#RyseFacts is trending on twitter, in a bad way

Gamerspective -

Crunching. If you know Video games, or worked on video games then you know what this is about. The end process of development where the team has to do lots of overtime and late nights in order for the game to hit the deadline and to be released. It’s a well established fact that most companies do this, and Crytek (the developer of Ryse tweeted about it on their Ryse twitter page)

But it didn’t end well.

[majiebeast]

Dat tweet backfire. Who was stupid enough at Crytek to post this as a fun Ryse fact.

I feel bad for the kids of these devs whose mom and dad were barely at home because months of crunch time. Its something that should change in the industry.

[isarai]

wouldn't be so bad if they were compensated for "crunch time" IE overtime or something, but they aren't and it's wrong. i think publishers need to stop being such dicks, the main reasons crunch time even occurs is by trying to keep up with the demands of the publisher without some extra time to work on it. they just don't know how complicated these things can get and therefore they don't think it's necessary to give them more time. it is horrible, and it should change, but i don't think it ever will which is why the indie scene has exploded, people have had enough of their shit

[majiebeast]

Devs should stand up i mean they dont even have a union i think thats crazy enough.

[JokesOnYou]

Just sounds like they are making fun of the long hours....sucks but those checks usually make up for it.

[Godmars290]

@JokesOnYou:
No. Sounds like the senior team members, guys who will get some actual benefit from putting out the game, are making jokes about it. Many of the grunt programmers will likely get laid off the day after.

@georgeenoob:
Dude. Its not just MS. Everything or everything bad is not about MS. Get off that f**King horse already - that glue's been beaten into the ground by now.

[rainslacker]

Game testers actually make a crap ton of money during that time. All contract labor, but hell I was pulling in $1000/wk for almost a month straight. Not too shabby for a summer job based off my game design degree.

My quality of life sucked, and I can say I will never want to play that game, or any game in the series again, but I did get fed, had an occasional cot to sleep on. Otherwise, it was work and sleep. I was single at the time.

Otherwise, from my observations, short bursts of crunch time that last a week or so tended to have everyone motivated and focused. By the end of the month, I noticed most of the engineering team was burned out and just looked exhausted. Unfortunately, nowadays, once a game ships, it's not usually a break anymore. The time is spent fixing all the bugs or creating DLC for after the game goes gold.

[memots]

i don't mind overtime. I had 2 on-call shift and got a bunch of overtime. This is basically paying for my ps4 + accessories and couple games.

So dig deep and make money Mr.Dev , that's your job.

[pete007]

@torchit
If à dev gets divorced due to his work, i think hes just found he was maried to the wrong person. We live hard times. My father worked 16h/ray. And my family is à strong one.

[FamilyGuy]

Wow, these guys ripped them apart!

Launching games on a newly launching system are hectic times. Hopefully they all get to relax and take some time off right after it goes gold/ships.

I'm sympathetic to them all as I'm sure all the dev teams working on launch games are "crunching" right now as well. Unless of course they've already finished their game which I'm sure a few have at this point.

[Aggesan]

Since Crytech is located in Germany, I wouldn't make the assumption they don't have any union just because the game industri employees don't have one in the US.
In Sweden the union we use for the game industry, and most other office based workplaces, is called Unionen.

[Eonjay]

Sounds like they are doing overtime to try and get this game out. Release is in about a month after all.

[JokesOnYou]

Exactly, Eonjay....anynody with a decent job has experienced this themselves.

lol, I read all those comments....several about eating 11,500 pizzas, Ryse is 60% fiber, parents divorce leading to a life of crime. It all sounds no different than regular folks in a office making fun of a long workday the closest I saw to a serious tone was lonely wives and kids which again is a bye product of working hard at crunch time especially for launch games that had shorter dev time working on final dev kits/consoles, yeah that sucks for them but nothing new to game development or frankly everyday working class guys like me and a 150 million other people in the US, shiii probably 100 million would trade places with them in a second....nowhere did I say anything about micro above, no its all of the haters who seem to be looking for the boogeyman about coworkers blowing off steam. I have an awesome job I love yet Ive complained many times right here on n4g about my job, recently I missed San Diego ComicCon due to work and my promotion has lead to less gametime, more long hrs at work(sometimes) but hey all those vacation days are a nice benefit ssshhhh. lol

[malokevi]

After reading the link.... what's the big deal? People working to get the game finished? I don't even understand what the problem is. When I have stuff to do, I work late. The joy's of working for a salary.

