[jarrod]

Found this over at Tokyopia, good read...

My significant other works for Electronic Arts, and I'm what you might call a disgruntled spouse.

EA's bright and shiny new corporate trademark is "Challenge Everything." Where this applies is not exactly clear. Churning out one licensed football game after another doesn't sound like challenging much of anything to me; it sounds like a money farm. To any EA executive that happens to read this, I have a good challenge for you: how about safe and sane labor practices for the people on whose backs you walk for your millions?

I am retaining some anonymity here because I have no illusions about what the consequences would be for my family if I was explicit. However, I also feel no impetus to shy away from sharing our story, because I know that it is too common to stick out among those of the thousands of engineers, artists, and designers that EA employs.

Our adventures with Electronic Arts began less than a year ago. The small game studio that my partner worked for collapsed as a result of foul play on the part of a big publisher -- another common story. Electronic Arts offered a job, the salary was right and the benefits were good, so my SO took it. I remember that they asked him in one of the interviews: "how do you feel about working long hours?" It's just a part of the game industry -- few studios can avoid a crunch as deadlines loom, so we thought nothing of it. When asked for specifics about what "working long hours" meant, the interviewers coughed and glossed on to the next question; now we know why.

Within weeks production had accelerated into a 'mild' crunch: eight hours six days a week. Not bad. Months remained until any real crunch would start, and the team was told that this "pre-crunch" was to prevent a big crunch toward the end; at this point any other need for a crunch seemed unlikely, as the project was dead on schedule. I don't know how many of the developers bought EA's explanation for the extended hours; we were new and naive so we did. The producers even set a deadline; they gave a specific date for the end of the crunch, which was still months away from the title's shipping date, so it seemed safe. That date came and went. And went, and went. When the next news came it was not about a reprieve; it was another acceleration: twelve hours six days a week, 9am to 10pm.

Weeks passed. Again the producers had given a termination date on this crunch that again they failed. Throughout this period the project remained on schedule. The long hours started to take its toll on the team; people grew irritable and some started to get ill. People dropped out in droves for a couple of days at a time, but then the team seemed to reach equilibrium again and they plowed ahead. The managers stopped even talking about a day when the hours would go back to normal.

Now, it seems, is the "real" crunch, the one that the producers of this title so wisely prepared their team for by running them into the ground ahead of time. The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm -- seven days a week -- with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm). This averages out to an eighty-five hour work week. Complaints that these once more extended hours combined with the team's existing fatigue would result in a greater number of mistakes made and an even greater amount of wasted energy were ignored.

The stress is taking its toll. After a certain number of hours spent working the eyes start to lose focus; after a certain number of weeks with only one day off fatigue starts to accrue and accumulate exponentially. There is a reason why there are two days in a weekend -- bad things happen to one's physical, emotional, and mental health if these days are cut short. The team is rapidly beginning to introduce as many flaws as they are removing.

And the kicker: for the honor of this treatment EA salaried employees receive a) no overtime; b) no compensation time! ('comp' time is the equalization of time off for overtime -- any hours spent during a crunch accrue into days off after the product has shipped); c) no additional sick or vacation leave. The time just goes away. Additionally, EA recently announced that, although in the past they have offered essentially a type of comp time in the form of a few weeks off at the end of a project, they no longer wish to do this, and employees shouldn't expect it. Further, since the production of various games is scattered, there was a concern on the part of the employees that developers would leave one crunch only to join another. EA's response was that they would attempt to minimize this, but would make no guarantees. This is unthinkable; they are pushing the team to individual physical health limits, and literally giving them nothing for it. Comp time is a staple in this industry, but EA as a corporation wishes to "minimize" this reprieve. One would think that the proper way to minimize comp time is to avoid crunch, but this brutal crunch has been on for months, and nary a whisper about any compensation leave, nor indeed of any end of this treatment.

This crunch also differs from crunch time in a smaller studio in that it was not an emergency effort to save a project from failure. Every step of the way, the project remained on schedule. Crunching neither accelerated this nor slowed it down; its effect on the actual product was not measurable. The extended hours were deliberate and planned; the management knew what they were doing as they did it. The love of my life comes home late at night complaining of a headache that will not go away and a chronically upset stomach, and my happy supportive smile is running out.

