The head of the new survival horror shooter Callisto Protocol raved about extremely long working hours and crunch at his studio in a tweet. He faced harsh criticism from other representatives of the gaming industry.
Who is Glen A. Schofield? In game development, the founder of Striking Distance Studios is considered a veteran. He has worked on about 50 different games across various genres, ranging from colorful children’s games to the worst survival horror games.
Some of the most well-known titles Schofield was involved in include Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Dead Space, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. In June 2019, he joined the Korean publisher Krafton as CEO of the newly established Striking Distance Studios, which will develop the sci-fi shooter The Callisto Protocol.
12 to 15 hours a day – 6 or 7 days a week
Schofield said: On August 3, Schofield created a lot of negative buzz with a post on his Twitter account. In the tweet, the CEO spoke about the many hours of work that go into his game:
[…] We work 6 to 7 days a week, no one forces us. Exhaustion, fatigue, Covid, but we work. Bugs, glitches, performance fixes, a final check through the audio. 12 to 15 hours a day. That’s gaming. Hard work. Work during lunch and dinner. You do it because you love it.
The post and screenshots of it were picked up by other big names in the gaming industry and went viral. However, other developers and journalists did not share Schofield’s enthusiasm for extremely hard work.
“Crunch represents a failure of leadership”
This was criticized: Schofield’s enthusiasm was seen as bragging about crunch within his studio. Crunch refers to extreme overtime during the development of a game, which can lead to 65 to 80 hours a week over several months.
This leads to burnout for developers and can also result in serious health issues or even death. Accordingly, crunch has frequently been criticized in the past.
Developers like Bungie and Grinding Gear Games are clearly positioned against crunch. The head of Grinding Gears spoke about it on reddit:
Path of Exile – Head on crunch phases: “I do not want to run my studio like that!”
Journalist Jason Schreier commented on Schofield’s tweet, stating that the CEO weaponizes love and passion for gaming against his employees. No one is forced, but those who do not crunch have lower chances of promotion.
Other journalists agreed with Schreier. Journalist Paul Tassi of Forbes wrote in a tweet that “bragging about crunch” makes him more skeptical about a game.
Imran Khan from Fanbyte Media even offered in a tweet that employees of Striking Distance Studios could contact him anonymously to talk about the work culture at the developer.
Many other representatives of the gaming industry also had no positive words for Schofield’s tweet.
- “Crunch is unnecessary and represents a failure of leadership.” – Tom Farnsworth, Senior Design Lead at Bungie.
- “Do not normalize crunch. Do not set unrealistic schedules based on your team’s ‘passion.’ Healthy, functioning teams make great games […]” – Carrie Patel, Game Director and Senior Narrative Designer at Obsidian.
- “I have friends who have been hospitalized due to crunch on a video game […]” – Kolbe Payne, Level Designer at Crystal Dynamics.
Schofield’s comment that his team worked through the Covid pandemic was also harshly criticized. However, it is not known whether the developers had to continue coming to the office or were allowed to work from home. This is not clear from the original tweet.
This is how it ended: Schofield has since deleted his tweet and replaced it with an apology. In it, he wrote that he originally stated that he was “proud of the effort and the hours his team invested.” That was wrong. He values passion and creativity, not the many hours.
While some users in the comments sought reconciliation and wished Schofield success with his game, others were less impressed with the apology. They felt it did not address the core message of the original tweet.
Developers like Bungie and Grinding Gear Games are clearly positioned against crunch. The head of Grinding Gears spoke about it on reddit:
Path of Exile – Head on crunch phases: “I do not want to run my studio like that!”
