Inside Annapurna Interactive's Mass Walkout

https://www.ign.com/articles/what-the-heck-has-been-going-on-at-annapurna-interactive-an-investigation

by samfriedman • 2 years ago

114 74 2 years ago

I confused Annapurna Interactive with Annapurna Labs. Was lost for a bit there reading the article.

hilux2• 2 years ago

Annapurna is a mountain in Nepal. "Only" tenth highest in the world, but with the highest or second-highest fatality rate.

That makes it an attractive company name, I guess.

hinkley2• 2 years ago

highest or second-highest fatality

Dramatic irony?

dudeinjapan• 2 years ago

Maybe we should just look at it and not try to climb it then.

blackeyeblitzar• 2 years ago

From Wikipedia:

The mountain is named after Annapurna, the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment, who is said to reside there. The name Annapurna is derived from the Sanskrit-language words purna ("filled") and anna ("food"), and can be translated as "everlasting food".[8] Many streams descending from the slopes of the Annapurna Massif provide water for the agricultural fields and pastures located at lower elevations.[9]

jajko3• 2 years ago

It also has one of most spectacular multi week hikes in the world, if not #1, the Annapurna circuit. I was lucky to take it in 2008 with almost nobody on the trail (just right after monsoons in second half of September), took 16 days, around 220km IIRC. No roads built back then although we saw few CAT bulldozers dropped in the impossible places in gorges, I guess part of construction.

From absolute tropical jungle, through all other climates to frozen high altitude icy desert and all the way back, top point is 5,400m high. Also at one point hinduism of lowlands switches to buddhism. Wild marihuana growing everywhere. Muktinath just after(before) the highest pass is an important sacred and pilgrimage place for 3 different religions.

There is one point in Kali Gandaki gorge where you look left and there is absolute tibetan-style desert with 0 plants, just rocks and dirt, going up to Manang region. You look right and its typical tropical jungle. And in between, in span of maybe 7-8km the whole gradient happens continuously on Annapurna western slopes. Another nice spot is IIRC Marpha where you are looking at almost 5000m pretty much vertical drop on cca top of Dhaulaghiri, its sister 8000m+ peak. Even after 2 weeks of constant exposition to himalayan giants I just stood there in awe.

A life changing experience for me due to various factors and also people met. It has a special place in my heart.

btown• 2 years ago

"You need to think of [Megan] Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about [Annapurna]." -- Bryan Cantrill, on the sins of the father, heavily editorialized.

https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=38m24s

ethbr12• 2 years ago

This seems like a very different scenario -- don't be part of a hobby business that's so low on the owner's radar that they aren't willing to bleed for it.

Because if they lose interest and everything explodes, you're out of a job and they're still a billionaire.

johnnyanmac7• 2 years ago

so, 99.9% of all businesses? passion or not a company will gut your position if it means more money or power.

But yes, this is an extreme scenario. it sounds (crudely put) like Ellison saw the pandemic, completely retreated for a while, then decided to come back and act like nothing changed and just shuffeled stuff around. Then when her labor decided they wanted to be more independent she sat on her hands.

I'm just proud the workers for a rare time could actually just completely walk away. Many issues would be solved almmost overnight if workers could coordinate a joint walkout like this.

lofaszvanitt3• 2 years ago

He talks about Larry Ellison.

mkl• 2 years ago

Yes, btown says that: "Bryan Cantrill, on the sins of the father, heavily editorialized".

shakow• 2 years ago

That's why GP used brackets to denote the adaptation of the quote by changin the first name.

ChrisArchitect• 2 years ago

Entire Annapurna Game Team Resigns

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41526074

Entire staff of game publisher Annapurna Interactive has reportedly resigned

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41528266

hinkley2• 2 years ago

Doesn’t seem to be much information here except maybe that the next “Runic Games” but with Annapurna alumni will be called Verset.

johnnyanmac7• 2 years ago

you get the entire story of a collapse of one of the most renowned indie game publishers over the course of ~7 years, a situation where the entire staff of the house walks out, and all you get out of this is "well we'll see what game they release next"?

It's a long story, so if you are just wondering about their portfolio, you can skip to the end section "The Future of Annapura".

cen42• 2 years ago

There is more content being produced than there are eyeballs and time to consume it all.

How does such an industry survive? In a very round about manner that has nothing to do with what they say they do.

General rule in life - Don't focus on the drama a fucked up environment produces.

johnnyanmac7• 2 years ago

How does such an industry survive? In a very round about manner that has nothing to do with what they say they do.

can you clarify this statement? I just read this as "companies need to make money, creatives aren't focused on money".

Don't focus on the drama a fucked up environment produces.

if you somehow found this politics/drama free work environment with no creative tensions whatsoever, congratulations I suppose. Most of us don't have that and are only one whim away from those "dramas" costing us our jobs, even if we keep our heads down.

rcxdude• 2 years ago

There is more content being produced than there are eyeballs and time to consume it all.

There's more than one person can ever experience. But the ratio of production to consumption is still quite small. Most stuff put on the internet is going to be seen by someone (e.g. 95% of youtube videos have at least one view).

cen42• 2 years ago

Check out the UN report on the Attention Economy. They quote a study that says less than 0.05% of content is consumed by humans. Obviously it has to come from the UN cause such reports wont come from within the entertainment industry which lives in a disconnected la la land.

