Meanwhile, in Dallas, David Lewis has one foot out the door, having been similarly laid off from his job as a software test engineer at Ensemble Studios. Lewis has been there for 11 years, starting four years prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2001.

But, in September, Microsoft confirmed that it would be shuttering Ensemble with its team of 90-or-so developers following the completion of Halo Wars -- which is said to be scheduled for an early March release. It was a "fiscally rooted decision that keeps Microsoft Game Studios on its growth plan," said the company.

"It was kind of a shock, a little bit numbing," confides Lewis. "I came to work, we had a company meeting where we were told what would happen, and then everyone spent the day wandering around, talking about the day's events and what they planned to do."

Lewis admits that while he felt secure in his job, he wasn't completely surprised: "In our industry, there's a relatively high chance that once your game is finished, the studio will make some cuts. But I had no reason to suspect that the whole studio would be closed."

He says that some of his team members are looking for jobs within Microsoft, others are looking outside, and a few are hoping to start their own studios. Unfortunately, he says, there's little time for job hunting given the fact that almost everyone is in crunch mode in order to meet the Halo Wars deadline.

"We're working 50-55 hours a week," he says. "At least we still have these jobs until Halo Wars ships."

Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars

In the meantime, Lewis reports that there has been a wave of headhunters calling and e-mailing the soon-to-be-unemployed developers. "They know a whole studio is about to be closed and that there are people who will need jobs," he says. "While they may not have actual openings available, at least they can set the process in motion for when jobs do become available."

Given the fact that Ensemble had been one of the relatively small number of game developers in Dallas, Lewis says he expects there will be more opportunities elsewhere, perhaps Austin, perhaps California, maybe even Australia.

"I have to look at this as an opportunity to find something better," he says. "We have quite a large number of employees here who are married with kids, so I'm sure they have a different take on things. I have none of that. So I'm trying real hard not to get depressed. Sometimes when you're given a shove into the water, you learn to swim."

Speaking of swimming, the situation doesn't seem much different on the other side of the pond. Over in the UK, Michael Souto had been at Eidos Interactive for nearly 10 years, his last post as executive producer.

"I must say that I felt pretty secure, as I had been there for so many years, survived a number of 'consolidation periods,' and had put in a lot of great work," he says. He knew that game companies were increasing their cost-cutting measures and that Eidos was no exception. But what he hadn't expected was the degree of cost-cutting.

"I had actually experienced four 'headcount-trimming cycles' during my time at Eidos," he says. "Unfortunately, the last one resulted in my demise, as well as that of about 250 others out of a workforce of about 1,000. The day Eidos announced its intention to cancel 14 games -- some of which were in my care and early in development -- then the writing was on the wall, for me.

"It's a really tough and life-changing event if you don't find a replacement job quickly," he says. "It's tough in the best of times, but to go through it now in this sensitive economic climate only makes it worse. It's shocking when it first happens, but you have to take stock and move on."