10 Ways The Video Game Industry Has Gotten WORSE This Decade

The scariest concept or philosophy or whatever you want to call it, to not only emerge in a professional domain but to become par for the course and in some extreme cases to be enforced and mandatory, is the idea of “crunch”.

Speaking from personal interactions (not first-hand experience), I’ve worked with software developers before, from animation artists to coders. They work really damn hard. All day. Every day.

Every ounce of their soul goes into their work, and I can only imagine that multiplies tenfold when it’s your own idea or project from day one.

The latter half of the decade has seen a rise in what’s often dubbed as “hustle culture”, the idea of constantly working, helped in no small part by the coincidental popularity and power of social media.

I’m not knocking anyone for wanting to do this, but an important partner to that conversation needs to be individuals’ wellbeing, especially things like physical and mental health.

There are horror stories from employees, both former and current, about working eighty-hour weeks, being denied lunch or bathroom breaks, sleeping at work, and not seeing their loved ones for weeks at a time.

The 2010s at least saw the start of a discussion about ethical working conditions in the industry, and while it probably won’t ever be eradicated, we now know it exists more than ever. And knowing is half the battle.