bad1080
30035
720
9
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/krafton-ceo-allegedly-asked-chatgpt-to-help-him-find-a-way-out-of-paying-subnautica-2-devs-their-bonuses-because-he-wanted-to-avoid-the-professional-embarrassment-of-being-seen-as-a-pushover/
Yellowchopsticks
So this means CEO jobs can be done by AI?
Raoul97533
I really do not like this timeline...
SideBoobsWillGetYouBanned
I don't understand. Pushover for paying bonuses? What?
Lokster
In the eyes of the most influential beings on this planet - the mighty shareholders.
oldguyexlurker
Once sat in a conference room waiting for the owner (who had asked me to meet with him) and the sales VP of the company I worked for to finish discussing how much they absolutely HAD to pay salespersons commissions on deals that closed after the salesperson had left or been let go. Both of them were Designated Brokers. Neither knew I held a Real Estate license. Sadly, I knew the answer. After listening to a BUNCH of BS I finally interrupted and asked if they wanted the answer. 1/
oldguyexlurker
Owner looked at me skeptically. I handled things like acquisition and market analysis, database programming, IT, HOAs(yeah), land development, etc. not sales. Owner says, "Sure...?" The answer sucked for the salespeople, but it was Arizona Dept of Real Estate rules verbatim. Owner looks at VP, "Is that right?" VP thinks and goes, "Yeah, I think it is." I didn't say it, but JFC... my license literally expired that day and I'd never actually used it, but THEY had no clue.
Psionickitten
Being a CEO is a professional embarrassment in itself. Not wanting to pay earned bonuses is the proof.
NappaTheFriendlyGhost
Its not even a traditional bonus like you'd think it is. Its in the dev's contracts that they essentially get extra pay if certain conditions are met. Devs met their goals and now the CEO is trying not to pay them what they were promised.
ElleW1988
Nothing is scarier than the glaring expose into the culture he is so afraid of. So many CEOs talk out of two mouths-- parroting hope for progressive pay raises for their employees. All the while they never have any intention of following through with them.
BigPLLL
First GTA 6 and now this š
Subsound
I will never understand how "paying your bills" means you are "a pushover" instead of "being responsible"
PlausibleLies
That phrase only applies to the rich. Regular 'lower class' people are responsible by paying their bills (to the rich). The rich are a pushover if they pay their bills (to those poors).
Subsound
The rich are responsible when their bills go to the poor?
You obviously have never been poor or working class.
metroid2
Seems like he would have been much better off hiring a sleezy lawyer to work lawering magic. That way even if it failed it wouldn't be able to be investigated unlike chat gpt.
mrthewhitee
They're currently trying that strategy, and its not going so well for them. They've already been yelled at by a judge for refusing to disclose info during discovery while simultaneously demanding to go fishing through all of the studio heads private information.
Deleteded
Seems like he'd be much better off just paying the bonuses owed.
DianNaoChong
Remember he thought honoring a deal honestly made him a pushover.
MarkSoupial
how about the professional embarrassment of being a piece of shit?
mrthewhitee
He's a CEO, thats a professional virtue.
AllMyOpinionSuck
After the shit show that was below zero I didn't really have faith in a subnautica 2. But damn didn't realize how bad it truly was there.
StopTheWorldIWannaGetOff
How did they discover this information?
87cubed
Probably filed something that sounded super-good to him, like this:
"In our comprehensive post-mortem, we delved into the projectās executional parameters and determined that the primary causality vector for the observed timeline slippage was the engineering organizationās recurrent misalignment with specified deliverablesārather than any deficiency in the high-level strategic roadmapping, stakeholder communication, or resource allocation frameworks that I, as CEO, consistently provided."
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
My eye twitched reading that.
StopTheWorldIWannaGetOff
God that... I hate that it almost makes sense. But yeah, even if the AI part is total BS, the fact that they make a deal then try to reneg and cheat people just to save money is a damn case study for proof that these executives see game dev companies as some commercial product to make a quick buck off of, totally dismissing the game itself and the community supporting it, ultimately their customers.
unluckyandbored
And now Krafton owns the publishing rights to Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush.
