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Laid off in 2024, part 10: Unearned consequences

Gaze upon the face of the enemy!
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If you’ve been laid off — and especially if you’ve been laid off for the first time — you will blame yourself for being laid off. This post is just for you, and it can be summed up as this: you’re probably facing the consequences of someone else’s mistakes.

Case in point: Lars Wingefor — a great name for a minor villain in a James Bond film, by the bye — CEO of the games software publishing company Embracer, said in their recent Q3 earning call that the current waves of layoffs was “something that everyone needs to get through,” but also admitted that “it’s more driven by the overinvestment in the previous years because everyone just put all capital into gaming and perhaps a bit too much capital in a few instances.”

In short: As people who aren’t me or my cronies, you are the ones who must get through the consequences of my misspending.

Embracer’s string of acquisitions has previously been described in the game development press as a “Jenga Tower” in an article where its Chief Strategy Officer Phil Rogers says that the human cost of restructure is “significant” but “necessary.” Seeing as he was still there to be quoted in the article, it’s clear that he didn’t pay much of that cost.

The decision-makers at companies making these layoffs sound like Lord Farquaad from Shrek: “Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

“I’m not crying, you’re crying!!!”
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As bad as the Embracer higher-ups are, they’re mere amateurs compared to Hypersocial’s CEO Braden Wallake, who posted a selfie of him on LinkedIn crying while announcing layoffs. As proof of his shamelessness, that post is still online.

At least the Embracer people had the integrity to simply admit what they were doing without masking it in crocodile tears.

So again: if you’re in a layoff-induced moment of despair, remember that you’re probably facing the consequences of someone else’s mistakes.

The question becomes: What are you going to do about it?

And I’m going to try and provide some answers in the next few articles.

Also in this series…