you're putting the blame on remedy when Annapurna's horrendous mismanagement isn't their fault. They could've just said no.

[@takeachance5881]

Remedy, AAA sandbag, yeah, dude i don't think you know anything about what you are talking about. Remedy has been in financial crap for a long time before this, while making AA games.

[@listrahtes]

The consequence of nepotism. A "boss" that basically has zero leadership quality but money. She has no connection at all to games and looks down on it. Thats the core dilemma

[@gorilladisco9108]

You just envy her ability to spend millions with abandon. 😌

[@doxy66]

Omg, I didn't ever hear that these guys closed. Annapurna was kind of the A24 of video game studios. Some of the best games. What a shame!!

[@Shinkajo]

Not. A. Studio.

[@PopcornMax179]

@@doxy66 11bit is the real AA A24 publisher now

[@Satook]

I think Megan confused ownership with leadership…

[@Weicho1]

@bellularnews May I offer some constructive criticism? I have a solution for your audio. I wanted very badly to hear this video, and I'm sure it was a lot of work, but I was so distracted by the audio, I caught maybe 30%. 1. It's probably not your mic. Most people falsely blame this, but what you need is a compressor limiter. It will boost low volume and limit peaks to smooth out the roller-coaster of amplitudes here. 2. Peaking, the mic is going into the red a lot. This causes uncomfortable distortion. Also solved with a few tweaks using a compressor limiter. 3. I think you are using some kind of EQ. The mids are dropped to almost oblivion and the highs are at mount everest. The midst need to come up and the highs (mainly where you hear "s" and "t" sounds) needs to come down just a tad. 4. You have great inflection in your voice but it's being used against you right now. You tend to turn toward the mic when emphasizing and away when speaking softly. This causes a massive rift in amplitude making it extremely difficult to hear what you are saying. Compressor limiter will fix this but in the meantime, you can just reverse your head movements. 5. Compressor limiters can be expensive but can be found for less than $100 bucks. There are digital ones as well, and - it's been a while - but I think OBS had one built in. I'm not saying these things to be rude or picky. Just trying to help. Many people just stop watching video with poor audio, or blame the mic. Not many know about the right tool for the job, so I thought I'd share for the benefit of you and your channel. I believe you make great content deserving of quality audio. If you need assistance in setting it up, by all means reach out and I'll do my best to assist. Take care.

[@RNG-esus]

It sounds totally fine in my headphones, so I wonder if his audio setup is similar to mine so he doesn't hear what you hear.

[@midgematic]

@@Weicho1 genuinely good constructive criticism here man! You’re awesome

[@prophecynine]

was looking for a comment mentioning the audio. Good constructive feedback. centering the mic would also go a long way.

[@bfwebster]

Great journalism. 👍 Nearly 30 years ago, I observed the phenomenon of mismanaged tech organizations driving away their best people, leaving less qualified people behind. I coined the phrase “the Dead Sea effect” to describe it. I wrote a blog post on it back in 2008, which drew enough attention (via Slashdot and elsewhere) that caused the phrase to enter into common use. This is perhaps the most extreme example of the Dead Sea effect I’ve run across. 🤣 I plan to share it with my software engineering students,

[@fransmith3255]

That's every mismanaged company, tech companies are just one kind of company. They're all the same, and always with this same result.

[@KaoKacique]

That is a very good phrase. It definitely can be applied to several companies in the games industry. (Bioware, DICE, Blizzard, etc)

[@zacharywilhelm2462]

Do people with money just completely forget about the Goose that lays golden eggs and how you AREN'T supposed to kill it?

[@arcticafrostbite617]

Good god @Bellular News You need to equalize your audio, you fade between quiet and loud all through this video

[@MaxIV77]

For real, this episode was horrid to listen to.

[@ringsystemmusic]

ok so what he needs is a compressor not an equalizer - musician

[@lotus_flower2000]

It's kinda annoying to be honest.

[@Triforcebro]

So.....what happened? I got lost in this video

[@starhaven1881]

If she quit, And everyone walked with her. She had total trust and respect of the whole work force. thats a boss who is worthy of their name.