BlueDsc
Doing a lot to combat the stereotype of the average CEO being the most incompetent person in a company.
caniteona
Fuck subnautica for what they did to farsky dev
IlsPls
Cutting off your own nose to spite your face
jakedafish
Didnāt they do some Study and found out that C level officers were something like 83% more likely to rely on āAIā?
etherbunny41
Remind them who they work for: https://blackoutthesystem.com/
fubizdaddie
And I promise you, chat GPT have him the same gas up "That's such a good idea! You're so smart!"
Samja192
"overpaying the studio" = paying them what they earned? Ok
YouRadicalizedMe
Off with his head!
MerriMod
A lot of execs operate on the idea of "Promise 10, actually only have 7. Spend all of production wheedling the team down so they only get 4. Claim amazing management skills because they only used 4 of (non-existent) 10, then fire everyone so that technically only 3 was used when the numbers all shake out. Pocket the difference as a bonus, blame customers for bad product reviews."
If, at any point, they spend anywhere near the actual budget, they're "overpaying" and "wasting money".
Clockworkdancerobot
That's many businesses in a nutshell. Even smaller ones. Having consulted over the years.
bad1080
and what they contractually agreed upon
IrishRover
A large sum of money too, 10 million (I think). From what I remember, that sum was going to be spread out between some dozen or 20 so people. The execs, can't remember exactly who, actively tried to sabotage the development so they couldn't hit their release date and get this bonus money that was, almost certainly, going to meet deadlines and sales goals.
Daliena06
*250* million dollars. That's how much he wants to cheat them out of, from what I understand on a Googling.
hairytrigga
Sounds like those execs need some broken legs to remind them contracts are to be honoured.
IrishRover
It was 250 million and it would've equated to about 10 million per person that the performance bonus was supposed to go to.
ricbri695
I donāt know whatās dumber, trying to screw over the devs of one of the most profitable and anticipated games in the last decade, or thinking AI is the solution to doing itā¦
donorkort
The whole case is a fucking disaster. The devs mentioned here - being the founders - abandoned the project, one of them to go and work on an "AI elf movie".
ricbri695
Yeah, hard to tell what was in response to expecting to get screwed vs just taking advantage of the paycheck. The frontline devs are in the worst position, trying to finish a game they believe in without getting involved in a mud slinging contest between millionaires
ThrowAwayAcct0000
I wish people would realise that CEOs and billionaires are not smart, just without empathy. They are usually average (or slightly dumb) because they didn't have to do actual work to get their money, they just stole it from other people.
unsneakyLurker
Don't forget that they're also at least moderately charismatic. Almost certainly fluent in corporate jargon, and they're able and willing to lie shamelessly.
themigbro
Most of them are just connected in the rich kids club, they have a different starting point from us.
Harm
I also feel like 'asking to any AI how to solve this' is another order dumber than their new favorite 'using AI to replace the workers'
GoddamnGiraffes
To be fair, one of the lead devs that got canned from this game had shifted to making a soulless AI-augmented Christmas slop movie, so maybe we just don't let the people in charge of things get ahold of AI.
ProjectDA
i think it just goes to show how out of touch with reality they are. some of these CEOs are dumber than rocks and are only there because they inherited money and someone was paid to make them more money.
BallsToYouMyGoodSir
ive played over 8000 videogames. never played subnautica
fubizdaddie
Honestly, Subnautica is one of my top shelf games. If you're into survival crafting and immersive worlds with deep environments, exploration gameplay, a good plot and fascinated by and/or terrified of the open, deep ocean, I wholeheartedly recommend the game.
BlueDsc
As someone who has a strong fear but not quite phobia of deep water, it's fucking awful.
10/10 game, would shit my pants again.
BeardedViking
Remember: If you can hear them, they can see you.
Dyamonde
You missed out then. SN1 was absolutely awesome
DoctorAnimalCannibalPizza
Play the original. Skip below zero
smashpro1
I tried it, but survival crafters aren't really my genre.
zFUBARz
Do I have to not buy this game now?
fubizdaddie
You don't have to, but it's one of those "the CEO has been evil and learning more information is not helping and it looks like the people who did literally all of the work are getting completely fucked" situations. So, probably don't buy it, if you can stop yourself. I'm conflicted. The first is one of my favorite games of all time, but I don't think I can morally pay for this one.
zFUBARz
Yeah, that's where I'm at, loved #1. Feel like I'd rather support the actual devs however else I can and not the publisher, etc
GoddamnGiraffes
At the least the situation has improved from what it was a couple months back, which was 'every new piece of information that surfaces points to the probability that both the devs and the publishers are ruining this game by being shitty and lazy'.
