Crunching, a term coined in the gaming industry for the speeding up of a games release, where staff may spend many hours at work past their expected office hours to get the job done has no benefit to the gaming industry. This is at least the opinion of Stardock Entertainments Derek Paxton, who views Crunching as the central issue to the breakdown of many developers.
In a recent interview with Gameranx Paxton commented, “Companies crunch to push through on a specific game, but the long-term effect is that talented developers, artists, producers and designers burn out and leave the industry”. He continues, “The studio may have gotten Kung Fu Chicken done on time, but what about the next game? What about all the games that would have benefited from the talent and experience of the professionals that end up leaving the industry rather than live at their desk?”
As developers age, Paxton concludes the problem only gets worse, “This becomes even more of a concern with developers that aren’t in their early 20s. People with families and children are less willing to work 80 or more hours a week. Those extremely valuable voices end up leaving the industry, and we lose their experience and more mature worldviews.”
Is this structure of working immense overtime a problem of the entire gaming industry? Or just perhaps big budget titles that expect fixed, yearly releases? Let us know what you think in the comments below.