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> Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi Interes

> Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi Interesting, because the public perception of gamedev companies is opposite: "hire-crunch-downsize-repeat"

gambiting 4y ago
Because it's true for a lot of places. We do have an extremely strong anti-crunch culture and value work life balance a lot. In those 8 years here I worked maybe like.....2 weeks of overtime? Around launch of one of our biggest games, I stayed in longer to make sure things were running smoothly. But like outside of that? 8am till 4pm every day. Never worked weekends or anything like that, and I don't know anyone who has. (well, that's not strictly true - I know from those old timers that 20 years ago that was pretty much bread and butter and people lived in the office more or less. But that was before I ever started here).
- xiphias2 4y ago
  Which company? I mean if you say so good things about your employer, I guess it won’t get angry of you naming it :)
  - vshade 4y ago
    I was going to ask the same, specially if the company is in Europe
    - gambiting 4y ago
      Ubisoft - just(disclaimer) keep in mind that we have studios in (almost) every European country and all of them can approach this differently. Here in UK the policy is what I explained above.
      - MailleQuiMaille 4y ago
        Clearly depends of where you work, and what you do Inside Ubisoft. My rule of thumb is that the closer you are to the game itself (Dev, gameplay designers, sound designers...) the more you will crunch and the less you get paid. As if the labor was a perk in itself.
        gambiting 4y ago
        Again, only talking about my own experience - I'm a programmer myself and I don't crunch, and no one in any other team that I know does. Programmers also tend to be most well compensated out of everyone(in my experience).
      - oblio 4y ago
        I'm not 100% sure about Ubisoft, but I think Gameloft is part of the same group. At least in Romania, Gameloft definitely does not have a good reputation concerning overtime and such.
        maccard 4y ago
        "reputation" is a hard thing to assess. In a company with 20k employees, there are goign to be teams and offices that differentiate from the norm, in both good ways and bad ways.
      - serenitylater 4y ago
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - tibbydudeza 4y ago
    Definitely not EA then - off all the good places to work at it must be Bethesda.
  - maccard 4y ago
    Most of the actual large game studios are just normal places to work, and any of them that have been around for more than a few years will have "lifers" for want of a better word. This isn't unique to games at all.

gambiting 4y ago

Because it's true for a lot of places. We do have an extremely strong anti-crunch culture and value work life balance a lot. In those 8 years here I worked maybe like.....2 weeks of overtime? Around launch of one of our biggest games, I stayed in longer to make sure things were running smoothly. But like outside of that? 8am till 4pm every day. Never worked weekends or anything like that, and I don't know anyone who has. (well, that's not strictly true - I know from those old timers that 20 years ago that was pretty much bread and butter and people lived in the office more or less. But that was before I ever started here).

xiphias2 4y ago
Which company? I mean if you say so good things about your employer, I guess it won’t get angry of you naming it :)
- vshade 4y ago
  I was going to ask the same, specially if the company is in Europe
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Ubisoft - just(disclaimer) keep in mind that we have studios in (almost) every European country and all of them can approach this differently. Here in UK the policy is what I explained above.
    - MailleQuiMaille 4y ago
      Clearly depends of where you work, and what you do Inside Ubisoft. My rule of thumb is that the closer you are to the game itself (Dev, gameplay designers, sound designers...) the more you will crunch and the less you get paid. As if the labor was a perk in itself.
      - gambiting 4y ago
        Again, only talking about my own experience - I'm a programmer myself and I don't crunch, and no one in any other team that I know does. Programmers also tend to be most well compensated out of everyone(in my experience).
    - oblio 4y ago
      I'm not 100% sure about Ubisoft, but I think Gameloft is part of the same group. At least in Romania, Gameloft definitely does not have a good reputation concerning overtime and such.
      - maccard 4y ago
        "reputation" is a hard thing to assess. In a company with 20k employees, there are goign to be teams and offices that differentiate from the norm, in both good ways and bad ways.
    - serenitylater 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- tibbydudeza 4y ago
  Definitely not EA then - off all the good places to work at it must be Bethesda.
- maccard 4y ago
  Most of the actual large game studios are just normal places to work, and any of them that have been around for more than a few years will have "lifers" for want of a better word. This isn't unique to games at all.