[Droid Control]

Its not about the money, its about having time to spend with family.
We work so that we may live, not the other way round.

[Ryto]

@majibeast I cannot understand why you have received disagrees with unionising the workers that create our games.

Crunch time is horrendous excuse for finishing a game, and as one tweeter wrote, I can't think of any other industry in the west that allows a practise such as this! What shocked me even more is that some publishers have this as un chargeable overtime. Vile!

The disagreers are probably children who don't need to work yet and don't realise the grueling effects both personally, emotionally and socially of working hours such as that.

[SniperControl]

Back in my youth(a long time ago lol), i was offered a job with a major studio to work as a game tester, but i turned it down when i found out that i would have to work an extra 30 hours a week(on top of the 40 standard) unpaid!
I was told to get a sleeping bag and bring a change of cloths for a week.
Fcuk that!

[insomnium2]

So much talk because of JOY's comments. Why don't you people do like me and put him on your ignore-list? So much better not having to read that BS.

[SuperBlur]

Who is really to blame here , the publisher who made them sign a deal that they had to finish and release by "X" date or guys in charge of the management at the studio in question?

kind of reminds me of R*San Diego , they had to put so much crunch time in RDR , employees did not blame R*Games the publisher but the management team at well R*San Diego.....

[malokevi]

When you have a strict deadline for a client like MS... YOU MEET IT. END OF STORY. I can't believe this is even a discussion topic. Have none of you ever worked in development/IT? Are you all 12 years old working at Tim Hortons?

Plenty of time to spend with your family once you get your job done. Jeesh. I know you're all a bunch of wackjobs who complain about anything and everything Microsoft... but this is just sad and pathetic.

I work in game development. I don't personally develop the games... but when we have a client who is expecting a site to be up and running complete with a suite of HTML5 games... you do it. regardless of "family time". what a ridiculous thing to say. Chances are they can be comped for excessive extra time, anyways.

[kneon]

@majiebeast & Ryto

Well I disagreed because if I were in a union I'd be making much less money than I do now. I make over 50% more than is typical for someone of my experience and position and it's based on merit and skill. Most unions only reward seniority, which is just stupid.

What's the point in going the extra mile when others that don't work hard get the same compensation?

Also unions tend to restrict what you can work on, I work on whatever I want to and don't have to worry about some union telling me that's not my job.

[isarai]

I don't think anyone read right, they DON'T get paid overtime, they don't even get paid for the extra hours they work during crunch time

[Ju]

Not sure what changed or when, but I can't remember getting paid for OT or even getting comp...since the last 15 years. It's a shame and needs to stop. Pizza's are nice, and occasional OT is quite alright, but this industry is just ridiculously bad in this respect.

[Kyur4ThePain]

In the real world, overtime pay is a rare thing. In any industry.

[Ryto]

@kneon cheers for the reply. However there's just one thing, perhaps I'm wrong but I was always under the impression than a union is to protect the employees rights?

For example with teaching (uk) the teachers union offer legal protection against unwarranted dismissal, and other things. They also negotiate pay rises as a whole and other benefits such as pension benefits, and when they feel an employer is being unfair and not being justified in their actions that negatively effect an employee, they organise a legal strike in which employees cannot be fired. That's what I always thought.

With teachers unions you pay a yearly fee (I think it's around 80-100, I'm likely wrong) and its optional, however I think everyone takes it for its sheer benefits and job security. Surely a system such as that would be advantageous to game developers?

[UltimateMaster]

I don't use twitter.

[kneon]

@Ryto

Yes the role of unions was originally to protect workers rights, and 100 years ago that was certainly needed. But today there are enough laws in place to cover most situations.

I really don't like things like the union negotiating wages. What that means is that there is no point in working hard because the slackers will get the same raise as those who actually care about doing a good job. And that means that there will be plenty of people that do slack off because it doesn't matter.

There are similar issues when it comes to layoffs. They typically don't lay off the worst employees, they lay off the newest employees. Even if they eliminate an older worker's position they can usually bump someone with less seniority out of their job because of their seniority.

My dad and all my uncles were in unions and they didn't like the unions because once you're in the union even crappy employees get the same pay as good employees.

