Splash Damage studio boss Paul Wedgwood has said that British game developers are being 'exploited' to the point where they "become cynical" and "hate the industry."
Good pay and working conditions is an aspect of industry life that should not be scrimped on, Wedgwood declared, using work in his studio for upcoming shooter Brink as an example.
"I think that at Splash Damage we've always believed in paying people more than the industry in general, giving proper benefits and being respectful of work/life balance," he told GI. "We suffer from the same challenges that every studio does, we crunch 6 day, 7 day weeks sometimes: it can be really, really challenging. But to be honest with you, when the studio isn't in crunch we still have people working 6 or 7 days a week because they like what they're doing."
He adds that the country's army of talented developers are seldom getting such great working conditions, saying that "if there's one thing we suffer from in the UK, it has been this continuous exploitation of game developer talent until we drive them into the ground and they become cynical and burned out and hate the industry."
These comments only serve as more ammunition for the argument to introduce tax breaks on the UK games industry, which is being communicated in louder tones the more time passes. Wedgwood, for his part, revealed that he has come a long way from being the "tyrannical dictator" he was once known as.
"The thing I learned, the one thing I urge any other British developer to do if their bag is the triple-A blockbuster stuff that really gets attention and they want to sell millions of copies and really good review scores and everything else, is to recruit the best talent that they can, and pay them properly," he said.
You can read the whole interview here.
Good pay and working conditions is an aspect of industry life that should not be scrimped on, Wedgwood declared, using work in his studio for upcoming shooter Brink as an example.
"I think that at Splash Damage we've always believed in paying people more than the industry in general, giving proper benefits and being respectful of work/life balance," he told GI. "We suffer from the same challenges that every studio does, we crunch 6 day, 7 day weeks sometimes: it can be really, really challenging. But to be honest with you, when the studio isn't in crunch we still have people working 6 or 7 days a week because they like what they're doing."
He adds that the country's army of talented developers are seldom getting such great working conditions, saying that "if there's one thing we suffer from in the UK, it has been this continuous exploitation of game developer talent until we drive them into the ground and they become cynical and burned out and hate the industry."
These comments only serve as more ammunition for the argument to introduce tax breaks on the UK games industry, which is being communicated in louder tones the more time passes. Wedgwood, for his part, revealed that he has come a long way from being the "tyrannical dictator" he was once known as.
"The thing I learned, the one thing I urge any other British developer to do if their bag is the triple-A blockbuster stuff that really gets attention and they want to sell millions of copies and really good review scores and everything else, is to recruit the best talent that they can, and pay them properly," he said.
You can read the whole interview here.
Read More Like This
Comments
ghoti 21 Oct 2010 10:51
1/1
I wonder if he pays his staff for the six or seven days they work each week or just for the regular five.