No one works in the game industry unless they love what they do. No one on that team is interested in producing an inferior product. My heart bleeds for this team precisely BECAUSE they are brilliant, talented individuals out to create something great. They are and were more than willing to work hard for the success of the title. But that good will has only been met with abuse. Amazingly, Electronic Arts was listed #91 on Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2003.

EA's attitude toward this -- which is actually a part of company policy, it now appears -- has been (in an anonymous quotation that I've heard repeated by multiple managers), "If they don't like it, they can work someplace else." Put up or shut up and leave: this is the core of EA's Human Resources policy. The concept of ethics or compassion or even intelligence with regard to getting the most out of one's workforce never enters the equation: if they don't want to sacrifice their lives and their health and their talent so that a multibillion dollar corporation can continue its Godzilla-stomp through the game industry, they can work someplace else.

But can they?

The EA Mambo, paired with other giants such as Vivendi, Sony, and Microsoft, is rapidly either crushing or absorbing the vast majority of the business in game development. A few standalone studios that made their fortunes in previous eras -- Blizzard, Bioware, and Id come to mind -- manage to still survive, but 2004 saw the collapse of dozens of small game studios, no longer able to acquire contracts in the face of rapid and massive consolidation of game publishing companies. This is an epidemic hardly unfamiliar to anyone working in the industry. Though, of course, it is always the option of talent to go outside the industry, perhaps venturing into the booming commercial software development arena. (Read my tired attempt at sarcasm.)

To put some of this in perspective, I myself consider some figures. If EA truly believes that it needs to push its employees this hard -- I actually believe that they don't, and that it is a skewed operations perspective alone that results in the severity of their crunching, coupled with a certain expected amount of the inefficiency involved in running an enterprise as large as theirs -- the solution therefore should be to hire more engineers, or artists, or designers, as the case may be. Never should it be an option to punish one's workforce with ninety hour weeks; in any other industry the company in question would find itself sued out of business so fast its stock wouldn't even have time to tank. In its first weekend, Madden 2005 grossed $65 million. EA's annual revenue is approximately $2.5 billion. This company is not strapped for cash; their labor practices are inexcusable.

The interesting thing about this is an assumption that most of the employees seem to be operating under. Whenever the subject of hours come up, inevitably, it seems, someone mentions 'exemption'. They refer to a California law that supposedly exempts businesses from having to pay overtime to certain 'specialty' employees, including software programmers. This is Senate Bill 88. However, Senate Bill 88 specifically does not apply to the entertainment industry -- television, motion picture, and theater industries are specifically mentioned. Further, even in software, there is a pay minimum on the exemption: those exempt must be paid at least $90,000 annually. I can assure you that the majority of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these practices are not only unethical, they are illegal.

I look at our situation and I ask 'us': why do you stay? And the answer is that in all likelihood we won't; and in all likelihood if we had known that this would be the result of working for EA, we would have stayed far away in the first place. But all along the way there were deceptions, there were promises, there were assurances -- there was a big fancy office building with an expensive fish tank -- all of which in the end look like an elaborate scheme to keep a crop of employees on the project just long enough to get it shipped. And then if they need to, they hire in a new batch, fresh and ready to hear more promises that will not be kept; EA's turnover rate in engineering is approximately 50%. This is how EA works. So now we know, now we can move on, right? That seems to be what happens to everyone else. But it's not enough. Because in the end, regardless of what happens with our particular situation, this kind of "business" isn't right, and people need to know about it, which is why I write this today.

If I could get EA CEO Larry Probst on the phone, there are a few things I would ask him. "What's your salary?" would be merely a point of curiosity. The main thing I want to know is, Larry: you do realize what you're doing to your people, right? And you do realize that they ARE people, with physical limits, emotional lives, and families, right? Voices and talents and senses of humor and all that? That when you keep our husbands and wives and children in the office for ninety hours a week, sending them home exhausted and numb and frustrated with their lives, it's not just them you're hurting, but everyone around them, everyone who loves them? When you make your profit calculations and your cost analyses, you know that a great measure of that cost is being paid in raw human dignity, right?

