Jason Hall is a former Blizzard employee who shares his experiences in the gaming industry on Twitch. He openly criticizes the harsh working conditions.
What kind of employee is he? Jason Hall is a game developer who worked at Blizzard until 2016 and now runs his own indie studio. Additionally, he talks on Twitch about his experiences in the gaming industry, expressing quite critical views.
He described working on the RTS favorite StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty in a stream as a “completely terrible time.” Employees had worked overtime for 2 years, 6 days a week, and even marriages fell apart. In the end, the game had made less revenue than a single mount in WoW.
In a new clip, Hall talks about what it was like to have a – comparatively – normal job after working at Blizzard.
“One of the best bosses I’ve ever had”
How did he experience the work? According to his LinkedIn resume, Hall worked for 8 months as an “Automation Engineer” at Amazon Games after his time at Blizzard. As the developer reveals in the stream, he felt that he wasn’t making any progress there.
Hall recounts that he went to his boss in his first month at Amazon Games and said, “I don’t feel like I’m doing particularly good work. I feel like I’m achieving nothing.”
His boss, also a former Blizzard employee, immediately recognized the problem and explained to him: What he was feeling now was the result of having been overworked for so long. He now had a “normal job with normal hours,” but this normal rhythm felt like stagnation compared to what he was used to.
You can see the relevant excerpt here:
What solution did the boss offer? As Hall reports, his boss initially gave him the rest of that day, a Thursday, and the following Friday off. He took that extended weekend and actually felt better afterward. “One of the best bosses I’ve ever had,” the developer reflects.
How is Hall doing now? In another excerpt from the stream, Hall reveals that he now earns much less money than with his previous jobs. However, he is much happier. For the developer, money is irrelevant as long as he can pay his bills; as he explains: At the end of the day, it’s all the “same hamburger.”
Hall is now his own boss and can presumably manage his time himself. However, working on Twitch often tempts many content creators to exploit themselves, as they feel the need to be constantly on air. This can result in long streaming marathons.
