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Ian Walker (Kotaku): Games Made Under Crunch Conditions Don’t Deserve ‘Best Direction’ Awards
- Thread starter BY2K
- Start date
Absolutely agreed. I loved TLOU2 and was happy to see it win last night, but this award should have gone to Hades and SuperGiant unquestionably.
Last night had already highlighted to me that TGA is still a long way away from carrying any sort of prestige, from the way they just blitz through awards meaninglessly with little elaboration on those that could use it (see all the esports stuff for instance) and the complete lack of fanfare to even give any of them much weight.
This one though, well first I'll admit to sitting there thinking "what the heck does best direction actually mean?", the result did not help me figure this out.
So it kinda sums up the whole thing
Rockstar, Netherrealm, Naughty Dog are probably just the tip of the iceberg.
I sometimes wonder how much goes on like this in Japan that eludes our notice, especially with the country's work ethic, out of sight out of mind you could say.
This one though, well first I'll admit to sitting there thinking "what the heck does best direction actually mean?", the result did not help me figure this out.
So it kinda sums up the whole thing
I expect there's always some level of crunch involved, but I think it's safe to say there're some cases that are a lot more notoriously worse than others and as of late more of the big AAA titles are coming out with some harrowing stories in their wake.
Rockstar, Netherrealm, Naughty Dog are probably just the tip of the iceberg.
I sometimes wonder how much goes on like this in Japan that eludes our notice, especially with the country's work ethic, out of sight out of mind you could say.
While I'm fine with having awards that reward games made without crunch, I don't really agree with the premise. "Game direction" is not "corporate direction" or "employee direction", at least not in the sense that TGA defines it:
It's about the creative vision and game design.
Moreover, you'd have to disqualify a lot of nominees because most games are made with crunch.
It's about the creative vision and game design.
Moreover, you'd have to disqualify a lot of nominees because most games are made with crunch.
That's probably a good line to draw, but I don't really think it would have any meaningful impact unfortunately
What's the criteria for "Best Direction" at The Game Awards? What is taken into account when deciding on a winner? From what I've seen, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's misaligned with the premise of this writer's article.
While last of us part 2 is an amazing game (My personal game of the year is Animal Crossing tho). I have to agree that it was kind of disappointing for that award going to naughty dog with all the news about crunch.
I'm worried that this will just justify them pushing their employees even further to their limits on their next game. I do hope that a time will come when as with bioware relying on "Bioware magic" the crunch blows up on naughty dogs face.
I'm worried that this will just justify them pushing their employees even further to their limits on their next game. I do hope that a time will come when as with bioware relying on "Bioware magic" the crunch blows up on naughty dogs face.
Crunch is part of game direction and design. That's project management as much as creating levels or mechanics.
Awarding crunch like this is an endorsement of it, and it's gross. Especially when such notable exceptions (that one might call exceptional) exist.
I feel like a "best direction" award isn't going to project management. It's going to the games design and creative direction.
IMO, the argument being made here should go more towards Game of the year as you shouldn't be awarding poor practices with the highest honor
Award the hard labor that went into each individual aspect with the sub awards, but the top award is the one that shouldn't be deserved
IMO, the argument being made here should go more towards Game of the year as you shouldn't be awarding poor practices with the highest honor
Award the hard labor that went into each individual aspect with the sub awards, but the top award is the one that shouldn't be deserved
I don't think the best direction in this case has to do with project management, so it's missing the point on why LoU2 got the award.
This quite clearly falls outside the description of the 'Best Direction' award. It is not an award which takes into consideration anything about the production of the game. Not only that but the notion that you could ever have an award based on the way games are produced is pretty dubious because while we can judge the product we have no practical way to judge the production.
Don't buy it
I don't even want to know what Japanese crunch is like. Or is regular work culture for them what we'd consider crunch?
Whelp, Morrigan beat me to the punch.
However, I DO think future awards ceremonies should have the audacity to PREVENT studios who are doing insane crunch (not like, a little bit of overtime) and can prove they are not doing insane hours in order to even be considered for various awards shows.
Yeah, I'm not joking. It should all be tied into unionization, too.
However, I DO think future awards ceremonies should have the audacity to PREVENT studios who are doing insane crunch (not like, a little bit of overtime) and can prove they are not doing insane hours in order to even be considered for various awards shows.
Yeah, I'm not joking. It should all be tied into unionization, too.
