Jason Schreier said:
Well that's really concerningJason Schreier said:
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Jason Schreier: As Naughty Dog Crunches On The Last Of Us II, Developers Wonder How Much Longer This Approach Can Last
- Thread starter Deleted member 8196
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I mentioned something similar about Rockstar and reducing the scope of their games and was promptly attacked.
Hey jschreier is there a reason why Kotaku refuses to cover Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's use slave labor? I thought you of all people would be the first to talk about it, considering how much time and effort you spend talking about crunch culture.
I'd tag you in the original thread, but many posters already have and you don't seem to be bothered to respond.
I'd tag you in the original thread, but many posters already have and you don't seem to be bothered to respond.
He isn't contradicting. He said it back then thay delays don't stop crunch. He is just saying here how the crunch is.This is why Jason confuses people.
Video Game Delays Cause More Crunch
These days, most video game fans are sympathetic to delays. They recognize that more time makes for better games, and that game development is too complicated for anyone to accurately predict release dates very far in advance. So after a string of high-profile delays this week, including the...kotaku.com
No it sounds more like heaven and hell in the same place. Sounds like they are grateful working on the biggest video games but also accept the crunch. You can read this in the article
It feels kinda of obvious.
If you're crunching already because you're behind schedule, you're not likely to slow down because of the delay.
If you make the intent to delay to reduce crunching that could make a difference, but if you're going to do that to avoid crunching, you probably weren't crunching in the first place.
Regardless, they are crunching right now even with the delay. Another delay means more crunch.
"At this point we were faced with two options: compromise parts of the game or get more time. We went with the latter, and this new release date allows us to finish everything to our level of satisfaction while also reducing stress on the team."
blog.us.playstation.com
The Last of Us Part II Comes to PS4 in May June 19
An update from the game's director.
blog.us.playstation.com
I feel like, just for their own sanity, Naughty Dog needs to take a step back with their next game. Make something lighter. A new Jak game or something.
Part of the crunch is obviously studio culture that ND needs to work on, but a big part is that they're stuck in a loop where every new Naughty Dog game has to be the BEST MOST GROUNDBREAKING GAME EVER, or it's not worth putting out. Rockstar is stuck in the same loop. If you're stuck in that mindset, no extra development time is going to help, because you're going to still kill yourself trying to perfect everything.
Part of the crunch is obviously studio culture that ND needs to work on, but a big part is that they're stuck in a loop where every new Naughty Dog game has to be the BEST MOST GROUNDBREAKING GAME EVER, or it's not worth putting out. Rockstar is stuck in the same loop. If you're stuck in that mindset, no extra development time is going to help, because you're going to still kill yourself trying to perfect everything.
This for sure. Sad that sustainability falls so far behind nowadays.
This is terrible, it sucks that they are in this situation where the expectations out of Naughty Dog are just so high that they need to go through this each time and only worse every time.
Only reasonable way that I can see for them to fix this is to make a game which requires less of an attention to detail with a less realistic style. But even then the expectation out of them after making uncharted and TLOU for 13 years is extreme realism, so I dont think people will accept that either.
Only reasonable way that I can see for them to fix this is to make a game which requires less of an attention to detail with a less realistic style. But even then the expectation out of them after making uncharted and TLOU for 13 years is extreme realism, so I dont think people will accept that either.
If they hire 100 more people, they probably would have 100 more people crunching
I imagine it works the same as jobs I've had in which I needed to work overtime. They don't force anyone, but if you're staying at the company and want to stay there/get promoted, you're going to do it. It's a lot of pressure. At my last job, I just always refused because I hated it and planned to quit, but many others worked extra hours with smiles on their faces. I also assume at this big game devs, the pressure is 10x that which I've experienced.
*Avatar quote*This is why Jason confuses people.
Video Game Delays Cause More Crunch
These days, most video game fans are sympathetic to delays. They recognize that more time makes for better games, and that game development is too complicated for anyone to accurately predict release dates very far in advance. So after a string of high-profile delays this week, including the...
I get a lot of tags. Hadn't seen that but will certainly look now.
" On May 29, The Last of Us Part II will come out. Those who have worked on it tell me they believe it will be phenomenal, another shining entry in Naughty Dog's quest for excellence at all costs. Some say they think it's the best game Naughty Dog has ever made. "
There are also parts like this
There are also parts like this
They look at the insane sale of tlou1 and that's why. A new jak game isn't going to push those sales to them. Especially in 2020 when 3d plats aren't near the sane hype culture.
Because controversy concerning an upcoming AAA release generates more clicks than other stories.
Did you even read the article?
When you want your own work to fail then you're clearly not a workaholic. Also the part where everyone jumped ship after UC4 launched.
Crunch is almost never really forced in the hard sense. It's usually always through company culture & social pressure that employees get pressured in crunching even if they don't really want to. I mean when you start somewhere and every one of your colleagues works 4 hours more than what they should work then that's also what you're going to do. If you don't then you probably won't be working there for very long.
I really don't think it's a sales thing with ND -- I think they're very caught up in their reputation and trying to top themselves creatively. A new Jak game would sell just fine. The Crash remakes did great.
That's not really the case. There's always top-down pressure to do so. That quote could have come from any of us devs when I worked at EA, and maybe those who say such things believe them to be true. But we crunched for weeks, months, a year (and worked long hours even out of crunch) because of tacit pressure from above. Nobody needed to mandate long hours, because it was understood. And you convince yourself that's just the kind of worker you are.
this is a culture cultivated by the studio when hiring.
search on twitter on how ND's trial for hiring goes... you will be shocked.
Extended long hours of work is a problem in many industries, yes. But this is a gaming forum, so the discussion here is about gaming studios.
My wife is at one of the big accounting firms, and yes, they go through some terrible working hours at various points of the year (particularly when you are early in your career). That is the biggest reason why so many employees choose to leave to industry jobs where they can often make more money (in the short term) for a much better work/life balance.
Managers and team leaders are supposed to take care of the people under them and make them stop working if necessary. Managers should care about the work-life balance of their employees to create a good and healthy studio culture.
It feels like every story coming out about Naughty Dog paints it as a terrible place to work. every story is either internal drama or crunch....no thank you.
Of course, Sony and ND say nothing, they have workers burning themselves out.
I work in a similar industry and unless you've been asked everyone leaves at 6.00pm latest 6.30.
Sometimes staying 2 extra hours is inevitable but constant 12 hr days and weekends as well.
Outrageous.
I think there are so many unwritten stories about crunch at some studios. So many. But I think ND's one doesn't sound not very bad. It could be way much worse. R*'s story was much worse. But I really hope this will improve
Problem is that game industry have this stream of devs wanting to work. That is one thing that enables this, because they have this huge pool of workers they can just pull new people to work with project.
Also i think crunching is problem in many other industries that have big deadlines and there is lots of money on table. Like visual effects for movies.
Something is gonna have to change. They make amazing games but they need to find a way to achieve their vision without crunch. Is this mostly a ND thing specifically with Sony's first party studios? I don't seem to hear about crunch from their other studios outside of sometimes SSM. If it means one game per gen then I'm fine with that. Put health first.
It doesnt seem that way. Peer pressure is a thing. The fact that they chose to have devs manage themselves, is another.
It's really not sustainable.
