So wouldn't the right answer be for someone else to step up and expose the other industries, instead of putting the onus and blame on Schreier? He is just one man, not a messiah. It sounds like some people would rather have it be that he never revealed this information in the first place and keep up the status quo. If entire work systems are broken themselves, why is he getting the blame for exposing a broken system? Should the broken system itself not get the blame?
Some here are even saying that they experience crunch in their field, but are getting upset with this one man instead of their industry. It sort of reminds me of the mentality of "I've had it bad, so you should to" which is why things never change, because this work the person has been in for years and put blood sweat and tears in to reach a better position, has now assimilated them to the very culture they've hated all that time. It's a bit diabolical of companies to do this just to keep the wheel the way it is and none are the wiser.
Um...14 out of 20 is about 70% man. Out of that specific number and that specific sentence, he wasn't wrong. Are you sure you didn't misread his quote? Because it sounds like he was possibly wrong with what he said afterwards. I see what you're saying with his wording though, he apparently needs to make it way more clear of employee titles and numbers. I think his larger message is fine though. I don't think the guy is a flawless reporter, he can do better. But I give him credit for what he's enlightened people to so far.
Jason has not been the only one to talk or bring these things up. It has been a point of contention since even the PS2 days. And during PS3 lots of articles and news outlets exposed through interviews with ex-employee's . The part of the system that is the root cause of this is wallstreet and traded company's. Alot of work is done on a studio level for the most part of accommodate workers through pay, work/life balance initiatives. But to make products for companies that are either publicly traded, or have main investors calling a lof of the shots, your going to have tension which leads to pressure to get said products done in a timely fassion. As in sooner rather than later.
Which usually the studio if run by great people which I believe Cory, Neil 100% are they will have sitdowns with said higher ups to discuss realistic goals and if said projects needs to be delayed. Neil and cory are the people who literally fight to give their teams more time so they dont get burned out.
Video game projects are a fickle beast, studios like Insomniac show how efficient they are. But I would argue when people compare them to another studio, it's sometimes not applicable. Because that other said studio has tons of different variables, what engine are they using, what kind of game, is there mo-cap/facial capture etc. Like what do you think will add more time to a NINTENDO GAME? The answer is cutscenes, dialogue ect.
The industry isn't perfect for sure, and when company ceo's like Kotick are asshats and under pay or dont pay and treat people fairly they should literally got to court and then jail. Too me people wrongfully being unpaid or underpaid should be the main thing I would think that would be brought up. And to me Jason does a poor job of listening to people like Neil or Cory or Jaffe who literally started at the bottom and worked their way into more senior positions. Corey was a designer for god of war 2 and worked before that on god of war he was lead animator. DO you know how many hours a animator will put in? Go look at his god of war 2 interview where he looks like he isn't even awake.
9 years of working as software developer. Never ever crunched in my life, but we make sure to have realistic deadlines in our team. Work without crunch is possible.
Totally agree, but it also depends on the project and other variables. Software development has less variables than a video game. Even creating game engines it's hard, and more than likely there is some crunch, but I would assume the deadlines are all internally set and realistic because there's more of a path laid out in what components are needed.
There's more of a blueprint. Video games you are literally building everything from pictures of art and going off from there in how assets interact with that said built art/level. Then add in all the systems running that take care of AI, PHYSICS ect. There's a ton. Why do companies like adobe make shit look easy when developing their versions each year? Because they dont have to rebuilt the whole sink. Just parts of it in small parts at a time.
GAmes sometimes dont even run or have the ability to do a complete playthrough until final 6 months. Thats how complex big budget games are. Even indie games if theres lots going on, and its a small team. You bet up on lead up there is some form of crunch. It's unavoidable.
Not saying that people crunching for months on end is good and should continue, just that sometimes thats what happens. And you could chalk is up to bad management or bad project organization. But when building from scratch it takes so much time.