Here is a good example of the problem with unions. My Dad got in trouble for working too fast his first day at one job. He was making everyone else look bad because he finished his work in less than half the time of what was normal for the morons that worked there. So he was told to go away somewhere and come back at quitting time to make it look like he was a slow as the slackers.

[malokevi]

This has turned into a political circle jerk. You all need to go to the corner for a time out.

[Soc5]

They don't get overtime? That's ridiculous.

[2pacalypsenow]

Please you act like Kids whos parents make games have it bad? try having your parent work graveyard shifts for years and still have nothing that's sad

[Hicken]

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

[2pacalypsenow]

@hicken

That those kids have it good compared to other children

[Crazay]

My buddy who was an environment artist made silly money at Rockstar and even though he didn't much like the crunch time, he always said the bonuses would make up for it. A sorry time after that game became a success he received a fat check and was more than pleased.

[SilentNegotiator]

And some people have to eat clay and drink stagnant water to survive.
So what?

Better =/= Good

[Chris12]

@majiebeast you should feel sad for the problems in the third world. You should feel sad for the soldiers that protect your country that are away from their families for months on end. You really need to get your priorities in order.
#firstworldproblems

[limewax]

Hear that world? N4G user says drop everything, American soldiers are the new number 1 world priority.

Let's send these guys home so little Dave can see his dad, never mind the fact his dad probably killed 15 other peoples dads while out there.

Seriously you're gonna act like your the authority of what's a problem and what isn't? I wouldn't even dare, as you just saw there's always one above, someone can up mine easily too and so on.

A problem is a problem, full stop. Don't try to categorize based on your own opinion without an experience to speak from. I won't try and pretend I have the be all end all issue so stop acting like troops at war are. They kill too, get over it.

[JokesOnYou]

limelax yes any problem is a problem but chris is right. Its called putting things into perspective or context. Here we have a few dev coworkers blowimg off steam and suddenly folks are on their soap box about Unions, and the plight of "grunt programmers". Yeah I can sympathize with ANY situation from the food service worker to the CEO everybody has a story to tell but theres
that and then theres grandstanding over little issues while there are far more tragic work place conditions, force labor etc that could benefit from our outcry.

btw he neither said or implied we should drop everything for American soldiers only that you should feel sad for them because like other decent soldiers from many other coutries sacrifice alot of time away from wife and kids for frankly alot more important things than videogames. YES he is damm right they are indeed truly worthy of respect for that. Your disdain for them shows a lack of understanding of what US and dignified soldiers around the world do. 99% of them do what they do for a great moral cause they believe in 》IF《 they killed it wasnt for fun it was because they were fighting for that cause, now you can of course debate whether that cause was right or not but these wars are not the fault of the soldiers on the ground that decision lay squarely at the feet of these flawed governments.

[FunkMacNasty]

Yea, this is a videogames website, so If you ask me in the real world if I care about real world and social issues, I'll tell you "yes, i do". But If you start calling people out about "not caring enough about starving countries blah blah blah" on a videogames/entertainment website, I'll politely tell you to go _____ yourself.

If You wanna get all preachy and hippy about the burdens of the real world, poverty, war, etc, then go post it over at moveon.org, or somewhere they focus on that subject matter. We come here as an escape from that shit, not have it thrown on our faces through the self-righeous guilt-trip of some internet clown.

[Chris12]

@funkmacnasty. I accept your point, in which case why are nobs using this news to further their console wars? It's just another excuse to bash the Xbox for some, hence my post. It's all perspective.

[Soc5]

What are you talking about? They can't have Unions because there are worse problems in the world? Ok lets not complain about anything ever because in third world countries people are suffering. That is silly. Just because there are worse problems in the world doesn't mean that people should be taken advantage of. Come on, so if your boss took away your bonus or made you come in on weekends without pay you can't complain because children in Africa are starving? Apples to oranges

[infectedaztec]

OMG any pressure job requires 'crunch-time'. At least in the private industry you get paid overtime for staying in late - I'm doing a PhD so I get the same salary no matter what.

If you want a no-pressure job don't go into an industry that sets deadlines. I have no sympathy for this as its just part of some high-skilled positions. If they want fixed hours they can drive a day bus

[steves1126]

You have to imagine these people all love their job and are doing exactly what they want to be doing and are getting paid overtime for it... Don't feel bad for them. I'm jealous of them...

