A Question to SQUAD

[Commissioner Tadpole]

You don't generally see this with the larger game developers. I play quite a few EA games, and the thought about their employees has never crossed my mind.

It doesn't helps that EA has been getting greedier. I still don't see them how they used to be back in the earlier periods.

Although I have seen bad moderators, they are very rare.

Heh, this reminds me of an admin in a wiki chat I used to participate on. Extreme Grammar ****(if you made one typo, she'd lash out on you and sometimes kick you without explaining why, and then says it was 'absolutely necessary', God knows what she'd do to people who are not great with english), badmouthed(often calls you an idiot), and generally unexplained hatred(She once called me an insult that I probably should not write in here because I couldn't tell whether a comic was in chinese or japanese).

We still hate each other to this day.

[SkyRender]

I wish I could tell the full story, but I don't know if I can. It was my decision, though.

I think this sums up quite nicely why SQUAD doesn't discuss these matters: they're only one half of the party involved in changes in staff (at the very least). Those who have gone on leave or left the staff have just as much interest in privacy on the matter as the company itself does. It would be respectful not to pry; if they feel the need to tell us, and they have the okay from SQUAD to do so (remember, two-sided relationship at the very least!), in all likelihood they will. If not, we must be content with not knowing.

[John FX]

Reading between the lines it seems people are concerned that the projects being overseen by the member(s) who have left will just stop. Spaceport 2 for example.

This would lead to much disruption of planned features and so forth for obvious reasons. I know squad have no obligation to reveal anything but there comes a point where that is counterproductive. As a few members have left recently it would seem logical to have concern over features/projects they were working on that we have been told are forthcoming. A lack of information on this topic would lead to much speculation. Information could and should be passed on without going into the specific member or their reasons for leaving, just the status of their unfinished projects.

Is there any reassurance that the projects/features being worked on by these people will carry on and have life after they leave?

[vexx32]

It seems that the unfinished projects, especially those that are external to the game itself, are either handed on to someone else, or simply dropped. The fate of SP2 is still somewhat uncertain as far as I know, but to my eyes it's not looking too good.

[The Jedi Master]

Squad has been having some rough times lately, and some people want to move on in their lives. In my opinion, that's all we need to know.

[Liowen]

I wish I could tell the full story, but I don't know if I can. It was my decision, though.

Personally Nova it is no ones business other than between you and SQUAD. People tend to think they are entitled to know all aspects of the inner workings of a company for no reason, other than they are a customer. I would guess if it had been a bad break they may have silenced you from posting here at all, but that is just me. Glad to see you are still here though and maybe you can help influence the game from an outsider standpoint.

Not trying to be rude or anything, but people need to realize companies do this all the time, and the staff members come and go on their own also. This means it is between them, and in no way needs to be explained to anyone other than other staff members in the company. Thank those for their work on the game wish them well on their future plans, and if they can explain, and WANT to, I am sure they will do so. However do not feel this information is something you are entitled to have.

No matter how I try to word this it will most likely look rude but that is not my intent.

[Superfluous J]

No matter how I try to word this it will most likely look rude but that is not my intent.

Someone insisting that they get all the dirty insider secrets behind employee HR matters in a company are being rude. It's okay (and necessary) sometimes to be rude back.

[Firov]

Squad has been having some rough times lately, and some people want to move on in their lives. In my opinion, that's all we need to know.

Forgive me, but how could SQUAD possibly be having a bad time right now? They're an incredibly small company (especially after their recent purges) and Kerbal Space Program has taken off, likely beyond their wildest imaginings. Unless you mean that their marketing kiosk division is doing poorly. Even so, if that's the case, wouldn't that divisions then be the recipient of cutbacks and not the wildly successful KSP division? You don't save a cancer patient by cutting away the healthy bits.

I just don't understand what's triggered this mass purge at SQUAD. One employee leaving, not a major issue, since that could easily be explained away as "personal reasons", but in this case they've already liquidated, what, 3 or 4 of their better developers? Not to mention the community relationship people they eliminated.

[Liowen]

Someone insisting that they get all the dirty insider secrets behind employee HR matters in a company are being rude. It's okay (and necessary) sometimes to be rude back.

I know but I try really hard not to go down that path, to me it is too easy to go to that level. You are right though there are times where trying to be overly nice to people is not as effective as being blunt and straight to the point, and to some this will say this is being rude.

[The Jedi Master]

Forgive me, but how could SQUAD possibly be having a bad time right now? They're an incredibly small company (especially after their recent purges) and Kerbal Space Program has taken off, likely beyond their wildest imaginings. Unless you mean that their marketing kiosk division is doing poorly. Even so, if that's the case, wouldn't that divisions then be the recipient of cutbacks and not the wildly successful KSP division? You don't save a cancer patient by cutting away the healthy bits.

I just don't understand what's triggered this mass purge at SQUAD. One employee leaving, not a major issue, since that could easily be explained away as "personal reasons", but in this case they've already liquidated, what, 3 or 4 of their better developers? Not to mention the community relationship people they eliminated.