Right?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/

[MfA]

This is lawfull in the US?

[zurich]

Originally Posted by MfA

This is lawfull in the US?

Many US states practice "employment at will" - THAT is screwed up.

(meaning you're employed until your employer feels otherwise)

[MechanizedDeath]

Why wouldn't it be legal? Sounds like any tech firm you work for IMO. 50-60 hour weeks are the norm for the tech industry, especially when it's nearing time for product rollout. Extra compensation is not, that varies from company to company. For a successful company like EA, what incentive do they have to provide all this extra compensation when people will gladly do the same thing for less? Maybe if there wasn't a long line of people eager to scoop up the next job vacancy, then EA would have to be nicer to its employees. In any case, I take it with a grain of salt. It won't be the first or last time someone's made something up about EA or another company in an attempt to slander them. I don't doubt that this could happen, but the complaint seems so common for anyone who's worked for a large technology firm, that you have to question the validity of the claim. I mean, did they not know what they were getting themselves into? Baffling. PEACE.

[ERP]

Originally Posted by zurich

Many US states practice "employment at will" - THAT is screwed up.

(meaning you're employed until your employer feels otherwise)

Yes but at will isn't.

You still need a good reason to fire someone, you can't just dismiss them because you feel like it. Unless you want to spend a lot of time in court after the fact that is. It is perfectly reasonable to fire someone for not doing their job however.

Without getting any more into the discussion.

I think most people in the industry accept 50 and 60 hour weeks without any second thought, 70 or so during a "crunch", when it starts getting silly 80/90/100 hour weeks (and I've done this many times with various companies over the years), it's both unproductive and damaging.

I've seen poorly run projects (or those that are poorly scoped) at a number of companies that end up in crunch mode before E3 and finish when they ship just before XMas.

The general result of this is high turn over, no company wants that. There is a limited talent pool out there.

[zurich]

Originally Posted by ERP

Yes but at will isn't.

You still need a good reason to fire someone, you can't just dismiss them because you feel like it. Unless you want to spend a lot of time in court after the fact that is. It is perfectly reasonable to fire someone for not doing their job however.

Without getting any more into the discussion.

I think most people in the industry accept 50 and 60 hour weeks without any second thought, 70 or so during a "crunch", when it starts getting silly 80/90/100 hour weeks (and I've done this many times with various companies over the years), it's both unproductive and damaging.

I've seen poorly run projects (or those that are poorly scoped) at a number of companies that end up in crunch mode before E3 and finish when they ship just before XMas.

The general result of this is high turn over, no company wants that. There is a limited talent pool out there.

Not to sidetrack the thread or anything, but I work in an employment law firm in Toronto, and our jaws drop every time we see an American employment contract/agreement, or have to correspond with American employment lawyers... they just can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea of having to pay people to get rid of them :P While the trend is moving towards incorporating termination provisions that limit reasonable notice at common-law here, generally speaking, firing for Cause is a huge no-no, firing without-Cause will cost you, and Constructive Dismissal is usually even worse (Wallace damages).

[Guden Oden]

An internet friend of mine lost his job in the automotive design industry for a major japanese manufacturer in the US merely for being gay. He had a rainbow sticker on his car, a coworker saw it and started hassling him, he got fired.

Sued in court, company settled, took him back, then got rid of him again for some convenient BS reason. As his line of work is a very small niche it was unlikely he would have been able to find a job somewhere else. He had to move and changed his line of work also.

US employment law sucks.

Edit:
As for the topic of the thread... Once upon a time, EA was a honorable company. Back in the day when it was known as EOA, and had that cool logo. I haven't bought a single EA game since Black&White, and that is rather fitting in a way. Seeing the way they've headed (clearly down the "black" path), it doesn't make me inclined to spend my money supporting slavedriving swines like the managers at EA.

[cthellis42]

Originally Posted by Guden Oden

Back in the day when it was known as EOA, and had that cool logo.

