That is pretty much what I've heard. (I know the 18 months bit is a legal requirement for contractors).okay, then you probably already "got" most of my post before i wrote it. I just know some of us are from europe but that my memory for that sort of thing isn't reliable.
Working for 18 months, probably isn't conducive to game development. If a game is in development for 36 months, or maybe even 60 months; by the end of it that feature probably needs to be changed or maybe isn't relevant in the first place. You're also not able to keep any talent long term.
I think Google and Amazon had similar struggles, where the style of management that makes the rest of their software work, just doesn't work for game development.
Yeah I live in the midwest.