PlayStation Community Thread

Started by Dr. Pezus, May 03, 2014, 03:25 PM

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ethomaz

Spend 100$ get back 15$ in June on PSN.

Most likely there will be an E3 sale going on around this time as well.

Spend $100 Get $15 - Terms and Conditions (English)
I will probably preorder Destiny 2... so I'm in.

nnodley

Supporting abusive work environments - Why I wont be buying Red Dead 2 - NeoGAF

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This probably wont end well, but here we go. I think Red Dead 2 will be an incredible game. Unfortunately, as we have heard of other AAA work environments, the employees suffer a great deal in order to bring you quality of this degree, most of the time it is not done by choice. If youre not familiar with Glassdoor, its a website where employees can leave feedback on studios they work at. Its a fairly reliable tool (some outliers here and there, as with most review based sites). Game Developers certainly use it before they consider their next move, I know I have. Rockstar San Diego, where RDR 2 is being made, has some of the worst ratings Ive seen on the site:
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"Not for the half-hearted devs. Your family and social life will suffer."

 
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AAA game development culture in general favors overtime, crunch and stressful environments and R* San Diego is probably the worst. There will be a lot of mandatory overtime and not a lot of time for home or social life. I've seen several divorces, relationships fall apart and socially inclined employees get burned out. Some people just flat out resign due to the missed time at home. There also seems to be some resist…

 
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Massive OT, zero work life balance, unreasonable demands on employees, and horrible upper management that will fire you with no warning.

 
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Horrible bully management. Sweatshop work conditions. Endless overtime. Unkept promises. Low pay for the stature of the studio

 
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I wished that I ran off when I heard that early on. At the end you will only realized that it is all very true, can be even worse than you can imagine. People lose their health, lose their hair, get fat and depressed. Even HR admit that they have bad reputation and difficult time hiring people. There is no appreciation about hard work and any decent respect or positive encouragement to employees.

 
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There is no ownership. Same work will be cycled over a group of people so people learn to trash other's work to make themselves shine. It is encouraged and it uses as the way to get advanced.

 
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Worst Place to Work in all of gaming"

 
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Unfortunately, nothing much has changed over the years. It is very tense environment. It is astonishing the quality of games that come out of this place, mainly because 4+ years development time will do that. Management needs to stop thinking about how they appear and start truly listening to needs of the employee. Throwing out talent because you can simply find cheaper is not ethical it is sad to see passionate designers go

 
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"Welcome to Hell!!"

 
Plenty more where that came from, but I think the point is well made. Bonus Edit. From other people in this very thread:
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Originally Posted by jack....
 
 

 
 I'm a software engineer in San Diego and I've had a few friends who all echoed pretty much every complaint in those reviews while they were working there. I wouldn't just chalk it up to a disgruntled employee flooding Glassdoor with fake reviews.

 
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Originally Posted by Parham
 
 

 
 As someone who works in the game industry in San Diego, I can tell you they are infamous here for their work conditions.

 
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Originally Posted by soultron
 
 

 
 I work with quite a few ex-RS people and, yeah, they don't have nice things to say about working there.

 
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Originally Posted by Goron2000
 
 

 
 To add to the pile, I also know people that have worked at Rockstar (North specifically) and these reviews are not just a few bad eggs spreading lies. That company is runs people into the ground and spits them out and they do it all on the foundation that you work for Rockstar and should be grateful that you do.

 
Now, hey, if you decide not to care about this, I cant blame you! Lots of people don't want to know how the sausage is made and I totally get that, no judgement here. However for me personally I have reached a point in my life where I want to at least be aware of who I am giving my dollars to and make better choices in which companies I support. And by the way, its not like their way of doing business is justifiable. Take Two is doing incredible business for themselves and could afford to keep employees around and not do sudden layoffs on release or at any point, really. From their 2016 earnings report:
  • 1.3 Billion in cash and short term investments
  • 700 Million digital net revenue
This is their culture, plain and simple and they are hoping you don't notice. I don't have a problem with an employee willing to give 150% of themselves to their craft, however, long term crunch (year plus!) is well documented to not work and its usually forced upon your younger hires, who still have passion and drive for this industry. I am a 10 year vet in Game Development and here in the Bay Area you mostly meet people in their mid 30's who got the hell out of AAA gaming as fast as they could or quit making games altogether because of working conditions such as this one. As a game developer, I wont be supporting such blatant examples of abuse in a company that should be a leading example on how to treat their employees. Maybe after reading this you will still buy their game, but at least now you know the real cost.
 
yet another reason why I'm slowly not wanting to work on triple AAA games.  If most of those are true then fudge.   I know going indie myself isn't gonna be easier, but at least I know that I am going into something that will be shaming, of my own choice, for a awhile because of me needing some other work as well to live on.

