Do you know of any studios that don’t do this? I’m guessing indie studios, but I’d like an idea of which companies to avoid and which to support. I don’t play a ton of AAA games (especially eSports games, I avoid those like the plague), but it’s still good to keep in mind which are the better actors in the industry.
If they have more than 100 people, they do this. There may be exceptions outside of North America (I only know 2 people who work in games outside of there), but if you want the worst offenders I have personal experience with, or know someone who does; I am including publishers here because any company owned by one of them has the same issues:
EA
Activision/Blizzard
Capcom
Tencent
Sony
Take 2
Unity
Ubisoft (I only have knowledge of the Montreal studio)
Keywords
Microsoft (easily the worst offender. They bend laws in Canada where you have to hire people full time, with full benefits, you have work for you for 5 years. So they only ‘hire’ say, QA by using a third party, so they’re hiring the ‘service’ from the 3rd party. When you hit five years, they won’t hire you again until you wait six months and change to a different 3rd party).
If you ever hear about a company you like working with one of these guys, it’s safe to assume anything they make is about to nosedive after they get bought out, if they even make it. The majority of people I know who left the industry did so after an acquisition because they were all laid off, and then left the industry.
It’s so bad I know six different people who went back to making movies in the damn effects industry after working in games. I asked one the difference and she said “I make double.”
EDIT: I can’t find the article anymore, but about 7-8 years ago one was flying around studios emails/slacks showing that the average person in the games industry lasts 3 years. Looking at the people I’ve worked with that seems about right.
I tend towards indie games generally, particularly single-dev games like Stardew Valley or a slew of incrementals out there, and I think by definition these issues don’t exist in those spheres. Beyond that I’m a big Nintendo fanboy and from what I’m given to understand Nintendo doesn’t churn and burn their employees as much, however they do work them to the absolute bone and demand nothing short of perfection which is its own kind of hostile workplace.
The only complaints I hear about Nintendo are they can be, uh, ‘a tad’ racist, and that working in Japan in general sucks. They said there’s hope with the millennial Japanese though, who are much better at work/life balance, and less racist.
Holy crap! I knew it was bad, but not that bad.
Do you know of any studios that don’t do this? I’m guessing indie studios, but I’d like an idea of which companies to avoid and which to support. I don’t play a ton of AAA games (especially eSports games, I avoid those like the plague), but it’s still good to keep in mind which are the better actors in the industry.
If they have more than 100 people, they do this. There may be exceptions outside of North America (I only know 2 people who work in games outside of there), but if you want the worst offenders I have personal experience with, or know someone who does; I am including publishers here because any company owned by one of them has the same issues:
If you ever hear about a company you like working with one of these guys, it’s safe to assume anything they make is about to nosedive after they get bought out, if they even make it. The majority of people I know who left the industry did so after an acquisition because they were all laid off, and then left the industry.
It’s so bad I know six different people who went back to making movies in the damn effects industry after working in games. I asked one the difference and she said “I make double.”
EDIT: I can’t find the article anymore, but about 7-8 years ago one was flying around studios emails/slacks showing that the average person in the games industry lasts 3 years. Looking at the people I’ve worked with that seems about right.
deleted by creator
I tend towards indie games generally, particularly single-dev games like Stardew Valley or a slew of incrementals out there, and I think by definition these issues don’t exist in those spheres. Beyond that I’m a big Nintendo fanboy and from what I’m given to understand Nintendo doesn’t churn and burn their employees as much, however they do work them to the absolute bone and demand nothing short of perfection which is its own kind of hostile workplace.
The only complaints I hear about Nintendo are they can be, uh, ‘a tad’ racist, and that working in Japan in general sucks. They said there’s hope with the millennial Japanese though, who are much better at work/life balance, and less racist.