[@angelindenile]

It feels like what annapurna is trying to do is what some usual companies (think grocery or homestuffs) will do with smaller companies after buying them-- they'll fire everyone uninportant, restructure to conform to the buyer company standards and profit margins, then still use the old name because the name had it's own social fame. This doesnt work in the gaming scwne because games allow their media to be that much more intimate with their end user, and the end user can usually feel it, even if they don't notice. "Man, so and so used to be so good, but this one just sucks." Movies and shows are in a similar boat-- the name may stay the same but we can definitely feel the difference in quality. The recent live action disney movies (especially Star Wars) are a great example of this almost everyone who had the creative vision of them are different, and you can really feel they had different goals than the original people heading those peices of art.

[@KryyssTV]

First time AAA game development caused a studio to implode prior to any game being released. Can we all agree now that AAA games are just not a healthy goal for the industry?

[@roneon4]

It is and is being like this for at least 2 decades now. I call it the "if it does not work i still get you IP".

[@KryyssTV]

@@roneon4 Funny this is though, while the corporate influence has been around for about 20 years and is clearly detrimental to the innovation and financial stability it was the non-corporate way of making games that grew the industry from nothing over the 20 years prior to corporate dominance. If you look at the quality and innovation of games prior to the start of the 21sr century you'll notice not only a greater number of iconic and innovative IPs than today but also see that there was a higher ratio of quality games despite the more limited number of releases each year. My point being that just because something has been the same for a long gime doesn't mean it cannot change and in the case if the games industry we have decades of evidence now showing what works and what doesn't so now we just need to wait for the people with the big bucks to grow from equally big brains and balls to take the smart risks.

[@gorilladisco9108]

You are confusing Annapurna with Firewalk.

[@Luvutoo]

Great content- I'd suggest keeping the distance between you and the mic minimal as that mic is intended for either close up or loud vocals. Makes it distracting trying to follow when the dynamics of your vocals dip up and down; compression in post can also help keep it consistent. Subbed and looking for more of your vids!

[@OGMacGee]

Annapurna will never be the same, or do the same games. A company is the product of the people working there, not the other way around.

[@TheClanAdventures]

I've watched some messes up stuff on KZbin but this video is the first time I've been left knowing less than I started with. Now that's an achievement 😁

[@Milaaq302]

Small bit of feedback - I was listening only, and the difference in audio when you move or turn your head slightly is actually noticeable and distracting. I started to think you were rocking back and forth :)

[@Nawer_Rapter]

the audio fluctuates a lot, your microphone needs you to be really close and constant to it otherwise it keeps going on and out. Maybe it's just a me, sound technician, thing, but a multiband compressor would also do some wonders in post (I assume) to make it less of a 10db difference sometimes on some quite important for intelligibility frequencies. Good channel I discovered just today tho, is just that thing that makes me really annoyed to listen even if the news are appealing to me.

[@ahettinger525]

I strongly suspect the _people_ from Annapurna will all end up in the same, newly founded, entity.

[@Volvary]

Questionable. A publisher without capital is a hollow entity. Unless they can get someone to invest in them.

[@ahettinger525]

@@Volvary Given this group's track record, VCs would likely be tripping over themselves to write cheques.

[@snekysneks]

@@Volvary With their track record I can easily seeing them crowdfunding off kickstarter

[@Volvary]

@@snekysneks If you think Kickstarter is going to get them started capital wise, I have bad news for you. But a successful campaign can bring a lot of attention from VC to them.

[@SimuLord]

Sounds like Megan Ellison turned into Caligula somewhere along the line there.

[@henryglennon3864]

@@SimuLord she married a 🐎?!

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever, for all eternity, never ending.

[@Redmanticore]

she should have just stayed on the movie side of Annapurna. Margaret Elizabeth Ellison (born January 31, 1986)[1] is an American film producer, entrepreneur, and daughter of multibillionaire Larry Ellison. She is the founder of Annapurna Pictures, established in 2011. She produced the films Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Her (2013), American Hustle (2013), and Phantom Thread (2017), all of which have earned her Oscar nominations. In 2014, Ellison was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.[2] She also received a Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop.[3] After a series of underperforming productions, in 2019 Ellison had grown secluded from Hollywood, leaving Annapurna to be mostly ran by Nathan Gary, who led Annapurna Interactive before being promoted to president. She left to Lanai, a Hawaiian island owned by her father, and remained there as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to remain isolated. In early 2021, her former chief of distribution Erik Lomis approached Ellison regarding purchasing Nimona, a project about to be cancelled with the closure of its production company Blue Sky Studios. She liked the footage and the film's LGBT elements, and agreed to acquire the project, estabilishing an Annapurna Animation division and hiring studio Digital Negative to complete Nimona, eventually released by Netflix in 2023.[23] In September 2024, Nathan Gary along with around 25 employees of Annapurna - its entire video games unit - left the company after Ellison withdrew from negotiations over spinning off its gaming division as an independent firm.[24]

[@willichtenstein7071]

The Outer Wilds would of become a mega hit indie darling even without Anna Purna Interactive.

