Despite objections from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), many feel that a rogue Naughty Dog employee is the only one who could have done …

© 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. One common and egregious practice is to only pay contractors minimum wage, to make overtime seem more appealing. On the contrary, your comment was so irritating that it made me log in and comment for the first time in 6 years. “We never [change] our forty-hour expectation or our core hours, which are 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.… People put in a lot more hours, but it’s based on their own fuel, how much they have in their tank.”, “People just naturally do it,” Wells said.

Crunch is in every industry, don’t be a potato. And once you burn out some naive 20-somethings who don’t have families and are just beginning their careers with enthusiasm and a willingness to get ahead by working absurd hours to stand-out, and because they haven’t had all the passion sucked/beaten out of them yet, it’s still OK! Glassdoor will not work properly unless browser cookie support is enabled. Kies een andere taal en blijf andere reviews lezen. Also, we were paid barely above minimum wage, so again, management used the notion of making overtime pay to keep us longer. Which means more crunch to fix those mistakes. To say Naughty Dog team members have worked hard on the Last of Us Part II is an understatement. ... (though they do tend to leave in droves between projects because the crunch burns everyone out) - the worst of crunch usually occurs once every 2-3 years and lasts anywhere from 8 months to 14 months. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use and “It’s been a little bit of the blind leading the blind as we go in circles and find our way,” said one developer. I didn’t really have a life outside of work for eight to nine months during the big crunch. This article was originally published on March 13, 2020. “The management level was really understaffed,” said one developer of the art department. But that isn’t the only factor here — like the article mentions things like having to wait on someone else to finish their task so you can action it means people having to put in long hours even if it isn’t productive. In mid-February, Naughty Dog got another two weeks, convincing Sony to delay their final manufacturing date so they could squeeze in as much bug-fixing as possible. I believe we only got dinner if the developers stayed. And some people think Joe used to sit down there near those ducks.

“There’s a lot of pushing your current workload aside to meet these real-time demands that come across your desk,” said one Naughty Dog developer. What does the wrench icon on my map mean?

“At a certain point you realise, ‘I can’t keep doing this. Er zijn momenteel geen reviews van de arbeidsvoorwaarden voor dit bedrijf. There can be a significant amount of peer pressure, though.

In the past, Naughty Dog has been reluctant to hire junior-level staff for this very reason. But to those who had grown tired of long nights and weekends at the office, the delay just meant more time on the treadmill. Yes, I wish to receive exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions from our partners. Nonetheless, the studio’s Vice President Neil Druckmann says The Last of Us Part II is the “most ambitious and longest game” in the company’s history, with some employees calling it Naughty Dog’s best game. I feel they should be marked as old – a banner or parentheses in the title, a subtitle or statement at the beginning of the article (seen on the home page before clicking through).

To make up for this, the staff stays late even though its not explicitly required, working well above the suggested 40 hours. Hoe geef je goede follow-up aan je sollicitatie. “It’s an amazing creative environment,” said one developer on The Last of Us II.

Especially for wage-slaves who reap none of the benefits of a successful enterprise beyond continuing to have employment. The type of people Naughty Dog wants to hire are the type of people who will willingly stay late at the office in order to make their games better—the type of people who would take the time to make sacks of grain deflate when you shoot them.

A free inside look at company reviews and salaries posted anonymously by employees. “Because we hire a particular type of person who’s motivated and passionate and wants to leave their mark on the industry. Nobody wants to be the person leaving at 6 or 7 p.m. when everyone else plans to stay until midnight.

There were also some examples of how contractors were blatantly treated differently than full-time staff. While the team attempted to build the groundwork for The Last of Us Part II early on, playtests as recently as 2018 created a number of developmental shifts, story changes, and other revisions to the narrative. Now Playing: Destiny 2, Persona 5 Royal, The Last Of Us Part II. Former Naughty Dog Employees Tell Crunch Horror Stories About 24-Hour Shifts Joseph Yaden Thursday, July 25, 2019 One of the many issues with … I don’t know what the statistics over the years have been but I imagine if the same team was to create a SNES game in the same time period there would be a significant reduction in the amount of stress and overtime. When Naughty Dog’s bosses informed the company that the game was slipping, they emphasised that they wanted to maintain their momentum. “But for the most part, the implication is: ‘Get the job done at all costs.’”. I work in that sort of environment where a power outage can mean weekend work to get everything running for the next working week.

Especially industrial relations laws. three weeks of wasted work for three people, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxXGuVL21o. I mean I understand that some long hours and nights might be unnavoidable.

“There was no attempt made to hire more.”. No less crunch simply because the platform was less powerful; it’s all hard work at the time. Affiliate Disclosure: Evolve Media LLC, and its owned and operated websites may receive a small commission from the proceeds of any product(s) sold through affiliate and direct partner links. Some people had to work late because they had more to do than could be fit into a standard workday; others found themselves trapped by pipeline clogs. It would seem, there were a lot of reports of employee attrition from ND, some of it rumored to be politically motivated. It may not be complete. 51 Naughty Dog reviews. Those three months would make a huge difference. Despite some hoping it will flop to help mitigate the crunching problem, it’s expected to be one of the year’s most beloved games.

You might also look at the most productive countries in the world and compare the work ethic there to that of America. And there’s no one in the office telling everyone to go home. ‘Man, you totally screwed me last night by not being here at 11 p.m. Because of this, many employees reportedly feel burnt out and unhealthy—with alleged plans to quit after The Last of Us Part II ships. This account of Naughty Dog’s culture is based on interviews with 13 current and former developers, all of whom spoke anonymously because they were not given permission to speak to press, as well as reporting I did for my 2017 book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, which detailed the turbulent production of Uncharted 4. “We need to add some stuff here so that it tells more of this story or gives you more narrative beats.”. So I guess you don’t have much of a choice. But when it comes to contractors at the company, they had it even worse. Ondermijnt jouw baan je salarispotentieel? While many employees at Naughty Dog and other studios suffer from unhealthy workplace practices, the general theme is that contractors have it worse than full-time staff. It’s like he’s trying too reach a word count threshold and it’s obvious too anyone who’s done any sort of university where you have too hit a minimum word count. I lived at home during my time at [Naughty Dog] and I could go a week without seeing my parents. There’s a lot to be replaced in almost any case in any production line, even when you’re replacing people who do the unskilled jobs. Today, as many of the developers at Naughty Dog put in nights and weekends at the office to finish the game, some continue to ask themselves a question that has haunted the studio for years: Is it worth it? He actually confirmed what the recent report revealed about the studio. I read somewhere that the employees were overworked or something, I like the fact that people make a big deal about Abby being-, "But it got rave reviews and is selling millions!!". But it could be that there’s just no room, in this modern world, for an old man and his ducks.”. Those details exist because Naughty Dog has built a culture of perfectionism, where games have to be great, no matter the human cost. But the steps they take to get there belies an industry-wide problem–one that’s shared by studios that create animation and CGI for film, as well. Glassdoor werkt alleen naar behoren als cookieondersteuning is ingeschakeld in uw browser. It seems like people are encouraged too crunch but not forced too and are either compensated or there is an incentive, bonuses. The source continued: A normal work week for us was 10 AM-10 PM six days a week and we didn’t really have any choice about it.