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Game publishers “buy crunch overseas”
People Make Games has compiled a report about various game development practices, and looked at the role outsourcing studios play – and how they are often crunching just as hard as the developers.
Making videogames is often an unpredictable process, and teams often have to put in lots of overtime to get games done on schedule. This is called crunch, and can last for weeks, months or even years.
It has been a point of contention for decades, and is widely blamed for exploiting and burning out workers to compensate for bad management and unrealistic schedules. Crunch has also intensified as projects have grown, and it's not unusual for teams to grind themselves down for long periods of time to meet tight deadlines.
The 19 minute report is called Someone Else's Problem: How Game Publishers Buy Crunch Overseas, and People Make Games talked to developers from Malaysia and Indonesia to learn how AAA game publishers exploit cheap labour.
Out of sight: An interesting report from People Make Games has looked into the various practices of game publishers and how they outsourced work, which is often the subject of crunch.
Out of mind: Most AAA projects involve multiple studios as well as outsourcing studios contracted to deliver content. Most of the debate surrounding crunch tends to focus on Western development studios, while outsourcing studios – often in South East Asia – tend to be ignored. People Make Games decided they wanted to do something about that.