[@Rainlitnight]

@@willichtenstein7071 while I agree, they DID need money, which is what Annapurna provided. It probably would have been found anyway but what would it have looked like or how crowdfunded would it have had to have been? (I am excited about whatever the team does next though.)

[@Sharpie360]

Bro the microphone, speak into it consistently. My lord.

[@16-BitGuy]

16min video for a small amount of the actual information that has been adressed for just a moment

[@Prence]

It’s a shame, I really love Stray.

[@handsoaphandsoap]

You can still love Stray. Annapurna didn’t make the game, they just published it. Stray was developed by BlueTwelve.

[@Prence]

@@handsoaphandsoap oh.. thank you.

[@ADreamingTraveler]

The devs who made it still exist and are making games thankfully.

[@mrrootytooty5797]

Oh thats good! I loved that game too, hope the devs do well!

[@GSBarlev]

Annapurna Interactive had built up some real cred for having amazing taste in games. From another publisher, I would have been skeptical that a game like _Cocoon_ would meet its ambitions, but seeing their name gave me the confidence to buy it (and I'm glad I did!). The only other publisher that's earned that kind of reputation with me is Devolver Digital.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

Damn. That's too bad. Are all their in progress projects dead now? Blade Runner game is dead? Hopefully someone can revive the projects like what happened with Walking Dead.

[@asdfasdfasdfsfds]

@@balsalmalberto8086 there was going to be a blade runner game!? Oh man I hope its made. I love those movies/genre soooo much

[@Lordrockerkiller]

​@asdfasdfasdfsfds it is a contractual obligation to make it. So it can not be canceled unless they wanna pay out a huge ammount to the blade runner owners, so expect it to be akin to Gollum or the king Kong game.

[@sopa1410]

STOP MOVING AWAY FROM THE MICROPHONE PLEAAAASE

[@akenon5901]

That mic might be a bit too directional for your way of speaking, the volume just disappears when you turn to the other side.

[@sumdud23]

shame, some of my fav games were published by annapurna

[@xXYannuschXx]

Imagine you are the corpo who had the brilliant idea to make the studio non-indie and your ENTIRE workforce just gives you the middle finger and quits. The blow to that guys ego must have hurt, but we know someone like that wont learn.

[@Mauaka]

I wish the audio of this video is better. :( If you would be bobbing your head left and right, you would want to have your mic in the center. Either that, or maybe use some kinda app to help with volume moderation.

[@WolfCry791]

If the team is gone, the magic is gone.

[@nerdydrew6818]

I loved playing stray ❤ it’s short but extremely well done

[@blitzemfive6597]

You need a different type of mic or audio processor. Every time you turn even slightly away from main axis of the mic, the sound level drops.

[@gunm808]

It's always the ego-centric/narcissist VC who has to come in F up a good thing smdfh. Greed is destroying everything good/fun in our lives.

[@metalmanexetreme]

Capitalism, capatalism is the brain rot that made these peoples head get shoved so far up their own backend that they see the dollar signs circling round their brain. Capitalism literally says ‘what, that can’t be free, it must make profit’ because it is an insatiable spirit of mammon, which will consume the whole world it people let it.

[@Galloway17]

Not a venture capitalist -- she's the person who created the company in the first place. Big difference.

[@darthdead97]

Could you try to keep the same distance to the mic? your soundquality varies strong and frequent between crisp and muffled.

[@bathsaltshero]

mate, whenever you tilt your head away from your mic i cant hear shit.

[@gammaphonic]

@@bathsaltshero needs higher gain with a touch of compression.

[@Squirrel_Alt_Delete]

2:26 to skip the adspace

[@jcole1679]

A sequel to control being lost is the true tragedy here.