[BX81]

Pretty damn simple. If u dont like working in that type of environment get a new job. I dont feel bad for them working more hours at the end of a games dev.

[syanara]

I think that something should be done about the extemeity of crunch time but we need to keep in mind that no matter what industry you work in there is at least some form of crunchtime if we consider moments when employees likely have to work overtime as crunchtime. Retail has crunch time during holiday and back-to-school seasons, Entertainment indstry is filled with moments of crunch time, There are always deadlines and always going to be some form of this.

By law overtime work must be aid for with time and a half too so its not like the work is going unrewarded either. The fact does remain that in the video game industry this is taken to an extreme that needs to be adjusted.

[FunkMacNasty]

Okay, so once again the community of internet gamers presents a catch-22 for itself.

When games come out with a bugs or glitches, or a sequel comes out that plays and looks too much like the previous game, N4G be like "derp stooopit layZee Developerrrrzzz"

But when faced with the possibility that developers and testers might actually be working TOO hard, N4G be like "woah. these devs are working way to hard. Things need to change in the industry, maaaaan"

smh

[Soc5]

To both your posts:
EXACTLY!!

[MrCrimson]

Most jobs have deadlines and whenever there is a deadline there is going to be an increased amount of work required to meet that deadline.

[BoriboyShoGUN]

How in the world are u XBOX guys not concerned about the Xbox One????

[Hitman0769]

Salary Slavery is something that should change about the planet, not just the industry. I completely agree with @majiebeast

[grassyknoll]

Crunch time is the bane of the AAA games industry, it burns developers out & has the best talent leave the industry to do something else. This is a major reason for the growth of indie developers.

[Jazz4108]

Wow people seem surprised by this. All you have to do is not be a noob and go no further then team bondi on la noir. That is true developmental hell.

[isarai]

Um, why are they talking about "crunch" as if it were a badge of honor? it's poor business practice, any other industry and they would be ashamed to be calling out crunch time, not sure who decided to tweet this but it wasn't smart

[dethpuck]

Well most n4g kids don't have jobs. When you work out in the real world you have deadlines and things you have to get done. It's called work that's why they pay you.

[strickers]

Most people have to do " Crunch time" at some point. I do more that average hours most of the time. Deal with it! :-)

[isarai]

but crunch time is forced on them by publishers who fucked up the scheduled in the first place, they have no choice in the matter. Pretty damn sure if your boss told you to say clean a room, then came back and said paint the walls, change the bulbs, and draw me on the dryboard only to come back several hours later and tell you to redo the walls in a different color, order new chairs and install them, and replace the projector, then at the last moment when you think you're done and your shift is almost over he rushes in and says "don't forget to install the crown molding and tiles, also you also have to buy the crown molding and tiles" then forced yo to stay there till it was done without being payed for the extra time that went into it you wouldn't just sit there and take it when it's something that happens often. now let this process become something that happens to entire offices across multiple corporations, you think everyone thinks that's just dandy? just "another day at work"? bullshit

[rainslacker]

Crytek is the kind of developer who tells the publisher how long it will take them to develop the game. The publisher agrees to finance the project and expects the results in the allotted time. Crytek is not some po-dunk fledgling contract developer who can be bullied by a big publisher.

Crunch time in this case is caused by poor planning, general mismanagement, overly complex bureaucracy, and possibly over-ambitions on the part of the design team.

@dethpuck
It's possible to develop a AAA game without having crunch time. Just have to set realistic goals and have good planning and management along with reasonable milestones. There may be some crunch here or there, but months? That's just top people not knowing their limits.

In the real world, if your employees are forced to meet deadlines that are made without an inkling of thought into the quality of life for their employees, you soon find you don't have good employees anymore, because someone else will offer your good employees something better.

[Godmars290]

Lots of N4G "kids" also have to deal with the results of rushed games. Games which have been tailored to react to Metacritic scores rather than overall enjoyment.

Games now are made more with company stock holders in mind rather those who buy the product. Gamers.

[memots]

Yup, It does seem that gamers right now are more worried about how many polygons, Fps , Native resolution than actually enjoying games.

This whole "elite" thing that will only play what other plays and check the scores on metacritic and read what others have to say about a game instead of playing the damn game, its a very sad state of affair.

[Godmars290]

@memots:
Not what I meant.

