Denis Dyack believes his developing studio, Silicon Knights, is “one of the last of the V8s” after a turbulent year for the gaming industry which saw a record number of “staggering” job losses. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Dyack said that “It’s been a really rough year and a half for the industry as a whole. The numbers of layoffs in the industry has been staggering.”
He admits that, “As an external developer, it’s been tough. I actually don’t know anyone who’s older than us anymore. There used to be four or five people I knew of but I feel right now we’re one of the last of the V8s. I’ve talked to a lot of people and I know a lot of people who have gone out of business.” That said, Dyack has high hopes for the future, largely thanks to the new, government subsidized Ubisoft studio in Toronto, which will employ up to eight hundred people. “What that means for us is we’re really excited because we’re going to be able to come out, and the industry is going to rebound and grow, and we’ll be one of probably five companies in the world that has any serious business beyond ten years,” he claims. “It’s a win-win for developers here with companies like Ubisoft, to see Silicon Knights grow and Digital Extremes grow. We’ll only make a more fertile ground for us. You don’t lose people because big companies come in, you lose people because you’re not doing a good job managing those people that come in…I expect to see Silicon Knights grow,” he concludes.