As someone for whom TLOU2 means a great deal to me, and speaking more broadly – it doesn't warrant the exploitative conditions it was produced under. There is zero merit in it and if the response is that the game would have been less polished or intricate on release, then so be it. I would rather a product with flaws than expending people, their health and their families for the sake of it.
There's a lot to praise Naughty Dog for but those elements don't work to overcome, diminish or justify the crunch they put their team under, nor the trampling of other minorities in lifting up others.
There's a lot to praise Naughty Dog for but those elements don't work to overcome, diminish or justify the crunch they put their team under, nor the trampling of other minorities in lifting up others.
That is good to be put on perspective. If I remember correct Dice crunch a lot.
Pretty much all games have crunch in one form or another. Whether that's AAA games, or the indie game that's made by one person who's coding 14 hours a day.
In any case, I totally disagree with the premise that how a game is made has any bearing on it's reception.
Good game is good. End of story.
In any case, I totally disagree with the premise that how a game is made has any bearing on it's reception.
Good game is good. End of story.
Time to rename it the award to best project management then
The jury and the public doesn't care how the sausage is made, it's bad look for the industry in general, a big shame really.
"Creative direction and innovation" apparently
Which if extricated from the actual design and direction process like some people like to insist on, ostensibly amounts to "Game of the Year.... Two"
Overtime is one thing, like spending an hour or two after hours to work on a thing every once in a while. Crunch is the expectation that you will be REQUIRED to work overtime on a schedule, which goes after work hours and into the weekend. When your game's production requires Crunch periods in order to meet milestones, then that's a massive error in planning, coordination, and scheduling.
I agree with everything in that article, and it feels quite clear that a lot of the media that chooses the winner for the best game direction doesn't really know what "game direction" means and just treats it as an alternative GOTY award or chooses the game with the most public and/or hyped up AAA game director.
Whomever voted for TLOU2 wilfully ignored the conditions of development, which is a huge bummer and a sign that we've still got a long way to go. All steps of development are involved in game direction. Not gonna bother with "game design" as I don't think TLOU2 deserved on that merit either.
Massive agreement to this. These are video games, not the vaccine to halt a pandemic.
That wouldn't make sense.
Massive agreement to this. These are video games, not the vaccine to halt a pandemic.
That wouldn't make sense.
Then maybe we should stop rewarding the behavior with awards
I agree. I worked in QA on big AAA for a very short time after college, since I was having a tough time landing a job. That was probably the worst job I've had. 12 hr days for a month straight with like 1 day off in between weeks. I'm pretty sure a lot of it was illegal.
What wouldn't make sense?
For what it's worth, if someone really wanted to make the argument that The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog should not receive awards because of crunch then I could maybe be persuaded. In this case however the author has picked out an award category they do not understand and arbitrarily decided Naughty Dog don't deserve it.
Correct. Crunch sucks, but game direction involves things like how all the pieces of the product come together to form a cohesive whole. Crunch is a management issue, not a direction issue.
How do you think they got the game to such a point in the first place? people are talking about not rewarding games for working their staff into the ground and the takeaway is suddenly that has nothing to do with this.
I agree, my comment was based on my very short time working on AAA game after college.
Bold of you to assume companies will stop if they get no awards when the games sell 10m+ a pop
It's almost like that exception was also nominated for best direction, or something
Game director ≠ shift manager.
Neil can and *should* learn from mistakes made along the way, but, Naughty Dog didn't just bumble their way into all of those high scores.
Neil can and *should* learn from mistakes made along the way, but, Naughty Dog didn't just bumble their way into all of those high scores.
Agreed. It's worth nothing also that pretty much all blockbuster films are made under crunch conditions for the armies of VFX teams that work on them, very little is said about that any more though sadly after quite a vocal movement about it a few years back.
Right. But the work that goes into a game like Last of Us part 2 compared to a game like Hades doesnt really compare. So certainly that has to be taken into consideration too when deciding, no? You are directing a much larger project with many more moving pieces so it's not a surprise a game like hades doesnt have as much crunch.
Agreed with this. The best game should be a reward for the entire studio and the work they've done. I think the studio as a whole should receive the award, with speakers from each department.
Best direction should remain, but crunch would be disqualifying. So I probably would have given Hades the award for best direction and TLOU2 would still keep its GOTY award.
I agree but a lot of these award descriptions are vague as hell considering how many people in this thread are arguing against this.