Sakos2• 2 years ago

This affects gamers who want indie games worth playing. So, yeah, why wouldn't we care? They're at least partly responsible for a handful of the best games I've played in the past decade. Their loss can't be understated.

neonsunset• 2 years ago

Unfortunately, with the recent coverage of Concord by IGN, I don't think any content they put out is to be taken seriously.

seanhunter2• 2 years ago

For reference, Annapurna Interactive are not a mainstream publisher churning out franchise type games, but tend to publish unique games, some of them considered classics:

- Outer Wilds

- Stray

- Lorelei and the laser eyes

- Cocoon

- Neon White

...and others. https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/annapurnainteractiv...

This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.

johnnyanmac7• 2 years ago

Depending on the team that walked, this may be a new opportunity. Sounds like this all happened because they worked pretty well without Ellis, but Ellis would come in every now and then and cause a tornado of everything when she did. There's a name for this kind of manager, but it eludes me.

Shame they lose the name, but the talent is what makes the company. And I'm sure any small dev will be following them closely on their next venture.

UberFly• 2 years ago

As if the "team" will exit together and re-establish as one unit on the other side for the greater good.

Sakos2• 2 years ago

The benefit was the funding that could be provided by Ellis, no? How are they going to make up for that if they make a new company?

Veserv• 2 years ago

Ah yes, the Elon Musk special. The term you are looking for is “pigeon CEO”[1]: “he comes, shits all over us, and goes”.

[1] https://electrek.co/2024/04/22/elon-musk-pigeon-ceo-former-t...

rwmj• 2 years ago

Joel Spolsky called it "hit and run management": https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/03/23/command-and-conque...

sitharus• 2 years ago

You’re thinking of seagull management, managers who “flew in, made a lot of noise, dumped on everyone from a great height, then flew out again, leaving others to deal with the consequences”. That’s the polite version anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull_management

plg942• 2 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull_management : come in, make a lot of noise, shit everywhere, leave

orlp• 2 years ago

This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.

Is it though? Annapurna is a publisher, they didn't make those games. The games you listed were made by:

  - Outer Wilds: Mobius Digital  
  - Stray: BlueTwelve Studio  
  - Lorelei and the laser eyes: Simogo  
  - Cocoon: Geometric Interactive  
  - Neon White: Angel Matrix

I'm confident that creators of distinctive, original games will be able to find other publishers.

karlgkk4• 2 years ago

I'm confident that creators of distinctive, original games will be able to find other publishers.

That confidence is (partially) misplaced. It's a really rough world out there for indie devs, and if you do find a publisher, many times they are not interested in paying as much attention to your title as you are.

Wowfunhappy2• 2 years ago

Simogo is fully owned by Annapurna.

Edit: Oops, no they're not, see below. But it sounds like they're contractually prevented from working with a different publisher.

jccalhoun2• 2 years ago

I didn't know that. I was wondering how a team of only 25 people could make so many games. This makes it less of a big deal in my mind. Sure the publisher can be important in providing funding for games and which games get a marketing budget but they still aren't making them.

ekianjo5• 2 years ago

Stray is not made by Annapurna. Its just published by them. Devs can easily find other alternatives. Publishers are everywhere.

plg942• 2 years ago

considered classics

Great games, but all you listed are barely 3 years old – can something that young already be considered a "classic"?

me_me_me• 2 years ago

Outer Wilds is an unforgettable game, I have no problem calling it a classic. It already has a community developed to the point that it has a modus opperandi - never spoil anything for anyone.

Its a magical game and the community protects the experience for future players, as its impossible to 'rediscover it' again.

lofaszvanitt3• 2 years ago

In gamedev, the only thing that matters, once you have a good product is how to market it. Without exposure your project is dead, no matter the quality of it.

Who will talk/write about it and for how much? Yters have steep pricing, and they usually don't give a F about your project.

That's why Steam and other similar platforms are a trap. And yet, people protect/love them, like it's the 8th wonder of the world.

antimemetics• 2 years ago

I’ll take YouTube and Steam over the olden days of game „journalism“ any day.

dxuh• 2 years ago

I feel like actually good indie games have a much better chance, because from all I have heard the Steam algorithm actually wants to make money. It will show the game to a bunch of people regardless of the number of wishlists and if it does well, it will show it to more people. Of course Steam can not even do half the work for you, but it's still a much better system than just needing to have enough followers on Twitter or knowing someone at Kotaku or IGN.

lofaszvanitt3• 2 years ago

How, when you have to compete with thousands of games from the same genre? How do you find the outlier amongst the mediocre stuff? Who takes the time to fish out the real gems among the moissanites?

saghm• 2 years ago

That's why Steam and other similar platforms are a trap. And yet, people protect/love them, like it's the 8th wonder of the world.

Sure, if you only look at it from the developer perspective. From the player perspective, having a centralized location to find and download games is massive. I'm not saying there aren't tradeoffs, but looking at it from only one side ignores all of the reasons that it's successful in the first place.

penguin_booze• 2 years ago

I'm wondering what the genesis of the name Annapurna is. Clearly, it has some Indian grains to it. Pun intended? Maybe.

titanomachy2• 2 years ago

It’s the name of a famous mountain in Nepal which is a popular tourism and climbing destination.

thoroughburro• 2 years ago

This is the often given answer, but is wrong. The company, the mountain, and many other things are named after a Hindu god of food and nourishment. Don’t just mimic the first search result (check its etymology section, instead).

Inside Annapurna Interactive's Mass Walkout

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