[@kieranwhoriskey7270]

"The AVERAGE salary is 100 grand and OFTEN is more"

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever, for all eternity, never ending.

[@kieranwhoriskey7270]

@@treek10k fine

[@ADreamingTraveler]

@@treek10k These christian bots are getting out of hand lol

[@nullpoint3346]

​@@ADreamingTraveler Don't reply to them, just report spam and move on.

[@kieranwhoriskey7270]

@@nullpoint3346 I'm a pro Russian bot

[@jmarino715]

If I was developing a game and the entire staff of my publisher suddenly quit their jobs, my first phone call would have been to a lawyer asking to help me break my contract with them.

[@Pallethands]

7:47 Patty O'Chair

[@ericgraham8150]

Was really bummed to hear about this. Nathan Gary and I both started are video game obsession together in high school, and I’ve enjoyed seeing his journey through the games industry.

[@KrmSnty92]

audio very peaky

[@TashiRogo]

I liked the story, but your audio needs work. Speak consistently into the mic without moving your head around. Your levels fluctuate a lot and at times I have no idea what you are saying. If that is just your presentation style, then switching from a cardioid microphone to an omnidirectional one may be a more appropriate fix.

[@andreant862]

This really made me cry, as a cat lover I absolutely LOVED Stray. It was heartwarming, well made and inventive, a work of passion that is missing from most of the established industry. They wanted their independence to make more projects like this and I fully respect them for that, but the Parasite said NO and tried to put it's greedy hands on the studio. I hope they can found a new studio and deliver more works of art

[@whitedragem]

Stray is already launched and sold well and reviewed well. Pretty sure if they (BlueTwelve) wanted to make a Stray 2, they might not need be reliant on 'being found' etc... in fact if they went to kickstarter et al they'd probably get enough funding to make another game.. ('internet' and 'cats' being "a thing")

[@uw0h...580]

Does someone else felt the audio a little strange. Like the s sounds?

[@TheChaosTheory]

With all the selling out to the Epic Game Store, good.

[@lightingthief4482]

Crap opinion

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever, for all eternity, never ending.

[@niko5008]

@@treek10k 😱😱😱

[@TheChaosTheory]

@@treek10k already living through hell, cant be any worse.

[@daaara]

the reason studios take those deals is bc epic pays them with that sweet sweet fortnite money. Devs gotta make rent

[@planescaped]

Breaking story: Nepo baby ruins things with incompetence. Stay tuned for our next story about how it gets wet outside when it rains.

[@AviusL]

Sooo much talk and I still feel like I learned nothing about why the staff quit.

[@jckf]

Please consider a different mic setup. Every time you turn your head, the volume dips drastically, which is very distracting.

[@CarpeCerebrum]

your MICROphone sounds like you're TALKING LIKE this the entire TIME, it's very distRACTING.

[@icleave]

This is just like how Blizzard isn't Blizzard any more except the core Blizzard people didn't all leave

[@brianpwnsjustin]

Your sound quality is bad

[@cpuuk]

I've seen bosses throw a wobbly; I've seen them lie through their teeth- they are human after all. I've seen whole departments walk, and that's always been hubris driven. To understand Ms Ellison, you have to understand her dad, as she will have learnt everything from him. She's from a family who likes to rule, not manage.

[@mururoa7024]

1:18 those numbers are fake at best. You can potentially reach that level of compensation by the end of your career if you work in California. In the beginning of your career you'll make 1/3 of that. It's going to greatly depend on where you live too.

[@breezyillo2101]

As a designer for one of the larger well-known tech companies, I can attest to this. I live in one of the least affordable cities and make around $70k. It's nothing to turn your nose up at - I'm grateful that it affords me an apartment and a usually full fridge, but these numbers are greatly inflated.

[@MaxHaydenChiz]

If the entire team showed up to just about any investor asking for funding to reboot and continue on, it'd be crazy to turn that deal down. So I hope we will hear good news about the entire team soon.

[@Fourside__]

deaths on Annapurna arent that shocking, has actually the highest fatality rate. ill see myself out

[@TheKnomad]

I quite like how you elaborated on this entire matter. Can I still look forward to The Lost Wild by Great Ape Games, published by Annapurna? What remains of Annapurna is like what remains of Rocksteady: a shell of its former self.

[@Grafvitni]

Maybe I’m misunderstanding something, but it sounds to me like the folk who left were going to get exactly what they wanted just under the name Verset instead of Annapurna, so what was even the problem?