Was talking about how games like Rome Total War turn glitchy and unplayable after a few hours. That they were designed specifically towards reviewers who don't have the time to properly invest in games like it, so it winds up getting a higher score than it deserves.

There's really no consideration for gamers who buy the game, only effort which gets them to buy it. Nevermind that it might be broken.

[infectedaztec]

You will get down voted for that comment but as an adult with a job and responsibility this is normal.

This boo crunch time attitude belongs to children and communists

bring on the disagrees but I promise you I'm not trolling

[BattleTorn]

Exactly!

Even my job has an Inventory done once a year, and things always get hectic.

But it's just the way it's always been. There's no avoiding the crunch

[ballsohard2013]

kind of a stupid post ...

[wenaldy]

AFAIK nearly every developer has their own "crunch" time.

[DiRtY]

Well this is not news btw, but damn I think the Tweets are fun.

How is this bad? The game is in development for a few years now and 200+ people are working on it...

When work gets tough and deadlines are approaching you work your *beeep* off. Heck my boss told me we can order pizza and he will pay for it whenever we work late.

I can't believe people try to make a big deal out of this. Generation Y at its best.

[Crossbones]

Crytek are so damn annoying.

[abusador]

This was crunch time bcus we all know Sony caught Microsoft off guard and they hurried to release the console and probably paid publishers and devs extra to get games like Ryse moved from Xbox 360 to Xbone and rushed for release. They are rushing a game that should have had more time in development had it stayed on Xbox but because Microsoft needed games to show last minute thy moved development to xbone and is now rushed for launch.

[SpideySpeakz]

Dem b thos RyseFacts.

[mhunterjr]

What? I bet every launch game is in crunch time right now... on both systems...

Watchdog was pushed back, because longer hours would get it to where ubi wanted it.

[DiRtY]

Yeah, MS was caught off guard...

Almost every N4G user predicted a late 2013 release for the PS4. Nobody, I repeat: NOBODY was surprised by this.

This nonsense just needs to stop.

[DigitalRaptor]

Oh yeah.... them random N4G user predictions, they really are highly influential in the world of gaming console manufacture. /s

Point me towards the overwhelming predictions that proves your point. Go on.

Why do you think they weren't ready to reveal their console? Why do you think there was such puzzlement and mixed messaging from Microsoft employees? Why have they had to upgrade their specs at the last minute to try and stay ahead of a technologically superior machine? Why all the flip flops? Now we have leaks from CBOAT (a supposed inside source at MS who has been right about his claims the majority of the time), about Xbox being underpowered and claiming that Microsoft were meant to be launching next year as planned.

Nonsense you say? I say overwhelming signs pointing towards the obvious.

[Jdoki]

The problem, as I see it, is that a lot of game developers have a very loose management structure. Roles such as project management are very rare in the industry because it's seen as getting in the way of creativity. The types of people who are programmers, artists etc are also (usually) particular personality types that work better without significant management.

This works OK in teams such as Valve, Blizzard, iD, and Naughty Dog because they are big enough to either have the capital to say 'screw you' to publishers (such as iD), or are backed by publisher who recognises that quality takes time (such as Naughty Dog). Although I'm not saying crunch doesn't happen in these teams to some extent.

Unfortunately when a loose structure goes up against a rigid Publisher who wants to make the most profit by releasing in a certain window (such as the run up to Xmas), then something has to give - and crunch becomes inevitable. Or if the developer is poorly managed, then the sudden 'oh shit' realisation will hit that they need to get the game out the door, and so crunch begins.

There's also a difference between crunch because you love what you're doing, and crunch because you have to meet a deadline imposed by someone else. Many developers choose to work ridiculous hours because they love what they do, and that's the same in many lines of work.

The video game industry needs to address and minimise crunch time by better planning - but crunch time is not exclusive to video games. In the industry I work in we often have periods where people work insane hours to deliver global projects - but that crunch time is generally short and well managed.

I'd be interested to know how many developers have proper project management in place, or utilise techniques such as Agile, SCRUM etc and actively train their work force in proper delivery.

[Goku781]

..................

[360ICE]

Haha, I love the Internet! And wait to see through Crytek's BS. Faith in the interwebs temporarily restored.

[360ICE]

*Way to see through. I do far too many typos these days.

[MightyNoX]

Fascinating. Ryse averages about three days before it's in the news again and not in a good way.