I understand your sentiment, but honestly, as long as they don't stop making the game it's none of our business. They may have partially left because of rudeness like this?

[Firov]

I understand your sentiment, but honestly, as long as they don't stop making the game it's none of our business. They may have partially left because of rudeness like this?

I assure you. You haven't seen me be "rude".

However, just in case you misunderstood me, I'm not interested in the dirty little personal secrets of the people who left. That's their business. I'm interested in SQUAD's strategy here, and the possible shift that caused this mass exodus.

In my experience in dealing with two of the largest corporations in existence I've come to realize that when there are large shifts in team organization and structure it's almost the result of a fundamental shift in the strategy, or management, of that organization. In this case, we might be seeing a precursor to a pretty major shift for SQUAD. It might not be sinister, though at this point it's hard to say for sure.

So no, I'm interested more in the fundamental shift at SQUAD that precipitated this exodus than personal secrets of individual employees.

[Liowen]

I assure you. You haven't seen me be "rude".

However, just in case you misunderstood me, I'm not interested in the dirty little personal secrets of the people who left. That's their business. I'm interested in SQUAD's strategy here, and the possible shift that caused this mass exodus.

In my experience in dealing with two of the largest corporations in existence I've come to realize that when there are large shifts in team organization and structure it's almost the result of a fundamental shift in the strategy, or management, of that organization. In this case, we might be seeing a precursor to a pretty major shift for SQUAD. It might not be sinister, though at this point it's hard to say for sure.

So no, I'm interested more in the fundamental shift at SQUAD that precipitated this exodus than personal secrets of individual employees.

When they want you to know they will tell, but I would not put too much into the third and fourth hand "facts" you get as most will most likely be not true. Also people might be leaving for better opportunities, and not because of anything SQUAD is doing, but time will tell. Also this is a forum about the game, not about the inner workings of the company.

[sal_vager]

Stuff

Jeeze, scaremonger much?

Squad are growing as a game development company, they learned to have quality control and to have better project management, it's their first game so mistakes will be made.

KSP is in good hands and Squad are doing fine right now, people including me are emotionally invested in KSP and want it to succeed, this is understandable.

Squad isn't a major producer, it's not Mojang either, so expect them to do things a bit differently to what you are used to seeing in the games industry

[Firov]

Jeeze, scaremonger much?

Squad are growing as a game development company, they learned to have quality control and to have better project management, it's their first game so mistakes will be made.

KSP is in good hands and Squad are doing fine right now, people including me are emotionally invested in KSP and want it to succeed, this is understandable.

Squad isn't a major producer, it's not Mojang either, so expect them to do things a bit differently to what you are used to seeing in the games industry

Haha. No, sorry if it came off as scaremongering. That really wasn't my intention at all. Like I said, the shift, if it's even there, isn't necessarily sinister in nature.

Besides, considering how much the core team, especially Harvester and C7, obviously care about KSP I'd say it's in pretty good hands. I just find the inner workings of corporations interesting.

Personally, I'm extremely optimistic about KSP's future, and I can't wait to see what they do with it in the future.

[razark]

I'm interested in SQUAD's strategy here, and the possible shift that caused this mass exodus.

And, as a stockholder of the company, you are entitled to information pertaining to Squad's business practices.

You are a stockholder, right? Because otherwise, if you are not an owner, investor, or employee of Squad, it's none of your business how they choose to run theirs.

[sal_vager]

We are all interested, it's natural, and one day we'll likely find out but it's not going to happen just yet.

Razark, your tone is a bit off, I can understand where Firov is coming from, and I can see how people could take his post in a negative light, people really need to use more emoticons sometimes

Edited December 8, 2013 by sal_vager
Dang pacebar is faulty

[Firov]

And, as a stockholder of the company, you are entitled to information pertaining to Squad's business practices.

You are a stockholder, right? Because otherwise, if you are not an owner, investor, or employee of Squad, it's none of your business how they choose to run theirs.

And this is what happens when someone lets their curiosity shrivel up and die...

No, I never said I was entitled to that information. I said I was interested in it. Much in the same way I'm interested in orbital mechanics but don't actually need that knowledge to be a network engineer. Or how I'm interested Space-X's next launch and if they're going to get those lucrative military contracts after a successful third launch.

If they keep that information to themselves, there's nothing I can do about it, and it's not particularly going to affect my opinion of SQUAD either way. KSP is an incredible game, and I fully expect that it's going to become even more incredible along the way. However, you need to realize that people are naturally going to be curious about things they like, which I would argue is one of the defining characteristics of the human race.

[CaptRobau]

It really speaks to the awesome nature of the KSP dev team that the community cares so much about the individual members of the 'Squad'. If one is to take one thing away from this thread, it's this. I probably know/interacted with more Squad devs than I do with all the other companies. There you never get past the big ones, like Gabe Newell or Cliffy B. Here everyone, from the lead dev to volunteer mods are loved... and missed.