On the backdrop of a year where hundreds of talented game developers were let go by their employers, the “Fired and Fired-up: Jobless Developer's Rant” at GDC seemed to be ripe material for ripping former managers, particularly in Ensemble's case. The successful RTS developer was dissolved right before the release of Halo Wars, though Paul Bettner was much more introspective than bitter about this fact.
"I don't remember when the word 'crunch' was first heard around the hallways of Ensemble," Bettner explained at the session [thanks Joystiq]. "Every game seemed to take a little bit more than the last, a little more crunch, a little more sacrifice. I watched this happen and I did almost nothing to stop it. As an employee, I didn't take a stand, I just kept hoping for that next high. Later on, as a manager, I peddled the drug just like everyone else. My ex-Ensemble co-workers in the audience, I ask for your forgiveness. I know that I could've done much, much more."
Bettner says that Ensemble was closed because it had institutionalized "crunching." Because of the studio's pervasive workaholic attitude, morale was low and there were already talks about leaving the studio after Halo Wars shipped. He said that as time went on, development costs went up, quality went down and Microsoft simply made a “fiscally responsible decision.”
"The reality is that every single game we shipped took twice as long as we said it would take, and took twice as much to make it," Bettner recounted. "Our reliance on crunch, on mandatory unpaid overtime became a norm at Ensemble. Our game quality suffered."
Not only was “crunch” fatal to Ensemble, he noted that it pushed certain developers to work that's less demanding. "We kill these people. They join us because they love games so desperately, that they'd be doing this even if we didn't give them a paycheck,” Bettner mourned. “We destroy these precious artists. We destroy their families, we sacrifice their youth, and so they leave, and they take their experience with them."
It's too late to save Ensemble, but Bettner has taken his experiences and applied it to his company Newtoy. With the company's first project, Words for Friends for iPhone, being one of the most successful products ever on the App Store, he thinks his anti-crunch philosophy is working out well. "I believe that we're our most creative when we're sitting on a porch swing on a lazy Sunday afternoon, well-rested and day dreaming about what we're going to do tomorrow," Bettner said. "I believe that our brilliant sparks of inspiration come not at the end of a 15-hour work marathon, but rather, in the shower after a good night's sleep.”
"I love this industry. I love making games with all of you. I love it so much, that I'm willing to tear myself away from my computer and go home to my family. Not only because this is what's truly most important to me -- even when that addict inside me is telling me to put just a few more hours into it; just finish this feature or fix that last bug -- but also because I know, deep down, that striving for that high quality of life is how I'll make the best games, too. Who's with me?" concluded Bettner to thunderous applause.
40 Comments
March 16, 2010
So, extraoficially speaking, for non-american people, how could "crunch" be politely explained...?
March 16, 2010
Mauricio, crunch in the development community is when a studio has to work A LOT of overtime hours to complete a game and ship it on time. The developers sometimes have to work so hard that they don't even go home and sleep under their desks. The prevalence of crunch has led to a lot of talk about "quality of life" issues within the industry.
March 16, 2010
Oh, now I see. So, crunch is definitely not good for workers` health. Deadlines... sigh.
March 17, 2010
People talk about dev crunches as if they're peculiar to the games industry. I know from personal experience that that is not the case. The difference is however, when I had to work 16 hours a day writing code for business applications, I'd at least get the overtime.
March 17, 2010
True that, Matt Davey. Overtime pay is almost something referred to with a laugh in the gaming industry; 'it's supposed to be about the passion for games not money' might be described as the mentality. Thing is, passion will dry out when you find yourself turned into a husk working over 60 hours a week for long periods on a project without any sort of fiscal compensation. I try not to think about how many developers have shifted over to other lines of work just because of fixable "quality of life" issues.
May 5, 2010
I believe that shows a very good reason his "analysis" was wrong, and needs to improve when making statements in the future if he's going to be considered a serious analyst. best driver software
May 9, 2010
Sony is banking on the idea that an upgraded experience with HD and better graphics and more core games will win some of them over.Canvas Art
May 18, 2010
Halo Wars had its fair share of challenges. We were trying to bring the strategy genre successfully to the consoles for the first time. We were working with someone else’s IP. We had never done a console game. The list could easily be bigger than that, but you get the idea.
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May 22, 2010
Every game seemed to take a little bit more than the last, a little more crunch, a little more sacrifice. I watched this happen and I did almost nothing to stop it.
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May 24, 2010
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that's coz the games are so expensive, so they prefer swapping games amongst friends, and this kind of keeps them going without buying another game for a year.HID Lights
May 25, 2010
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May 27, 2010
So, extraoficially speaking, for non-american people, how could "crunch" be politely explained.identity theft fraud protection
May 30, 2010
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May 30, 2010
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May 30, 2010
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June 9, 2010
A gamer who enjoys playing or collecting video games produced internationally. online fax
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June 16, 2010
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June 18, 2010
Every single game Ensemble Studios made, across more than a decade, paid for it's development and made a profit. Microsoft had it's reasons for closing the studio but to imply that it was because we cost too much is fiction. ES enjoyed a long relationship with Microsoft (as many ex-Studios people now at Robot or Bonfire still do), first as a partner and then as part of the corporation after 2001 – if, at any point, the leadership in Redmond wanted to reduce the cost of making games in Dallas, they could have done so with a phone call.
June 20, 2010
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June 21, 2010
It has been confirmed that Microsoft is closing down Ensemble Studios, the developer behind the upcoming Halo Wars game, an RTS based in the Halo universe and set as a prequel to the first Halo games.
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June 21, 2010
You both have very different points of view, though I think you nailed most of them better than he; but then again, I always preferred.Web Hosting Reseller
June 23, 2010
I try not to think about how many developers have shifted over to other lines of work just because of fixable "quality of life" issues.
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June 28, 2010
I think you nailed most of them better than he; but then again, I always preferred.
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Te internet sure does offer a lot of different venues, and games are so so popular as well
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reasons for closing the studio but to imply that it was because we cost too much is fiction.
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Bettner said. "I believe that our brilliant sparks of inspiration come not at the end of a 15-hour work marathon, but rather, in the shower after a good night's sleep.”
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