[JackISbacK]

these are sony hired fanboys and girls making fun of other consoles ,sony fanboys are gatting mor aggresive day by day because of xbox one price , i dont know why these people complain much yeah it is true that microsoft has done some mistakes and are learned and giving best ,both companiesare doing their best doest it rely means that ytou stick to it eat their fucking head or dance on them ,i hate fanboysm very much.

[PsylentKiller]

Crunch time doesn't necessarily mean that they poorly planned the development of the game. Games are never done months in advance. Games are done and ready to ship about a week before launch. So, crouch time can just mean the last few weeks before launch. In this time of they are working extra hours it may be because they are done with what they knew they had time to accompany and now they are just trying to add some extra stuff.
I work in retail. If I am scheduled to close the store, we have to announce that the store is closing, help the final customers, close out the registers, straighten up all sections of the store, put away returns, and clean the areas that need to be cleaned daily. If we close at 8:30 then most people that are closing stay till 11:00. So, crunch time for us would be the last few hours before we went home. If we finished all the things we needed to do and had extra time we could either go home early or stay and work on extra stuff until our shift was actually over.
If there is a visit from the CEO coming up, then the days before the visit is crunch time. All sorts of cleaning is being do e that would never get done daily. More people would be scheduled to work even though we would literally be bumping into each other because there would be too many people working at the same time. People would be working on everything that all day, even on thing s that we would normally save for closing time. But because it needs to be perfect we do all this extra work.
The crunch time in the game industry doesn't have to be a bad thing. It can be a time when developers are adding the final touches to make their work perfect. And on launch they can feel proud of what they done and not "thank God it's over". All that needs to be done is do the complete opposite of Team Bondi.

[Blues Cowboy]

The issue of crunch time is something that publishers need to sort out soon, and frankly, I feel that developers need a union. They need a union yesterday. Crunch time is a complex issue, since every game large and small requires a huge amount of last-minute work - and many developers take great pride in making sure their wares are as good as possible - but there's work to be done.

HOWEVER, that aside, I think it's awful form to boast about making developers eat thousands of meals away from their friends, families and loved ones. It's disgusting.

[SkippyPaccino]

Ryse = Lair 2.0

[Angels3785]

Tbh though at least lair LOOKED promising...I had faith in the idea and it looked so cool!! But turned out to be so dissappointing :( with ryse I already have a bad feeling and so do most previews....so I already hace an idea of where its going.

[SkippyPaccino]

Ryse looked promising till they started bending over and taking everyone's comment on the internet seriously...they ended up losing their artistic angle and turned their decent piece of art into a crappy kindergarten art piece. lol!

Imagine if Naughty dog would've listen to peoples complaints during The Last of Us development and started changing things willy nilly? that game would've turned into a turd quicker then Mr hanky...

Lair suffered because Sony forced that game to only include motion control...if they would've gave us the option to switch to regular controls it would've been a decent game instead of a piece of ...well you know ...poo

[DigitalRaptor]

PERFECT comparison.

[Jazz4108]

No...the PS 3=Lair 1.0. As far as I know Sony has not funded this Halo killer. That game had nothing to do with microsoft or Ryse.

[SkippyPaccino]

What? Lol! Yes... Lair was on ps3...your point is that Microsoft isn't able to pull off a Lair 2.0?

Why it's Lair 2.0?
-it's a launch consol game
-it's has pretty graphics for a launch title
-it's buggy
-it's got a boring fighting mechanic
-it's being praised by a fan club blindly
-it's going to get crapy reviews
-it has no identity anymore
-there's probably a dorito add somewhere in the game
-probably has lots of plot holes and holes to plot
-it probably has 2 or 3 baby Jesuses
-doesn't have much variety
-there's probably some type of dance minigame
-they removed the midget toss

For those reasons and more I believe they are not similar in games but are walking the same line....

[Anonagrog]

The fact that crunch still occurs in the industry as it is today is really nothing to joke about. I've read cases of devs working up to 100 hours a week for several months. A lot of overtime goes unpaid too. It's just ridiculous.

I've seen a small handful of dev's out there that actually advertise jobs with themselves through "x days since last crunch" ads. I think one of those might have actually been the late, great, Blitz Games. :(

[BattleTorn]

I understand such things like working 100+hr/wk and not getting over time, for months, is absolutely terrible.

