Overworking in the Games Industry

During the International Game Developers Association Leadership Forum last year, the head of Epic, Mike Capps spoke at a panel and claimed that working 60+ hours was expected at Epic, that they hired people who would work those kinds of hours, and was not exploitation, but rather, a part of corporate culture. He also implied that the idea that people would work a standard 40 hours a week was absurd.

Noticeably, this statement in a leadership forum, especially in an industry association, speaks volumes about the philosophy of managers at Epic; the games industry does not have an official union, per se; and so at the GDC last month, chair emiritus Jen Maclean made the official statement that the IGDA doesn't exist to "dicatate" to anyone what hours they should work. What Maclean says is basically true; the IGDA is an organization whose purpose is to support game developers in advocacy and networking, if there is an issue, they put together a SIG (Special Interest Group), and discuss the matter, but they don't have any real power in the industry. Membership to the IGDA is extended to anyone willing to pay the $48 a year in the games industry, but it's not really a union or a guild, and because game development is so broad an industry it's really hard for IGDA to keep any one group happy without upsetting a different group of industry professionals, which means that as an organization goes, the IGDA is unwilling to take a stand on the issue.

As a former games developer; I have this to say -- 60 hours a week is likely partial exaggeration, and partial underestimation; there are some employees who will put in only 40 hours a week; they have families or other commitments which regulate their hours. Others will put in 60 hours, which is a 12 hour shift every weekday, and others will do even more than 80 hours a week (essentially 12 hour days, 7 days a week). Keep in mind that as a games developer, your are already underpaid compared to other industries, but the hours of the industry make this an even worse deal, especially considering that as a developer, their rights to the work that they produce have been largely divorced from them. While EA was slapped with a massive lawsuit years ago regarding the labor laws; the industry as a whole has not heeded the warning; game developers are still overworking, and have few avenues to protect themselves and their jobs. Over the long term, these actions are unsustainable for the majority of game developers and they will eventually burn out -- the current average of burnout is 5 years in the games industry.