It’s no coincidence that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment puts out a lengthy gameplay overview video the exact same day that Polygon publishes its article about crunch, exploitation, and abuse at TT Games.
At this point I’m pretty convinced that the majority of gaming studios out there all employ crunch. But the leadership at TT Games playing mind games with their employees is something that either hasn’t been fully divulged in other crunch-y studios or it’s just so rampant the writer couldn’t help but talk about it. From the article:
“It was a very soft-spoken blackmail,” one former employee says. “‘If people don’t start doing overtime, there’s going to be problems,’” although the problems were never specified.”
And:
Six former employees who worked under Jon Burton, co-founder and creative director at TT Games, say he would often yell at staff to return to their desks if they tried to leave work on time, and that he regularly expected employees to put in extra hours. Others, meanwhile, remember leads following employees out of the studio, to question their reasons for leaving and their loyalty to the job.
The article is definitely worth reading as there are more bad things to learn about at TT Games than just crunch. Whatever excitement the trailer brings, the article brings balance to the force with its dose of reality. I’m not getting the game mostly for backlog reasons, but if I needed another one that article would be it.
The game has been delayed a few times but a release date has been locked in for April 5th, 2022.
