THQ Denies Homefront Developer's Claims of 60-Day Straight Working
THQ responds with gusto
The general manager of Homefront developer Kaos Studios has confirmed rumours that employees have been working through a demanding 'crunch' period for the last six months as a result of "over-committing on the project."
Develop spoke with David Votypka on claims made by an insider that employees have had to work through ten-hour daily work shifts for half a year, with some made to work throughout the holiday period. Votypka admitted to the schedule, but denied that holiday work was enforced by management or THQ.
"If this seems unique or abhorrent, I would have to suggest that any assessment regarding a 10-hour work day would need to consider a much larger segment of the American workforce," Votypka said. "Digital media companies, marketers, PR, even accountants in various industries throughout the nation, work 10 hour days regularly, 52 weeks per year."
He added that a lot of the work has been spent on "goal-based" bug-fixing, and that weekend shifts have only come into force in the last two to three weeks of the final submission process. "Unfortunately, it was misstated that this [seven-day crunch] has been going on for two months. That’s simply not the case. For the record: no Kaos developer has worked 60 days without a break. That will never happen here."
Finally, a moment of reflection and a desire to learn from what Votypka highlights as management mistakes. "Most people at Kaos think that we as a studio should have managed our time and schedule better. The management team shouldn't have put us on a schedule that would have led to this kind of crunch.
"Kaos probably had enough time to make the game, but lack of early resources and over-committing on the project led to this situation more than not having the proper length of time. In some cases if part of the team was behind, everyone had to stay late or work one weekend day. Management seems to be inconsistent about this though because sometimes we do not have to come in on the weekend when others are behind."
You can read the entire interview at Develop.
Develop spoke with David Votypka on claims made by an insider that employees have had to work through ten-hour daily work shifts for half a year, with some made to work throughout the holiday period. Votypka admitted to the schedule, but denied that holiday work was enforced by management or THQ.
"If this seems unique or abhorrent, I would have to suggest that any assessment regarding a 10-hour work day would need to consider a much larger segment of the American workforce," Votypka said. "Digital media companies, marketers, PR, even accountants in various industries throughout the nation, work 10 hour days regularly, 52 weeks per year."
He added that a lot of the work has been spent on "goal-based" bug-fixing, and that weekend shifts have only come into force in the last two to three weeks of the final submission process. "Unfortunately, it was misstated that this [seven-day crunch] has been going on for two months. That’s simply not the case. For the record: no Kaos developer has worked 60 days without a break. That will never happen here."
Finally, a moment of reflection and a desire to learn from what Votypka highlights as management mistakes. "Most people at Kaos think that we as a studio should have managed our time and schedule better. The management team shouldn't have put us on a schedule that would have led to this kind of crunch.
"Kaos probably had enough time to make the game, but lack of early resources and over-committing on the project led to this situation more than not having the proper length of time. In some cases if part of the team was behind, everyone had to stay late or work one weekend day. Management seems to be inconsistent about this though because sometimes we do not have to come in on the weekend when others are behind."
You can read the entire interview at Develop.
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Comments
ghoti 17 Jan 2011 12:34
1/1
Let's all just add that to our list of studios never to work for.