With the past overtime policies of EA and the recent turmoil at Team Bondi, there has been a lot of uproarious discussion regarding overtime in the game industry. If you are familiar with the industry you know that overtime has even been given its own name of “Crunch”. Crunch happens when developers are approaching a milestone in the development of a project but are unable to achieve the goals of that milestone during a normal 40 hour work week.
Crunch is a difficult thing to endure. There are times where the lines of legality regarding work hours are blurred. Sometimes the developer will say “This is the deadline, get it done.” and it is up to the individual to effectively use their time to complete the tasks with overtime becoming mandated if they do not close to their goal as the deadline approaches. Publishers also want to ensure that the millions of dollars they spent on a games development result in a marketable product. Something outsiders need to realize before they judge the “poor working conditions” of the game industry is that many times the developer’s hands are tied. They don’t want to work these poor people to death. There is a project, and there is a deadline. It’s as simple as that.
It seems like when reports come out about crunch that they neglect to mention all of the great perks that usually come with working at a game studio. There is often times free snacks, bonuses, giveaways, free soda and even free meals provided during crunch. One could argue that the reason the studio offers these things is to keep the development team at their desk working rather than having to leave for a meal. Even if that is the case, the many perks that come with working at a game developer are definitely greater than the sum of their parts.
Many gamers are unsure what stance to take on the issue of heavy crunch. While everyone can agree that is it uncomfortable, some see how crunch is necessary. Fewer still realize that the negative effects of crunch are not limited to just developers and their families. When a game slips past its release date and gets delayed, that is a considerable about of cash that is added to the game’s budget. If a 50 developer team making 60k a year gets delayed by six months that adds 1.5 million dollars to labor ALONE. That’s not to mentioning all the other costs that are accrued over the course of a regular development period. Who do you think is going to pay that additional cost in the end? Not the corporate big wigs who balance the budget. It will be us gamers that paying the cost. Be it through increased game prices next generation or having to pay for game services (Multiplayer, CoD Elite, ETC), gamers are paying the bill.
Nobody likes that crunch is happening but the reality of it is that overtime will always be present in a deadline based industry. The main concern is how MUCH crunch there is and how the issue is being addressed. Publishers and developers are consistently looking for ways to alleviate the problem but it is not a black and white issue. How do you motivate salaried employees to do their job on time? There has been many instances of a game being delayed simply because a few select developers were too lazy to do their jobs efficiently. While is it becoming a rarity, many times developers are laid off after a major project ships. What incentive do they have to finish as quickly as they can?
The only thing we can hope for out of this whole Team Bondi situation is a clearer understanding of why crunch happens and maybe slowly work our way towards a solution. Anybody have any ideas?
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