[Source Destructoid]

Pachter: Overworked devs need to find another job

1 hour ago - 1:15 PM on 07.26.2011   |   Jim Sterling

24 comments

Industry analyst Michael "Slippery Bullet" Pachter has weighed in on the "crunch period" debate reignited by recent Team Bondi controversies. According to Pacther, working long hours is an obligation, and anybody who dislikes it needs to get out.

"The LA Noire project was disrupted, and there were several false promises of finishing the game, and poor Brendan McNamara -- who is probably going to be ‘rich Brendan McNamara' -- was put in the position to get his team to crunch and get it done more than once,”  he said. "I don’t know anybody in game development who calls it a 9-5 job. I’ve never heard a developer say 'I don’t work overtime and I don’t work weekends.' If you’re getting into the industry -- if you’re going to be a developer - you know you’re going to work plenty of hours.

"I think that all the complaints about Team Bondi are premature.  If your complaint is you worked overtime and didn’t get paid for it, find another profession, cause I don’t think you’re getting overtime pay anywhere. And if your complaint is that you’re just underpaid in general, then why don’t we wait and see what bonuses are paid out."

While Pachter agrees that excessive crunch periods are a bad thing, his comments have caused quite a stir among those who believe that Team Bondi was unreasonable. Pachter is right when he argues that crunch development can be unavoidable, but what happened with Bondi seemed excessive and disrespectful. There are ways of getting more work from your employees -- overworking them for more than a year and removing anybody who quits from the game's credits isn't a good way.

Pachter To Overworked Devs: 'Find Another Profession' [Industry Gamers]

Pachter's right in that every studio crunches and if you can't handle that you should get out, but he's wrong in thinking that devs can't be overworked. Crunch is a common thing but if you're crunching more than two weeks in a row you start losing productivity and at about a month you're getting less done than you would be in a non-crunch day.

And, yeah, there really wasn't any excuse for the Team Bondi stuff. I don't expect to get paid overtime but if I'm working until 3:00 AM it's alright to get in 9:15AM. Crunch is just something that has to be accepted but you have to treat your employess well and with respect. That's what the whole Team Bondi thing is about.

i'm not sure about that whole team bandi thing but if you want a well paying job in the USA you better expect that you will be working late and working weekends.

I don't get these companies strategy wouldn't it be cheaper to hire more people and not pay anyone overtime?

 As far as I'm aware the very 'problem' with these crunch times is that the employees are paid no over-time - or paid at all for the extra time they put in due to the nature of their contracts. 

This article snips certain things Pachter says without really explaining his full points. Basically - he did concede that over 3-6 months or so (1 year + rumoured at Team Bondi) crunch time is 'too much' and wrong. However, when you go into this industry, you know you're going to have unpaid crunch time and you know how much you'll be paid.

 He then went on to say about people complaining about not being paid enough / for crunch time. His counter argument was that if the game you're making launches and is a big success then a % of the money it makes go into a 'profit pool' which is then split up amongst the team who make the game. Insomniac games have sent their entire devlopemet team + famlies on holiday after a successful launch before, and the profit pool payments which the Infinity Ward guys are suing Activision over are around $78m... to be split between around 300 employees... So although the crunch time might be unpaid, you could unltimately get a huge pay off if all goes well.

 I'd tend to agree with him for the most part but crunch times should last longer then 'normal' or then promised. It sounds like the Bondi guys went into crunch time 3 months before launch, and then delays of the game meant their crunch times (6 day weeks working 12 hours+) lasted for 18 months or so :/. That's crossing the line, if true.

No, read about the Mythical Man Month as to why.

Essentially, it boils down to one woman can make a baby in nine months but three woman cannot make a baby in three months.  Adding more people does not always get things done quicker because some things depend on others.  You could have 1000 people working on a project but if you only have the bandwidth for 100 people then you have 900 people twiddling their thumbs.

Well yeah if you get a bonus of 200.000 and possible a lot more it is possible that you went to a hard time.

This article and comments really need to be put into realistic terms.

THIS IS NOT HOW ALL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT WORKS!!!

I have been a software developer for 10 years and have only once ever worked a weekend time to do OT. I'm salary, so yes no OT pay, but it isn't fact that you are worked like a slave in software.

I've never heard of 'cruch' terms before. You simply do your daily work and get yoru ish done. You're behind, sure you may work a few hours extra, but its not slave labor.

As for getting paid well and being expected to work over 40hrs a week etc, hogwash. I make six figures in US and 90% of the time I work 35 to 45 hrs per week. If I work over one week, I'll work less the next.

I say that if you are in games development... well that's the route you chose. Deal with the horrendous working expectations or find normal development job in any other sector.

That is absolutely bs. Read my post above.

i'd actually say your post is BS.  performance is always constantly evaluated and putting in a 35-40 hour week when everyone around you is doing more puts you at the bottom of the list of valuable assets or alternatively, at the top of the list of people fired.