The extra terrible thing is that this is completely counter-productive. E.g. see this takedown of crunch time by someone who works in the game industry: <a href="http://www.igda.org/?page=crunchsixlessons" rel="nofollow">http://www.igda.org/?page=crunchsixlessons</a><p>But this is a problem outside the game industry too, though it sounds like they're even worse than usual. If you're a software engineer stuck in one of these jobs, you need to realize working fewer hours is good for you <i>and</i> your employer. More here: <a href="https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/18/productive-programmer/" rel="nofollow">https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/18/productive-programme...</a>
I dunno what it is about the gaming industry relative to other software-related industries, but they have a horrid reputation for effectively treating employees as disposable.<p>Not coincidentally, a <i>lot</i> of games end up having technical problems from the constant rush.
The trick is working for companies doing 3D application development that's not related to games. I've never had a job where management treated us like this in almost a decade so far.
This is what I call a full of shit company. People will stab you in a back to work for those but when they are there they start to realise how rotten it is. Then it's too late for them as they are getting into the Stockholm syndrome. Afraid to go, being pushed around because they do not believe they can do something better somewhere else and such CEOs take advantage of the situation to use them as much as possible and throw them away like a used condom.<p>I hate this and it is not worth wasting life working for such companies or such people even for one day.
We need more of this kind of honest writing. In the tech world, we tend to use euphemisms to talk about this kind of destructive behavior. Go to a Meetup full of VCs and they say stuff like "Oh, that startup died because of team dysfunction."<p>Well, okay, but what does team dysfunction actually look like? How ugly does it get? Why does it happen?<p>Self-sabotage is remarkably common. We all know the failure rate of startups is very high. The estimates I've read vary, but they are all in the range of 80% to 90%. And clearly, much of the failure comes from suicide, not homicide. That is, the startup isn't out maneuvered by a giant like Google, but rather, it fails because of its own internal flaws.<p>The essay "Why do entrepreneurs engage in self-sabotage" is on this theme:<p><a href="http://www.smashcompany.com/business/why-do-entrepreneurs-engage-in-self-sabotage" rel="nofollow">http://www.smashcompany.com/business/why-do-entrepreneurs-en...</a>
Between reading the link title and the page loading, I had a little fun guessing which studio it was going to be about. EA? Konami? Ubisoft? Nope, I was wrong. But there are just so many possibilities…<p>Thank goodness we're in something of a golden age of indie gaming. If you want to vote with your wallet against all these toxic AAA charnel houses, you have plenty of other quality choices to waste your time with.<p>By the way, no gamers take game awards shows seriously.
Sorry but the way this article describes this Kevin Bruner and its' "toxic management" sounds very close to how people describe Steve Jobs: egocentric, abusive and a micro-manager.<p>What distinguishes a toxic manager from a leader, then?<p>Edit: a phrase from the article: "This was one of the biggest issues with him as a CEO: he was pretty convinced that his taste was everyone’s taste."
In my experience demands for working > 40 hours, nights, weekends, etc. almost always comes from management and planning failures.<p>What makes this scenario occur so often is that the business side wields too much power when it comes to culture, estimates, technical decision making, etc. For them you solve a problem by throwing more time at it and passing responsibility when possible (along with a few extra meetings, for good measure). Not only does this approach work poorly for development, but they are often the "final stop" in the product lifecycle, thus making it impossible to avoid taking responsibility, even for others work (like, say, for incomplete or nonexistent requirements).<p>Perhaps worst of all is that surviving these crunches makes things worse as the wrong lessons are learned and the process continues to repeat itself as those who push for change become disgruntled and leave.<p>Personally I've noticed a correlation between the pushing of "team culture" and toxic environments like this. The most egregious example of this was when it was suggested that I work unpaid on the weekend to "complete the sprint work as a TEAM."
Nothing is going to change, there are to many stars in to many programers eyes, when they here games-industry. They literally can afford to burn the best talent, knowing it grows on tree for cheap for them.<p>Its the same thing why model agents can harass or molest young woman, while they literally allmost starve to death to be in a industry they can only work in for 15 years and will never earn more then the basics to live.<p>These actors are irrational, and there is a cornucopia providing new ones.<p>Best idea to dry this swamp is for other industries who lack talent- to provide a dual path- meaning- if you come to work for us, we will teach you also the tools of the game-design trade- and provide you with a chance to parallel realize the game of your dream in a sabatical.
I think this has something to do with the so-called Parkinson's law, where an organization tends to "corrupt" when it is growing its headcount if its top leader is not aware of it.<p>I used to work for a startup which has a 'flexible' working time culture too. It was not that bad until the company grew its size to an extent that the middle management layer was established. Then all the shit exactly like what a typical Parkinson's law story happened.<p>Edit: <a href="https://www.economist.com/node/14116121" rel="nofollow">https://www.economist.com/node/14116121</a>
I've floated around the Game industry as a developer, and I have to say its one of the most toxic management industries I've seen. Too many times I've seen folks who just don't qualify, running developer teams like its some sort of feudal village .. the inclination towards prejudice and bigotry is just too damned high.<p>I wonder why it is that this industry in particular has such a problem with toxic management? My personal theory is that its because games are fundamentally a total decadence, and decadence just brings out the worst in humans ..
Insecure managers are a plague and I'm very glad I'm no longer working under one.<p>"A real leader is thrilled when team members achieve great things. A mere manager is threatened."
<i>> For others, the inevitable outcome of what sources familiar with the company describe as years of a culture that promoted constant overwork, toxic management, and ~creative stagnation~</i><p>Having never worked in the game industry, I have a very naive view of what is the day-to-day of game developers. Being inherently creative work, what would <i>creative stagnation</i> look like in this case?
I work 37.5 hours a week, maybe a bit more if I want to bank some hours for a vacation.<p>Of that, maybe 30 hours is actual productive work. Dunno who thought that a software designer can actually produce useful stuff for 90 hours a week.
French newspapers Mediapart and Canard PC have teamed up and released a bunch of articles about the video game industry and its toxic practices.<p>The articles are available online [1] but they're in French and some of them are behind a paywall.<p>The situation got to the point where a labor union for video games creators, « Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo » (STJV) [2], was created in France last year. There are currently around 70 members (out of 5000+ video game related employees in France). A strike is currently on-going in Eugen Systems [3], a French studio author of RTS games like Steel Division.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.canardpc.com/online/crunch-investigation" rel="nofollow">https://www.canardpc.com/online/crunch-investigation</a> (French)<p>[2] <a href="https://www.stjv.fr/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.stjv.fr/en/</a> (English)<p>[3] <a href="https://www.stjv.fr/en/2018/03/already-more-than-3-weeks-on-strike-at-eugen-systems/" rel="nofollow">https://www.stjv.fr/en/2018/03/already-more-than-3-weeks-on-...</a> (English)
Isn't this normal and the reason for the rise of indie games?<p>People want do make games, but they don't want to be crunched into oblivion, so they leave theae studios, go indie and do their own stuff...
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you.
I'm starting to think that game developers enjoy their toxic work environment until they finally realize that it is taking a toll. By then, they find that they're often stuck / lack the confidence to move on.