ECA. And yes, I certainly played a lot of their games in the 80's. I'm the only person I know who thinks of something else entirely when someone mentions the game "Worms." :P

[DemoCoder]

High paid tech industry workers are considered professionals and are not subject to low level labor rules with respect to overtime. Fire At Will is critical to the software industry where business cycles are so quick, and burn rates so high, that one must often hire ("staff up") at the start of a project, and then fire at the end. The nature of IP means that all of the effort is in the initial creation, afterwards, "producing" the product costs next to zero. High turnover rate is standard.

For example, a startup company might get an initial funding of $10 million. It might hire 80 employees. Rapidly produce their first milestone product. However, it might take 2-3 years after that to grow revenue, but in 2-3 years, with 80 employees, the company would be bankrupt. The result is often, without an additional round of funding or IPO, a layoff, ironically, of mostly everyone but sales and marketing, and a skeleton engineering crew.

Game companies are even worse, because their products are usually short lived, unlike say, enterprise software or desktop apps.

I say, if you are willing to work in the very risky game industry, you should be prepared for long hours with big chance of failure and no reward. Sometimes you will hit a homerun, many times, you won't, and your company will go belly up. By conglomerating lots of companies, some of this can be offset, with the "big winner" development teams subsidizing the employment of the "losers", but IMHO, expecting stable secure employment in entertainment (not having to change jobs and projects or work uneven hours), an area notoriously subject to fad, whims, and tastes is expecting too much.

[passerby]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/274.html
Lots of responses to this livejournal entry, and it's made slahdot and igda.

[passerby]

My, over 700 replies to that livejournal entry, a lot of feedback and personal stories from a lot of ex- and current- developers from EA as well as other studios. You'll get to read about games you've played.

Thrice in my own career, I had to go through similar stuff - so I'm now committed to sniffing out the 'suspect projects' before deciding to take one on.

[DemoCoder]

Originally Posted by zurich

they just can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea of having to pay people to get rid of them :P

Not the case in California in hi-tech. Severance packages are standard practice, with an additional bonus if you sign a "no fault" waiver agreeing that you will not try to sue the company, or say any bad things about it because of your termination.

I would love it if I got laid off. I would get 2.5-3months salary, plus bonus, plus untaken vacation, and I'd just go out and get another job, pocketing a huge bonus.

[Farid]

The story continues:

Gamespot.com

EA workers readying class action lawsuit against EA

Lawyer representing plaintiffs addresses "proposed class action" lawsuit seeking unpaid overtime from the world's biggest third-party publisher.
Yesterday, a blog entry from the spouse of a worker at Electronic Arts lashed out against the game giant. "The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm--seven days a week--with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm)," read the post, which went on to claim EA employees receive no overtime, 'comp' time, or additional vacation for their efforts.

Like most blogs, the veracity of "EA Spouse's" online rant was questionable at best. However, after receiving much attention online, GameSpot News decided to investigate the matter--and found there might be some truth behind the blogger's anger.

Following a tip from an informed source, GameSpot contacted Attorney Robert C. Schubert, partner at San Francisco law firm Schubert & Reed LLP. He said that he has initiated legal proceedings to start a class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of EA employees. "We are seeking unpaid overtime for a good number of [EA] employees who weren't [properly] paid," Schubert told GameSpot this afternoon. "EA contends they were exempt," Schubert said. "We contend otherwise."

To recover the money felt owed them, said employees are trying to file a class action lawsuit against EA seeking overtime pay. On July 29, the complaint Jamie Kirschenbaum vs. Electronic Arts, Inc. was filed in San Mateo Superior Court. Kirschenbaum is one of the members of the Sims 2 design team, although his current employment status at EA could not be clarified as of press time.

However, to initiate a class action suit, a group must first be first certified as a "class" by the court. Schubert also said that until a class is certified by the court, he couldn't say how many individuals would seek to participate in the legal action. "We haven't been certified as a class yet," said Schubert, who admitted that certification "is a big battle."