IUpvoteFuturama
Weren't the bonuses part of the contract this idiot signed? God why can't I fail my way into a multi-million dollar salary.
kurvarVillain
Empathy.
mksu
And then keep failing your way into a multimillion dollar termination package.
IUpvoteFuturama
And then fail your way into the paid lecture circuit for 50k a pop
mksu
I retired after I failed my way into the first $20,000,000.
IUpvoteFuturama
You'll never make it on that, better get a few no work company board positions, just to be safe.
mrthewhitee
Apparently he had buyers remorse and regretted signing the agreement so spent quite some time trying to find a way out, settling on forcing the developer to push their release date outside the agreed upon deadline, which made the developer fail to meet the payout deadline.
It's a very messy story, which just started a court case, and the judge is already pissed at Krafton, lol.
Kehy
Unfortunately kaftan is in control of the Hi-Fi Rush sequel
mrthewhitee
Didn't that studio get disbanded? That game basically doesn't exist to me at this point.
Kehy
They got 'saved' from Microsoft by Krafton getting them
bad1080
yes they were part of the contract
Arbitrarynamehere
It's so funny how CEOs have to get paid bonuses for everything but the actual workers who make the damn thing don't.
Also funny that it sounds like this guy's job could be replaced by AI, but the worker's jobs actually can't.
Capitalism is so cool
somebackup
You likely have morals, ethics, and generally don't see other people as lesser beings, that is why.
SantaBananas
Because "failing up" almost always has to be paired with being immoral to get ahead.
Sunflier
That seems more a question for a lawyer than a chatbot that doesn't understand the meaning of its own words.
pushingchildrenintotraffic
why is the overlap with "ceo's" and terrible people almost one circle?
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
They're picked my major stakeholders to maximize profits / growth and if they underperform on that they're replaced. Being nice is not the goal of a corporation - that's up to regulators and organized labor.
wurth
I would say they are concentric circles
ChewyTheWookie
Capitalism. It can't not do that. Its fundamental design is the opposite of evolution. It concentrates power in those with the most sociopathic tendencies, unfit for the well-being of the species. CEOs aren't even the worst by a long shot. What other outcome has any chance? Any attempt at regulation will always be defeated by the inevitable concentration of power. It's a danger to existence.
Unfortunately the same people have so far messed up every attempt at better systems because we let them.
Gestalt7
rbudrick
Because you have to be an absolute fucking fuckwad to exploit people so badly, else you lose your job cuz they will find someone who will.
IncognitoPanda
An apostrophy doesn't make plurality, it's CEOs.
VagabondEngineer
Less of a circle, more of a singular overlapping datapoint
FoxxoniusAugustus
It's really not. Not all bad people are CEOs but all CEOs are bad people. Think of CEOs as a set and think of bad people as a different set that contains the set that contains all CEOs.
johnxbear
Nobody sane and moral wants to be a ceo of huge corporation.
JayEnfield
Shareholders don't want sane and moral, they want line go up.
KatInTheCorner
Power attracts the corruptible.
tentacularfleshscape
Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders is primary goal, so anything that makes line go up is not only rewarded but required. Meanwhile long term is irrelevant, since the executives all have golden parachute deals, plus most industries are run by oligopolistic cartels that can all fuck th customers simultaneously
sgnight13
Better question, why are CEOs who are supposedly worth gobs and gobs of money so reliant on fancy Magic 8 Balls to do their problem-solving. The AI brain rot in the executive class is pervasive and horrifying
Valharroth
Because shareholders value money over people, so the shitty people float up to the top by fucking people over.
Greed. It's always greed.
OverwhelmingSurplusOfDiggity
Selection bias combined with diet psychopathy.
You need to be able to lay off 15,000 people because you are legally obligated to serve the shareholders first. If you arenāt willing to do that, youāre not gonna be a ceo of a major company.
RARusk
Dodge vs. Ford. Perhaps an even worse SCOTUS decision than Citizens United.
minipancho94
Because people who want power seek to abuse it and their position. The rest of us dont want to deal with the associated bullshit unless theres a specific thing worth the effort for us to do. Would you carry a machine gun and all its heavy ammo unless you intended to use it? You gotta ask yourself why these people are actively seeking what the rest of us see as a burden that interferes with our enjoyment of life....