But why whenever people bring it up, it's as if it's big, bad publishers exploiting developers.

Every other working field, people would blame the employee for not setting any boundries.

Working 100+hr/wk FOR MONTHS (with some OT missing) is reason to stop working and quit. (And continuing to do so is only ones fault)

Surely there must be an awful lot of developers willing to undergo such treatment if the majority are truly expected to over work this amount.
Otherwise it's simply cases of people not demanding proper retribution for their hard work.

[BattleTorn]

How did a developer (Crytek, in this instance) having a "crunch time" somehow get spun into a negative Xbox One article?

(None of the tweets were that bad)

[PurpHerbison]

Lame.

[Cueil]

Sounds like a first world problem to me

[_LarZen_]

The gaming comunity is a joke....

[_FantasmA_]

Guys, stop feeling sorry for these people. These people make stupid amounts of money. These developers are the ones that feel like celebrities and want to make money off us on used games. Who do they think they are that they deserve money again after something has been bought new? These same developers want to sell us incomplete games and over priced map packs, online passes, $5 characters and season passes that rip you off. If you cry for these developers then you must also cry for your senators and CEOs that are struggling to keep gas in that new Ferrari.

[FanOfRootBeer]

"stupid amounts of money"

Are you kidding me? We're talking about level designers, sound technicians, animators, gameplay designers, software engineers, writers—everyone involved in game design. What, do you think corporate CEOs just fart out a new game every 14 months? More often than not, game designers live no more lavishly than your average office worker.

Also, get that pea out from under your mattress and quit bitching about products nobody's forcing you to buy.

[FanOfRootBeer]

At what point did Crytek say "Those meals were eaten at the workplace because we force our staff to work long hours, depriving them of their personal lives"? There is no indication that the Tweet wasn't referring, comically and full-heartedly, to how much snacking game devs do. Anyone who says otherwise is reading too much into it. If that were the case, do you honestly expect Crytek to Tweet about it?

That said, I have no doubt that developers were crunched on this project, if only because developers are crunched on every project. That's the issue to fix; not how much pizza Ryse devs eat on the job.

And there's no reason to treat gaming crunch time like the last evil of the working world. Talk to a Japanese animator who works 100+ hrs/wk for an average yearly salary of $10,000 about crunch time. Then stare blindly when you learn that people still fight for a position in animation.

[chuckyj1]

Hey, at least they are feeding them. Every programmer knows what crunch-time is on a AAA videogame. So at least Crytech appears to be taking care of their programmers by providing dinners for them and maybe some other perks we don't know about.

Sure, it's a lot better than EA treats their programmers during crunch-time.

[Magaman]

Once again people who obviously don't work in the real world trying to make an issue out OF NOTHING just because it's the "GAME INDUSTRY" every work has some sort of "CRUNCH TIME" this is nothing special in video game development. I'm in a crunch time to launch a new system at work. We are here extra hours extra days working out bugs and getting things ready for launch. It's called deadlines people. Stop treating video game development like this fairy tale industry where everything is bright and shinny.

[maniacmayhem]

I can tell you from experience that crunch time is no joke. I used to work QA years back and we used to pull 24 hr shifts. I once had to work a double 48 hr shift, I went home and took a nap for two hours and had to come right back to work.

Remember that whole EA fiasco a while back?

This is definitely the bane of the video game industry and it's due to unrealistic work schedules and marketing promising dates without consulting dev teams.

[cheameup]

Just the downside of working in a creative industry with deadlines .

make a movie, record an album, paint a picture. I gaurantee you'll spend every waking hour in the lead up to the deadline getting it right

[Ulf]

11500, over the course of a likely 3 year project:

~3400/year

over 150 dev average (test doesn't usually get included... but I suppose this stat could include it for "wow" factor. That might bump the number to 250-300)

~23 meals/year/dev == ~2 meals/month/dev

...That's 1 night every two weeks, folks. Not exactly the showstopper statistic that people are all "upset" over, is it?

[PickAShoe]

deadlines are evil!

[camehlheon]

Considering the joke potential behind this game, I wouldn't be in a hurry to release it and rather save the 11.500 dinners...
It's normal in almost any project to do some extra hours/nights but for Ryse ??? It's maybe required so that they lower the graphics of the game as announced a few weeks ago.