This is essentially how I left EA. When we finished development on the first Alice game, I went traveling. While on vacation in India I got the news that EA had laid off my creative partner, RJ Berg. And that they'd pulled the console development contract from Alice developer, Rogue Entertainment (which killed the studio).
I was asked to come back so that I could begin my next phase of existence at EA - being put into some sort of VP training program. Onward and upward!
It was "We're firing all your buddies and promoting you."
So I quit. Left San Francisco entirely. Just said, "I'm done."
Many (MANY) of my friends at EA at that time called me to tell me I was "insane" "crazy" and demand I explain wtf I was doing. For a lot of them, explaining that I felt moving up the ladder on the backs of my fired friends was unacceptable, just made no sense. "That's how the game works." "Stick around and you'll be rewarded."
Well, the reward is that I am sitting here 25 years later not feeling like a jerk for taking the wrong path.
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Hey you.
Artist, animator, graphic designer… whatever that involves using your hands.
Don’t give up. Stressful times and Ai taking over… you got this. You worked so damn hard and you deserve to be seen.
Don’t let a machine stop you. DESTROY the machine. You got my support.
Jorge R. Gutierrez says animating with AI was like “having sex and then they hand you the baby” during his appearance at the AI on the Lot convention.
He currently has a project named ‘Punky Duck’ through Amazon MGM’s GenAI Creators’ Fund, an initiative aimed at giving creators access to professional-grade AI tools and funding for cinematic entertainment.