We know that many developers put heart and soul behind their projects. The fact that some are not exactly clever when it comes to statements on social media, too. Like Glen Schofield.
For some developers, the ability to think when using social media seems to function only rudimentarily at times. Like Glen Schofield, studio boss of Strinking Distance Studios, who is currently working on the long-awaited horror action title The Callisto Protocol.
Apparently inspired by the commitment of his employees, he wanted to proudly announce how hard his studio is working on the new game, but forgot that the “crunch”, i.e. overtime and excessive work in game development, is not a welcome topic and is criticized worldwide , as well as general working conditions in game development.
A now-deleted tweet from Schofield said: “I only talk about the game during an event. We are working 6-7 days a week, nobody’s forcing us. Exhaustion, tired, Covid but we’re working. Bugs, glitches, perf fixes. 1 last pass thru audio. 12-15 hr days.This is gaming. Hard work. Lunch, dinner working. U do it cause ya luv it.”
The backlash in the comments was not long in coming. Schofield has been accused of promoting a crunch culture and insinuating that employees who don’t meet these requirements are not behind the project. The renowned journalist Jason Schreier also joined the criticism.
Schofield meanwhile deleted the tweet with the statement: “Anyone who knows me knows how dedicated I am to the people I work with. Earlier I tweeted how proud I am of the effort and hours the team puts in. That was wrong. We value passion and creativity, not long hours. I feel sorry for the team that I came off that way.”
The bad taste remains, however, because even if quite a few companies have now taken steps to improve working conditions, especially in the pre-release phase, including Rockstar and others, crunch culture is always an integral part of the working environment in the games industry .
The Callisto Protocol and Outcast 2: A New Beginning don’t really have much in common at first glance, but both transport you to new foreign worlds. Felix was able to see the two titles at gamescom.
