10 Gaming Industry Issues That Must Die With This Generation
1. Crunch
If the release deadline you have set for your game requires you to work your dev team to near death on a near constant basis, then that deadline needs to be reevaluated. No debate, full stop. Crunch is the worst gaming industry issue today, simply through its sheer universality.
Pretty much every major game release coming today has had to employ crunch time at some point, with no overtime pay given to the people working on the game itself, and very little benefits for the inevitable psychological and physical health problems that come from crunch.
Companies like EA, Rockstar, and TellTale games are notorious for these practices. And it's taken so long for these horror stories to come to light because the developers know that they have very little solid ground to stand on should they stand up to these companies.
Almost as if AAA game companies don't want their workers to unionize for that very reason, hm?
This isn't the first time crunch has been spoken of as a blight on the industry, and it definitely should not be the last. The only way that any of these problems get fixed is if we keep talking, and stay angry.