MoralRectifier
Rates of psychopathy in the general public is 1%. Among senior execs it's 3.5%. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniesarkis/2019/10/27/senior-executives-are-more-likely-to-be-psychopaths/
JurgenWindcallerz
Donāt trust Forbes itās a terribly inaccurate source for fata
JurgenWindcallerz
Feta* and data, too
PyroAvok
The cheese? I wouldn't trust any food products from a magazine.
JurgenWindcallerz
Yeah exactly. Forbes Feta is so poor, they went back in time and never made it
kinarism
Because, like police and politicians, that's the designed career path.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
CEOs aren't a real job.
The job of a president is to manage and run an organization with a mind to future stability. This is in contrast to a CEO, which is an external position created by the owners and tasked to maximize profit for shareholders.
A CEO's job isn't to run a company; it's to help investors extract as much wealth as they can get away with in a manner that satisfies the greed of the investors.
SPCNewbie
I kind of find it funny because in a way he just proved that it is indeed his job that can be replaced by AI
EvangelicalAtheist
because being a terrible person is a prerequisite for being a CEO.
cjandstuff
I call it the Sociopath Theory.
Good people will not screw over others to get to the top.
Sociopaths would leave a burning trail of orphanages if it meant their success.
So, guess who gets to the top?
hyperchondriac
Circle isn't good enough. You need like a Venn Tesseract, where they overlap with themselves infinite times.
hobojones85
Nah, it's still two distinct circles. Just has ceos fully inside the terrible people circle
jackpkmn
If you operate with kindness and compassion then a scociopath who would oust you can offer that as payments to the board to get rid of you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs
MrPengy
To get to that level, you have to make decisions based on what will benefit the company, regardless of how it impacts actual people. Fucking over loyal employees is just another Tuesday to them.
It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
rbudrick
It is never about benefitting the company, only the shareholders. Often times, those decisions better the company, but as we know, very often not.
ThrowAwayAcct0000
Capitalism is a meritocracy, generally for psychopaths and thieves. If you are the best psycho/thief, you get elected president!
TheWombatStrikesAgain
Because to become a ceo, you need to convice profit-hungry vampires that you're the one who'll get them the most blood.
LordHelmetTheThird
Peter principle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
pushingchildrenintotraffic
never heard of this but thanks I'll give it a read
LordHelmetTheThird
Learned that when I was getting to work force and it has helped explaining so much of what I've seen and experienced.
JustFeedMePieDammit
You can't get that rich without being a greedy asshole
MeeseOnABeam
costco ceo is the exception not the rule
StreetPhilosofr
Hard agree
Leaps
He started at Costco as a teenager being a forklift driver. Pretty cool story.
mak10z
current meta for CEOs is this: be a sociopath
mikeatike
Might wanna check the guilded age. Astronaut gun meme.
counterintel
Yup. You have to be able to sit in a room and say with a straight face "We can increase profitability by approximately 0.5-0.7% per quarter if we just kill all of the puppies in the world and hang 1/3rd of our workforce"
SavageDrums
Also, past and future metas
voxael
āCurrentā?
madjo
Well it never really went out of style
MidoryMoon
Every time I hear about Subnautica 2 it keeps getting worse
MapleSyrupMafia
Keeps sinking deeper.
xj4low
I was looking forward to it. Even have it on my watch list. That may change tonight.
W0lfsbl00d
They removed the leads, announced they're going to be an AI first company, now trying to sus out a way to fuck the devs... Yeah, this company won't get money or support from me anymore.
alcamar
I loved the first one, Below Zero felt lackluster but still a ton of potential for the story to continue. I've been really excited about this game .. Until they started pulling BS between the old/new owners, now I'm much less eager.
Arrrr maties
MidoryMoon
It's been getting bad for a while now. https://www.thegamer.com/subnautica-hi-fi-rush-publisher-krafton-ai-first-company
alcamar
Feels like when info about Blizzard started coming to public view. Seemed like an awesome company to support until you learn what's actually happening
Hoogemast
There is always a possibility of waiting until pirates are having their way with it
xj4low
I'm not one much to sail the seas for games. I tend to just stick to movies for that. My time is limited enough, that I can go without and still have plenty more to play.
Hoogemast
True. There are enough games good enough to spend your time on