And it looks like the lines for that battle are already being drawn. GameSpot was sent a copy of an e-mail purportedly sent to Electronic Arts employees over the summer, alerting them to the lawsuit. The e-mail went so far as to inform them that if they chose to participate in the lawsuit by joining the class, if it were to be certified, there would be no repercussions.

The e-mail, while not yet confirmed to be authentic, frames the dispute between the proposed class and Electronic Arts as follows:

"On July 29, 2004, a class action lawsuit was filed against Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA"). This communication responds to earlier email communications from EA management regarding the litigation. The lawsuit alleges that EA improperly classified some of its employees, including 'animators,' 'modelers,' 'texture artists,' 'lighters,' 'background effects artists' and 'environmental artists' as exempt from overtime, and therefore failed to pay those employees overtime compensation. Plaintiff's action seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief.

"EA denies plaintiff's claim. It is EA's position that it treats its employees fairly and lawfully, and that it has properly classified its employees within the meaning of the law. The plaintiff is seeking to bring this lawsuit on behalf of himself and to represent a proposed class of current and former EA employees as a class action. The Court has not yet certified this case as a class action"

"If the case is certified, members of the class will be notified as directed by the Court, and may be given the opportunity to be excluded from the class ("opting out"), or to hire their own lawyers to represent them"

"EA will not retaliate against employees for exercising legal rights, including by participating in the proposed class action."

According to Schubert, the most recent action taken by the court was the denial of a motion by EA that would have stopped the certification process in its tracks.

E-mails to Electronic Arts requesting comment had not been returned at press time.

[wco81]

We've heard stories about people working demanding hours in game companies for years and in high-tech in general.

What might make EA somewhat atypical is that they're more reliant on annual releases to meet Wall Street expectations.

Compare that to the Japanese companies like Square, Konami and PD, for instance. Titles like FF, MGS and GT come out when they're ready, not when the suits tell them to release.

Some of it has to do with differences in labor laws probably but a lot must be the fact that the people in charge of these projects have a lot of clout so nobody above them on the org chart is going to force these guys to do anything they don't want.

As for EA, there are people who work there year after year. So surely enough of them thinks the conditions are not only tolerable but that they must love what they're doing, the company and the products. With the stock trading at all-time highs in the past year, I'm sure they're getting some rewards.

[DemoCoder]

Two words: Deep Pockets.

Working conditions must be similar at Valve, for example, when they were racing over the year to push our HL2, but Valve doesn't have enough money for a class action lawsuit.

[Qroach]

I know things are like this at just about every rockstar office. even Ubisoft are slave drivers for very little pay.

[wco81]

Heard a report on NPR that keeps this story in perspective.

Migrant workers from Burma are being abused in Thai factories which make apparel for an American brand, which rakes in billions in revenues.

These factories are flouting the meager labor laws, paying workers under minimum wage, often dismissing people without severance. Not sure about Thailand but in China, migrant workers (hundreds of millions of them) come to factories from rural villages and live like a dozen to an apartment, working 7 days a week often.

So activists want to expose these Thai factories but if they do that and name the American brand, the Thai factories will simply be shut down and these Burmese workers will have no other economic options.

So it sounds stupid that this woman is whining about not enough bonuses or comp time.

[passerby]

As for EA, there are people who work there year after year. So surely enough of them thinks the conditions are not only tolerable but that they must love what they're doing, the company and the products. With the stock trading at all-time highs in the past year, I'm sure they're getting some rewards.

The 'rewards' angle is quite mythical. Only jobs such as investment banking work at this kind of hours, but the paybacks are hugh. This stuff? What is received in return isn't worth it. Like I mentioned earlier a lot of people in the industry are already voicing their thoughts and stories at slashdot and the live journal, just browse through them to see what's actually happening. And EA turnover rate for engineers is estimated at 50% at those discussion boards.

[DemoCoder]

Engineers who are skilled who are laid off have no problem finding other jobs. The rewards are often the work itself, for geeks who are interested. Some people would love to work on a big game title, no matter the pay.

People in the tech industry are not blue collar assembly line workers or cashier operators. The attempts to bring leftwing unionist style rules into such a dynamic industry are doomed to failure.

