Ripped from GameSpy Daily, b/c they can’t figure out how to make a newspost you can link to directly:
Take-Two Interactive paid its chairman Ryan Brant a bonus of about $2 million in fiscal 2002, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Brant received a salary of $641,058. The bonus over 2002 was more than the extras he received in 2000 and 2001 combined. Kelly Sumner, Chief Executive Officer until his replacement by Jeffrey Lapin in January, was paid $473,910 in 2002, with a bonus of $450,000. The company announced that its President Paul Eibeler will not stand for reelection, having announced earlier this week that he will take leave of absence to undergo a hip replacement surgery.
So, the suit bashing line: Great, they’re getting rewarded for not axing good games.
The suit defending line: See? Suits don’t go around indiscriminately axing good games, they do it randomly, so occasionally you see a good game on the market.
OK OK, the real suit defending line: Now that’s a company that understands games. They know what works, what doesn’t, what games to fund and which ones to cut. (what’s that thing flying towards me real fast? oh no! NO! It’s a Derek spiel! Head for the hills! ;) )
Considering the Take Two growth (and RB still being a bastard who has probably mended his ways), I’d say they deserve it.
They bought out those devs I think, so, they’ve already got their share of the pie.
At the end of the day, its all good. Gamers win. They made games that a TON of gamers wanted to play. And the gamers in turn rewarded them for that. Everybody wins.
Sure, they were very lucky. Does that mean they should give all the money away?
The slight chance of massive and unsurprising success is part of the game. It’s not fair - there are probably tons of others who worked harder and are better people but will never see that kind of success.
And as for what you would do with a couple million dollars, I think it would be a piece of cake to put it all to good use quickly. Have we learned nothing from Brewster’s Millions?
I say good for those execs, I hope they enjoy the money. Whatever the formula: luck, hard work, good decisions, not making bad decisions.
Hypothetically, in a capitalist system where pay was based on performance, the people actually responsible for good company performance (namely, the GTA team) would get all the benefits.
So because no one else suspected the game would be a hit, TTWO gets no credit for the decision to publish the game. On the other hand, if everyone had known the game was going to be a hit, the decision to publish would have been a no-brainer, and they still wouldn’t have gotten any credit. Either way, they don’t get a dime. Nice!
Hypothetically, in a capitalist system where pay was based on performance, the people actually responsible for good company performance (namely, the GTA team) would get all the benefits.
Except that in a capitalist system, providers of capital also get to be rewarded.
I’m sure it’s done absolutely nothing for the self-esteem of the GTA team to see some executive making 2 million in a BONUS off their hard work. Ryan Brandt essentially made 2 million extra dollars for greenlighting a 3D sequel to an already established and decent selling franchise that he basically had no input into other than putting it on the shelves.
I think the problem isn’t that he got rewarded, it’s that he received what to the rest of us looks like an absolutely ludicrous sum of money and the folks who came up with, programmed and produced the game are making a normal programmer salary, etc. It’s more money than many of those folks will see in their lifetimes.
You’d think the developers would have Take Two by the balls when time comes to renegotiate their contracts. If they didn’t already get pay hikes when they started Vice City. I don’t think DMA are as down-trodden as you guys make it seem.
Unless you can show that the above individual actually contributed that kind of value to the company I’d say that yes, it’s a bit ridiculous. Who knows, maybe he did? But when games are being axed left and right in this industry $2 million bonuses for execs looks a bit lavish.
Too bad for them, I hope they are doing their job for the love of making computer games. Maybe if they had gone the id route they would be driving around ferraris.
When a publisher has a spectacular run like Take2, big bonuses are part of the ride. My left eyebrow rises only when these kind of bonuses are given out when a company is not doing well, and in this crazy world that’s not too uncommon.
