First off. Notice that this is a written post and not a video? That would be because my guy who edited my videos worked for Shattered Crystal and we laid off several people due to the current economy. No he did not get laid off but now he has no time to edit the videos. So I'll do without for a while.

This bad news about us laying off some of our staff is not the death of our company. So no one needs to go crying about this. It's a normal part of business that when sales slow the work force has to be thinned and the remaining staff works on monetized actions. Unfortunately I don't really make any money off of doing the videos.

So lets get into the dirt of all of this. EA announced today layoffs that will equal around 540 people according to Scott Jennings from www.brokentoys.org. Normally I would be surprised by this. But not today.

Yesterday K2 www.gamersfirst.com laid off 25% of their staff citing lower than expected sales. They make free to play games and it looks as though more people are taking the free option. The codes they sell that are redeemed in game for currency and items are one of the things we sell at Shattered Crystal. If their sales are down so are ours.

Stern Pinball www.sternpinball.com yesterday laid off a number of staff. The layoffs included some of the designers. No designers = no new pinball machines. OUCH! I hope this is not the death of Stern. I love their pinball machines. But unfortunately the same reason they may be laying people off is that 50% of their sales go directly to home collectors. With the economy the way it is. Even I am thinking twice before dropping $5,000 for their newest pinball machine.

There are other game entertainment companies that are having these same issues. A few of which I have insider information. But out of respect for them I'll wait to say anything until after their staff have been notified. There is nothing worse that hearing bad information about your employment from a news source. That happened to me once and it sucked.

With all of this doom and gloom comes new opportunities. We just have to seek them out, figure them out and somehow take advantage. Some of the laid off people from these jobs have already found work in the same industry. When I was laid off one time. The next job I got ended up being much better. I was much happier. For all of you affected I hope you have as good of luck as I have in the past.

That is depressing news.

Just got confirmation that ALL of the designers were let go from Stern. They were the last of the Pinball manufacturers. Looks like they are close to closure.

Wow, that is really depressing news to say the least.

If a company has no designers. Where is the "company"?

Dead...obviously,

I know, that's what I was portraying.

They might try to hire one or two of the designers back at reduced pay. This fairly common in mergers. All the people are fired, the offered their job back at 30% less or something.

This is indeed terrible news. Before we know it, gaming may dwindle down into something of "lesser value."