[passerby]

Originally Posted by DemoCoder

Engineers who are skilled who are laid off have no problem finding other jobs. The rewards are often the work itself, for geeks who are interested. Some people would love to work on a big game title, no matter the pay.

No, that is not the whole picture.

At lot of my game industry friends have headed out the door to find work in film and multimedia companies where we complain about working more than 40 hrs a week. The pay is better and you actually sometimes get decent project managers, not 'shit-floats-to-the-top' types.

I had to laugh, my wife and several others were going to form a Wives Against Maxis and picket the building. As much as I would have loved that, I worried about what would happen. In the end I quit to go to greener pastures.
I worked for EA for over 10 years. I saw crunch time go from 3 weeks to starting the instant a project was announced until it shipped. We were told that 'the executives have complete confidence that we can do this'. The atmosphere inside is very cult-like with a lot of 'you dont want to let us down, we are family'. I almost quit the industry, but checked around and am now working at Ubisoft where I have been part of their self examination on their work processes. The difference between the two companies could be greater on this topic. Ubi has recoginized a problem and is working to reduce it (it aint perfect yet), but EA has a firm policy of "there's dozens more dying to get your job" and seems to be getting worse and worse (so I hear from my old friends). I believe there is a legal challenge on behalf of many artists going on, but of course there is no press coverage of it.
I have my life back, in the industry I love. Was very depressed, am very happy now. I am sure my buddies back at EA know exactly who I am, but I will not give the sharks in the legal dept (their own logo) any identity to sting me. Hi guys! Call me!!!

Well, I know this doesn't help you any, but you're certainly not alone, and EA certainly isn't the only publisher pulling this sort of crap. I've been wanting to leave my job for quite some time, but it looks like all of the major publishers are following the same plans, and the small ones can't take a chance hiring someone that doesn't have at least 10 titles published.

We really do need some sort of union in this industry. When those in charge are getting christmas bonuses larger than my annual pay (and working less than half the hours), something is seriously wrong. My christmas "bonus" last year was $40. (This was also the bonus they promised me to keep me from walking out.) I could have made that much begging for change instead of coming to work on a Saturday.

I've worked in that shiny building by the marsh, and been with the company for 3 years now. The problem is complete incompetance on the part of managers and producers, and the overall corporations lack of interest in doing anything about it.

Anyone who spends any significant amount of time with EALA's EPs like Mark Skaggs or Ricky G will notice very quickly that they are not only undeserving of their position, but have no problem letting the burden of game development be carried on the backs of the people below them. Normally this would be ok, but since they fuck around for 75% of the project, the team has to spend 6 months before Christmas making up for their incompetence. The lack of intelligence stems further though. Anyone who spends 30 minutes with Harvard Bonin can attest to this.

Most of us in the business know, right down deep in our ulcers and migraines, exactly what she's talking about. Too many of us have been caught in "normal" development cycles that require overtime as a matter of course; and have been at the mercy of abusive managers who ratcheted us up to several months of 13-hour-a-day/7-day work weeks. Perversely, these managers always claim that this is what's required to make the schedule – and (the mendacity of this part is always breathtaking) to prevent our work hours from expanding even more in the future.

These stories are nothing new to me. I spent my 20s living them – and my 30s figuring out how to avoid ever doing that again.

I used to work at Ubisoft in Montreal and it was the same as EA. I heard it was different now but I doubt that; one of my friend just left Ubisoft for another game company and the reason being he was still working 10 to 12 hours a day/ 7 days a week and getting paid shit. (eh... and not having a convenient family life which is like more important than cash!)

When I was there I was paid 30000$/year and working an average of 60 hours/week. With the "overtime" paid I managed to get paid 35k to 38k/year, but they would not pay all overtime (ie the first 2 hours of overtime was not paid... so to get back at them, I slacked the first 2 hours since I was not paid.)

The sad thing is, in my case, working in the video game industry was a youth dream and I managed to work at Ubisoft for about 3 years, before being completely burned out and disgruntled. It was not only the salary being bad or working overtime all the time and the impact on your social life that was problematic, but the perspective you had as an employee from the upper management was just miserable. I mean after 3 years of hearing promises and bullshit, you get to a point that you just don't have any future there or faith in your bosses. That was my case at Ubisoft.

