Dyack: 2009 cuts have been "staggering"

Denis Dyack, the outspoken boss of Too Human developer Silicon Knights, believes his studio is now "one of the last of the V8s", following a turbulent year in the industry of videogames.

"It's been really a rough year and a half for the industry as a whole. The number of layoffs in the industry has been staggering," Dyack told GamesIndustry.biz.

"As an external developer it's been tough. I actually don't know anyone who's older than us any more. There used to be four or five people I knew of but I feel right now that we're 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."

Dyack is optimistic about the future, particularly Ubisoft's new 800-person, government-subsidised Toronto studio that should give the local Canadian industry an enormous hoof up the derriere.

"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," offered Dyack.

In the future, Dyack said he will aim to recruit locally or run a campaign to bring Ontario-educated developers back to the area.

"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.

"Quite honestly Ubisoft is only the first. I expect to see Silicon Knights grow, I expect to see Ontario to be a really good place to be over the next five years and you're going to see a massive change," he added.

Come on, Gordy, offer UK developers something along these lines.