NEWS: Employees Vs. Electronic Arts: Challenge Everything

CULTURE: Employees Vs. Electronic Arts: Challenge Everything

Interested by an enraged blog from the spouse of a Electronic Arts employee, GameSpot did a little investigating into the accusation of poor working conditions that seemed too outlandish to be true.

Or were they? It seems that GameSpot got in touch with attorney Robert C. Schubert, who had this to say about the situation:

This just isn't a little bonus that they are contesting. According to the furious journal entry that started the interest, employees were working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, without any sort of overtime or comp time.

Although the details and the participant's of the case have yet to be completely ironed out, it's brilliant to see the workers at least trying to fight against a multi-million dollar earning machine. It will be intriguing to see the impact this will have on the gaming industry as a whole. Viva la resistance!

Some of us kind of like it Though yeah, you need to take a break to keep from burning out.

This isn't new though, these kinds of stories can be heard from most every major software developer, but they get really seedy and depressing for fledging game makers or dot coms.

Someone remind me of that company that had the feds come and raid their offices and shut them down, with the CEO still putting out press releases that they would get their new MMORPG released soon?

Ha. Welcome to video game development. If you can't handle the hours during crunch time, go work in a flower shop or something. Personally, I like having whiners like that in the industry because I know I compare well. I do what it takes. I'll bring a cot into my office if I have to.

Viva la whiners!

12 hours!!! wimps! i worked some 18 hour nights for them last year

i'm not a developer, so i don't want to claim to intimately know what i'm talking about, but the point of the journal was that it wasn't just crunch time that these demands were being made. it was an increasing amount of hours to avoid a seemingly imaginary crunch time that dissapeared over time, and with no rhyme, reason, or forseen end.

anyway, whether you can handle crunch time or not wasn't what interested me in this article. what seemed weird to me is that, in most jobs, making 12/7 hours mandatory without any sort of compensation whatsoever is illegal. i'm not sure why it should be different in the programming world.

let the discussion ensue.



[Edited on Nov 12, 2004 11:19PM]

Fair enough. If that's true, it's good to know that EA is to be avoided like the plague. But I'd be surprised if the blog entry wasn't, uh, exaggerated a bit. Talented developers have options in the industry (hint, hint) with employers that will be happy to treat you better than that.

I like this guy's take on it.

It's Not Just Abusive. It's Stupid

Anyone who's been anywhere near software development knows that the long hours are counterproductive.

From what I've heard second-hand, it sounds like the article was right-on. I have friends who work with EA burnouts, and they are building a rep in the industry for getting kids straight out of college or one of the game dev specialty schools and burning them out.

It's not pushing buttons, it requires concentration and a reasonably fresh mind, no matter what the bean counters think.

Nick

Try twenty.

EA can suck me. Worst game company ever.

Endless quantities of low-quality work churned out at a rapid, feverish pace by sapped worker drones whose creativity has been completely drained? Anyone who's ever played an EA game could tell you that without knowing anything about their internal politics.

For real. I pull 12 -20 hour days on a regular basis ... but since I work on a day rate and there is no union for my position, this has become the norm in my industry.

Yeah so fuck you games geeks. Yeeeeeeeeeesss you are responsible.!
Weak arse blame aside isn't the quality of life supposed to be improving? Implying more time not working, but in pursuit of higher goals.
No the didgital world is not a 'higher' realm. It is, in most cases, escapism.
It would seem some of you think your selves heroic for doing long hrs. I do 10 - 12 hr shifts and am proud of it, but I wouldn't if I wasn't compensated accordingly. And please give some thought to slave labour. As you see it is present in 'our first world countries'.

yeah im sure i had some closer to 20. good thing i was hourly. bad thing is that i didnt get 2 months off when the game was done..




[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 by FunkTion]

For whatever reason this seems to be the geek version of manliness... Apparently getting beat up and feminized in grade school and avoiding physical activities at all cost has resulted in this twisted sense of machismo where doing shit that requires no balls, testosterone, or getting out your chair somehow equals being a badass.

I love the geeks, I'm one of 'em, but they have their quirks.

Nick

I turned down a job at EA to work on Goldeneye II because I'd heard too many horror stories about the way they treated their employees. Sure EA would occasionally feed the poor bastards stuck there late at night but that’s about it. EA (and most video games publishers) exploit the fact that people consider the video game industry the Holy Grail of professions. They work those long hours thinking they’ll eventually get promoted but the sad fact is that only that most diehard and committed ever get picked for advancement in the company and after they’ve been picked over a few times (or survived the massive layoffs), they’re fed up with the industry and leave it forever. That’s fine though because there will always be fresh young faces right out of college to fill the ever dwindling ranks.

It’s sad. I’ve seen some incredibly talented people get out of the industry because they couldn’t handle the inhuman hours. Honestly though, they shouldn’t have to be forced to endure shit like that. Hell, I’m about to start working at a place that at least has profit sharing and a number of other incredible benefits that reward employees for their hard work.

This still a young industry and many large corporations are still acting under the pretense that they’re a young startup with a handful of people. They need to realize that they’ve grown up and become a corporation that now has duties and whole new set of laws that apply to it. Wait, that cuts into the bottom line doesn’t it? As a developer, if I was a cold blooded opportunist I’d try to make as much money as possible exploiting the workforce for the next five years before they begin to rise up and start attacking my wallet.

Fuck, I must be tired if I’m thinking like that…

You were a tester, weren’t you?

It's not about working in the game dev industry. Its about a huge company taking advantage of its employees. The fact that its in the game development industry is meaninglyess. Want to meet your deadlines? Get more talent, expand your staff, get better production tools. Don't work your existing team twice as hard. 12 to 18 hour days working on the next recycled sports game? Thats just ridiculous anyways. The excuse that working in the game industry comes with giving up any sort of social life and mental sanity is stupid and I hope this will help companies understand crunch time is not 24/7 7 days a week for months on end. Treat your employees rightt and manage your resources better and you WILL meet your deadlines.

No, it is. Like I said, thousands of people want a job in the industry and many of them are willing to become indentured servants because of it.

Interesting... I've just joined EA in the UK on a graduate programme and I personnally think they have the perfect work ethic of "work hard, play hard". I know that I will be expected to work solidly for a few of months before a release date, but then I also know that after the release of a game they allow their employees a cool down period and organise parties for everyone. In fact, I've spoken to many people at EA who have worked else where and they've all said that EA are by far the best games company to work for. Maybe it's just in the UK, but they seem to have a very good reputation for treating their employees well.

I don't see why EA should pay overtime, because everyone who enters into the games industry knows what they're getting into and what they're being paid for it. If you're not happy about it then do something else.

I hear some of the employees have even passed out from all the Toluene fumes, and the women will often deliver babies with birth defects, etc. Pretty horrible.

Read what I said again. That wasn't my point. Just because people look to get jobs in an industry doing stuff they love doesn't make it right that their employers take full advantage of this. Like i said, it doesn't HAVE to be like this. Yes alot of developers let companies walk all over them but its the COMPANIES doing the walking.

I have a former co-worker of mine who use to work for these people. He said they are the biggest group of assholes in the world. Alway demanding long work hours with little of no compensation (SP?),