are you involved in development of F76?
No, although I'm curious on the reception.
That's a good career move for him and probably a quite nice salary bump for him as well. 9 years is a long time to be working in one company the gaming industry.
Has someone been forced out since you mentioned that he wasn't forced out? (Other than you)
Not to my knowledge, but I usually add to anyone who I know has left the disclaimer that "they weren't forced out or laid off or fired" clarification when posting so people don't make an assumption like "oh, well, so-and-so must have been fired/let go" (which while more dramatic, isn't true).
Sometimes it's hard to tell unless you dig a little and the reverse assumption can be damaging/insulting, so I do dig when possible (hey, did you resign, did they try and keep you/make a counteroffer, had you already made up your mind to leave, where are you going next, etc.).
In almost all instances where I asked in the past year, Obsidian had wanted to keep the developers who recently left (I didn't ask or already knew about the older ones). I think lack of promotion factored pretty strongly into a number of them (or promotions offered, then refused).
Me being forced out = While they still wanted me to work on
Tyranny and made me an offer to do so, I'm sure that was a reluctant offer (and Obsidian hadn't been doing much to support Tyranny anyway) to appease Paradox, justify some costs, and also minimize bad press (since I'd still be "working" for them) - as such, the "forced out" I'd argue still holds water.
To explain contracting and its relevance here: So there are similar instances where Obsidian may want to let someone go (or a developer may want to resign or retire), but the company instead offers to move that person to contract (like they did with me) so they don't actually have to say they let anyone go or someone has "left", they can simply choose not to renew a contract later on - as an example, I believe Indiana has started (or already has) cancelled their outsourcing contracts with ex-Obsidian employees, so now some of them are looking for work or are off pursuing their own interests, but it's not something you could legitimately call a downsizing/layoff/what-have-you when it's a contracting relationship. Semantics for the win, I guess.
Also, as another factor, if the Obsidian-MS deal is being worked out (I believe it is, but I don't know for sure beyond gossip - and I certainly don't know if it's a sure thing), Obsidian may also have to move to detach contract employees, as redrafting new contracts would be annoying (I had this experience at one company that was bought, so we interrupted my contract to avoid it and did a new one after the purchase). Also, partly, they may not simply need the personnel either, especially if the next project may not need the same size staff.
No, it's just a bullshit rule I made up. Ideally, if you crossed paths, you could ask as many questions as you like/seem appropriate. I sure did, but it wasn't much about work.
