General News - Burning out in the Games industry

Screeg pointed us to an article on The Verge, about how the video games industry is burning out its own employees and uses Telltale Studios as an example.

As Telltale became more prolific, it took on more and more simultaneous projects. In 2013, it released episodes of The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead: Season 2. In late 2014, it launched episodes from its newly procured licenses with Game of Thrones and Borderlands that would stretch into 2015, along with a Minecraft game. As 2016 rolled into 2017, it also took on Batman, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more seasons of The Walking Dead and Minecraft. One employee described a T-shirt that the studio distributed with its episode release dates as so packed that it looked it was promoting a concert tour.

To keep up with the workload, the company started rotating developers in and out of different games during the development process, sometimes in ways that employees say made little sense. As the developer’s schedule grew more aggressive, management sought to remedy tighter turnarounds by adding more people to the department — a “solution” that did little to help the problem. As one former Telltale developer put it: nine women can’t make a baby in one month. “Focus on quality really started to shift to ‘let’s just get as many episodes out as we can,’” the source says.

Time management was a major issue. Release dates would often slip after games underwent multiple, extensive reviews that came with a great deal of feedback, but failed to budget enough time to make the changes. “The pace at which the studio operated was both an amazing feat and its biggest problem,” says a former employee. “Executives would often ask teams to rewrite, redesign, recast, and reanimate up until the very last minute without properly adjusting the schedule. The demands on production only became more intense with each successful release, and at some point, you just don’t have anything left to give.”

More information.

A great article anyone who wishes to work in games industry should read.
Addresses exactly what I've always been confused with. Videogames are supposed to be art, at least partially. Why are gaming companies organized as an army (executives posing as officers who are incapable of creating content so they're only ordering drills) I'll never understand. Mona Lisa was not created in such cancerous working climate.

Games are built on the backs of folks working 100 hour weeks for 40 hour salaries, who have no other stake in the product other than pride. Get rid of unpaid overtime (salary-only positions) and you'd see some major changes.

Well almost every job I worked at has this problem. So really nothing new to me for as soon as you get more projects to finish, the more work is required to finish on time.

So many fond memories of dealing with managers over bad orders and deadlines.

Every job I ever worked had issues, but I was grateful for the work and the paycheck. People tend to whine far more than they will ever contribute, and sadly I don't see this changing anytime soon, as it only seems to have gotten far worse over the past thirty years or so. It is about balance, and if you love/enjoy what you are doing for employment, you will accept the sacrifices that must be made along that path.

For me at least, the cure for burnout is variety. Let employees work on 2-3 different projects, switching between them from time to time as the urge for change arises. You won't always meet schedule deadlines, but the employees will be happier and more productive overall.

I worked as a mainframe Programmer/Analyst for several large corporations and one large federal agency. The problem of burnout is systemic. Management invariably over promises, under funds, and under staffs projects. Many project managers have no idea of the time and effort even minor changes/additions take. They never budget the proper time for either and blame slippage on the grunts who actually do the work. When it comes to crunch time, their solution is 'throw more people at the problem'. Doesn't work that way. The people who have been on the project now have to take time away from their duties to bring the FNGs up to speed and now the project falls even further behind. And No. Variety is not a cure for burnout. Work is work. Hundred hour weeks are still a hundred hours. An analogy would be in the Army and being in battle. Doesn't matter if you're manning a machine gun, mortar, or artillery piece. It's still stress and a grind.

If you're curious, FNG means F-ing New Guy.

I suppose if you have a suckie job you don't like, then yeah variety doesn't help. Not my problem.

Not true. Even if you love your work, you can burned out on too many hours. It's a reality of the human condition.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Not true. Even if you love your work, you can burned out on too many hours. It's a reality of the human condition.

Yes well I've been burned out on multiple occasions, so I'm all too familiar with it. I'm just saying what works for me.

It definitely reduces burnout, but doesn't prevent it. That I would agree with.

Originally Posted by screeg
Get rid of unpaid overtime (salary-only positions) and you'd see some major changes.

For sure. It's amazing how many "must-haves" suddenly turn into "skip its" when the people asking for it have to actually pay somebody for it instead of just feeling a little guilty for making people work extra hours.

The thing is… programmers at least are in ridiculously high demand. I can see the green beans that are still trying to prove they know how to actually code being willing to take the abuse but, after a few years experience, why take that crap?? Especially given that almost all these companies use "at will" contracts.

Yep, I see the same classic two sides to the argument:

People are overworked and get burned out, and they should just shut up.
*or*
People are overworked and get burned out and it's a problem that should be addressed.

What I can never figure out is people who actually work for a living who go with the first one. Truly you hardworking folks are the engine of American-style Capitalism!

Sad that it is always the same old story … Seemingly some suits in the gaming industry never learn …
Anyone remember "EA Spouse" ? Basically same story.