[@DayOfCasual]

After People Make Games reporting on Anapurna's garbage tier threatment of some people I won't believe a single message or statement they do in regards to their own employees.

[@DevMeloy]

Bummer... Stray is an amazing game, truly novel idea.

[@WebCamCartmell]

the multiple thumbnails legit got me. i saw the one with the woman on earlier and i didn't give it a second thought. as soon as I saw the cat from stray though i clicked without thinking. bravo.

[@ito2789]

Let the AAA gaming crash continue!

[@KillerGween]

Annapurna has always been a company I've respected due to the content they have put out, but the fact that the people who made it great have all quit, it really scares me for Annapurna future content

[@mrm7058]

Sad - I looked forward to a Stray 2 😢

[@Jon717]

There might still be a Stray 2. Stray was developed by BlueTwelve Studio. Annapurna Interactive was just the publisher.

[@ralseithelonely]

Don't lose hope! Annapurna is the publisher, and I highly doubt BlueTwelve Studio will just kick the bucket.

[@LucianAdonis]

The narrative of this video seems to just loop on itself over and over. Like, the video could have been a third the length and have the same content given how many times the same piece of information seemed to be reiterated. I also don't exactly feel the information was portrayed in a way that gave any clarity or definition to the events that transpired. The only meaningful piece of information seemed to be the character description of the head of the company, the actual cause of the split was poorly explained. It's as if the story itself could be summed up in a few sentences and it had to be stretched out for the sake of content. When narration is interesting, the stretch may add entertainment value, but this video just felt monotonous. It wasn't news nor was it entertainment. It's a youtube short that got pulled on both ends by AI script writing to hit a certain timestamp or word count in order to qualify under the sponsor requirements. At 350k+ subs, I would expect a more polished product.

[@kenwatanabe2864]

Couldn't have said better myself. No offense to the guy but he speaks like a dissociative letter and the inconsistent volume in his voice doesn't help either. He seems to jump from one paragraph to another and never really finishes the point, making it hard to follow.

[@davidbwa]

Youl listed some good titles so I was surprised to see Sausage Party in the mix. I felt it was horribly uncreative and predictable. And full of jokes that might have seemed funny when I was in grade school.

[@gorilladisco9108]

She's known to have "guts" to take risk on weird movies. Some successful, some don't. On the other end of spectrum, her brother is the one who is careful in his investment. Somehow their gender roles are switched.

[@housemana]

you guys are hitting your stride on the journalism front man. not to be a glazer but i've really been enjoying the past couple.

[@Crainshaw83]

story sounded interesting but your auddio level with the way you move your head back and forth drives me crazy, i hear nothing and then you blast the mic, mouth to mouth that sucker just to fade away, it's mega irritating

[@LiFancier]

10:07 "In exchange for media rights" Subtitles: "In exchange for meteorites"

[@StegoAqua]

It was a shock to me

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever, for all eternity, never ending.

[@DatsWhatHeSaid]

@@treek10k Religion is like having a "peanits": It's okay to have one. It's fine to be proud of it. But _don't_ just pull it out in public, and _never_ shove it into anybody's face without being asked to.

[@paulreiser8341]

The Soul is gone. But few will realize this. Most people do not check the news. Some will realize the change, when the steamreviews crashes down, by new projects. But the people, the talents, the network is not gone. It is a good thing, to keep an eye on them.

[@AppleBiscuits]

Cat's out of the bag now.

[@XerrolAvengerII]

you win the internet for today

[@SpiralDown2077]

My bf isn’t interested in games, but we watched a play through of Edith Finch and he was really into it. Stray is still one of the coolest little games ever. What a bummer

[@annocraft]

What is a baffler?

[@Ebani]

Someone who baffles?

[@fix0the0spade]

Well the pegs in a Pachinko board are called Bafllers, because they confuse the movement of the marble.

[@Ebani]

@@fix0the0spade They baffle the movement of the marble*

[@harryb12993]

@@Ebani Something that baffles you. Not necessarily a person but can be.

[@W0lfenstrike]

A miserable little pile of secrets!

[@RockEisen]

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

[@Sirlocksmane]

Bro audio levels all over the place, not fun to listen to with headphone's. Can you move the mic to the center? Might help