Much more from where those came from. Just check the live journal boards.

[wco81]

$30-38k?

That must be a tester, not a developer.

[passerby]

Former EA employee posting under real name.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.html

[passerby]

Originally Posted by wco81

$30-38k?

That must be a tester, not a developer.

No, not a 'lowly tester' 'only thing'.

worked at EA (for nine months) and can confirm that this story is absolutely true. I worked in the entertainment industry as an artist for over 12 years (7 years creating video games and 5 years working on movies) and was brought into EA with many enticing promises, such as bonuses and stock options. However, I could not make it through one year to cash-in on any of these "rewards". The work environment was one where those that worked the insane hours of uncompensated overtime either hated doing it or began hating those who wouldn't work it. Not coming in on a weekend was often perceived as a lack of supporting the team and became an instant excuse to be trashed in a performance review, which subsequently resulted in a zero bonus. Remember, these bonuses were mainly used as "carrots" to keep the crew working towards a "reward", which could literally be withheld for almost any reason. If a producer or manager didn't like you nor understood your need for a life outside of work, then all those hours of unpaid overtime would amount to purely time lost without any compensation. Moreover, many managers and leads were single guys in their mid-twenties, who had little or no management experience, let alone the knowledge to effectively complete a project on time other than by slave-driving those under them. Even when an artist's given tasks were completed, he still had to come in whenever the rest of the team was there, to playtest the game and search for game bugs. The prevailing attitude was that weekends were something that EA gave as a gift to it's employees at it's discretion. In my specific case, because of my prior experience, I knew to leave at the end of the day when my work was done. After all, I felt I had paid my dues of working insane hours as a young man. But never have I experienced the kind of abuse "by design" that I saw at EA. Ultimately, I left EA and am now happily working elsewhere. EA thrives on bringing in young talent. Persons who are straight out of school; excited just to be working at a brand name company like EA, creating video games for a living. If this was also your dream...beware!

Lots of stories to wade thru - it has gotten on the discussion boards of many sites now.

Just in case, there are good stories as well...

Neversoft
The makers on Tony Hawk produce consistently excellent games, and have developered a unique work schedule. A normal work week is 40 hours...spread out over four days, Monday through Thursday. Lunch is provided free for all employees every day of the week. When crunch rolls around, they work an additional 10-hour day on Friday. From what I am told, the company is closed and the office is locked on Saturdays to prevent people from coming in.

[3dcgi]

Originally Posted by DemoCoder

Engineers who are skilled who are laid off have no problem finding other jobs.

That's a rather sheltered opinion. I know a number of talented engineers, software and hardware, that have had trouble finding jobs. It was especially difficult finding jobs they actually liked. And most of these engineers were willing to relocate.

[DemoCoder]

Originally Posted by 3dcgi

That's a rather sheltered opinion. I know a number of talented engineers, software and hardware, that have had trouble finding jobs. It was especially difficult finding jobs they actually liked. And most of these engineers were willing to relocate.

And I've been in the industry for 13+ years and I nor my friends have had much problems. Only in 2001 did it get bad in California, if you were a low level technie. If you don't like working for EA, then go somewhere else. I've worked at companies for *zero* salary and 80+hr weeks during the 90s, for the promise of stock. This industry need unions like Bill Gates needs charity. The very idea that promotion, salary, benefits, et al can be standardized across a large number of workers in an industry like this, where small teams of highly energized meritocratic folks work on radically different products, is ludicrous.

$30/38k salary? You can't be serious. I don't even know quality assurance people who make so little. Salaries that low usually mean a startup company with low funding. I don't believe a qualified C++ programmer with multiyear experience is pulling down $30k. Go look at Gamasutra's salary survey, which includes EA data. $30k is way off.

No experienced programmer I know wants anything to do with collective bargaining. For the most part, you deal with small companies anyway. And if your resume has got the right experience, you can extract a high price and benefits anyway.