Riderz1337

yet another reason why I'm slowly not wanting to work on triple AAA games.  If most of those are true then fudge.   I know going indie myself isn't gonna be easier, but at least I know that I am going into something that will be shaming, of my own choice, for a awhile because of me needing some other work as well to live on.
It's not all like that...If you look at Naughty Dog, Guerilla, Ubisoft in Toronto, 343 Industries etc reviews they are much better.

Plus it's Glassdoor reviews...most of the time people only go on glassdoor to say negative things about a company because they want to vent.
Legend made me remove this. Everybody riot.

BasilZero

I wouldn't be surprised if I finish the open world before that  point
I think you have to play through some parts afterwards to unlock pathways cause some of the locations are blocked by blockades.

I think the blockades are all gone by Chapter 8 but i'm not sure.

The closed world portion starts at chapter 9 though.

the-pi-guy

Really awful stuff.  
Indie development might not be easy, but it allows enough freedom to not drive yourself into horrible situation.  

nnodley

May 23, 2017, 11:35 PM Last Edit: May 23, 2017, 11:38 PM by nnodley
It's not all like that...If you look at Naughty Dog, Guerilla, Ubisoft in Toronto, 343 Industries etc reviews they are much better.

Plus it's Glassdoor reviews...most of the time people only go on glassdoor to say negative things about a company because they want to vent.
Yeah for sure, but I've heard people talk about ND's crunch and they work just as long hours with not the type of compensation they should have.  There is a reason Bruce took a year leave from work.  Not to mention Amy Hennig talking about working 80 hour work weeks including weekends most every week for the past decade or so.  That is not the type of crud I want to have to do.  No one should have to do that.  Yeah people should love creating entertainment for others to enjoy, but not at the detriment of everything else in their life and their health.  I can almost guarantee if I work in AAA and start working upwards of 80 hours a week I will get out real quick. 

Really awful stuff. 
Indie development might not be easy, but it allows enough freedom to not drive yourself into horrible situation. 
Yeah especially if you play it right.  Some indie devs drive themselves nuts like AAA because they jump into a studio setting too quick.  I will gladly have people work out of an(my) apartment if it saves me money and lets me keep a greater financial stability until I feel secure enough to branch into a studio setting.   Plus most indie devs only create games instead of creating games and having something else to bring in pure profit while a game is cooking.

Legend

yet another reason why I'm slowly not wanting to work on triple AAA games.  If most of those are true then fudge.   I know going indie myself isn't gonna be easier, but at least I know that I am going into something that will be shaming, of my own choice, for a awhile because of me needing some other work as well to live on.
Even CD Projekt Red are horrible to work for and they get praised for being the good guysTM.

I've burnt myself so much with indie though. Sure you can work whenever you want, but you feel the responsibility to work whenever you can. It's like I've been on crunch mode for three years. Having a day job should really help you keep your sanity.

nnodley

Even CD Projekt Red are horrible to work for and they get praised for being the good guysTM.

I've burnt myself so much with indie though. Sure you can work whenever you want, but you feel the responsibility to work whenever you can. It's like I've been on crunch mode for three years. Having a day job should really help you keep your sanity.
Yeah that's what I'm planning on doing.  I already get to the point of burning out sometimes.  I'm working so much at home I barely leave for 2-3 days at a time and it's taking a toll.

the-pi-guy

I've burnt myself so much with indie though. Sure you can work whenever you want, but you feel the responsibility to work whenever you can. It's like I've been on crunch mode for three years. Having a day job should really help you keep your sanity.
Depending on personality, most people will probably either let their game never get finished; or they will crunch themselves.  I'm sure someone has found a reasonable balance, if it exists at least....  

DerNebel


Dr. Pezus


Dr. Pezus

Well Crash is looking like a modern Knack! Awesome

nnodley

So I've been playing through The Taken King and I realized none of the trophies have been popping in.  I've finished all but the last mission and I don't have any of them.   And the trophy for equipping all legendary or exotic gear won't pop in either.


Legend

Well Crash is looking like a modern Knack! Awesome
IT's that good?

So I've been playing through The Taken King and I realized none of the trophies have been popping in.  I've finished all but the last mission and I don't have any of them.   And the trophy for equipping all legendary or exotic gear won't pop in either.
If they aren't saved locally, you're screwed. Trophies only pop at the time of activity. Games can't award them based off old data.

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