there is so, so much in this article that i can Identify with, except the "bonuses worth three times your salary" part

“I hardly sleep. I’m grumpy at home. I have no energy to go out. Getting a weekend away from work is a major achievement. If I take a Saturday off, I feel guilty. I’m not being forced to work this way, but if I don’t, then the job won’t get done.”

it's been 8 years, and they've made it clear to me that I'm persona non grata there anyway so, fuck it: working at NetherRealm on MK9 nearly killed me. I didn't sleep more than 4 hours for months. from january to april 2011 i was at work more than half of the time

in the past 3 years, i had gotten a 1% raise and no bonuses. it was made very clear that everyone was required to crunch. NRS doesn't mince words and say "hey, anyone who's staying late tonight..." nope, your manager tells you when crunch is scheduled for.

on MK9 crunch officially began after new years day 2011. of course, we did a bit of pre-crunch before that, just to make sure we were in a good spot for crunch. this was on schedule documents. this was not a wink-wink-nudge-nudge "passionate hardworking" thing, this was mandate.

i took one day off between jan 1 and the day the day1 patch was approved. it was my birthday, and it was on a sunday, so it was ok if i was just on call. i was allowed to go to a friends' wedding (on call of course) on a saturday night, after working an 8 hour shift first

those were the only two days i didn't work from at least 10 am to at least midnight. we were all doing this. i mean, except the bosses, of course, who would leave after dinner

the whole time the old hats talked about how this was the easiest crunch ever. i hadn't done laundry in weeks. if i had stayed at NRS i definitely wouldn't be married.

the hardest part was learning that this shouldn't be a point of pride. i was proud of the crunching we did, proud of the red bull and coffee and cigarettes and shitty pizza and reheated enchiladas

the MK team's stance is that crunch works, and MK games are always profitable, so it's clearly the right thing to do. it's wrong -- crunch doesn't work, the workers don't see the profit (bonuses at WB games are capped to a small percentage of salary), and it ruins lives

from what i've heard the crunch cycle has gotten worse since i've left. a friend i talked to in september said they were crunching already. they hire as many contractors and interns as they can, pay them shit (much less than I started at 12 years ago) and work them to death

i worked with some great people at netherrealm and it hurts me when i think about the fact that they've gone through that shit another three times since

game looks great folks

oh right comp time. we got three days after the game was shipped, to cover the three days the studio should have closed for the 2+ feet of snow that fell overnight. the 49 was running fine so I went to work

they were so, so pissed when I said I was leaving. the temerity to go somewhere that would pay me what I was worth and not demand that 6 months every 2 years just disappear from my life

it took me a year before I knew what season it was without thinking about it. winter just didn't happen that year

the fucked up thing is it's *still*, years later, hard to break myself of the mentality that Crunch Was Good, Actually. coffee is for closers, it's a tough racket, haha. i didn't get the surprise about 100 hour weeks at rockstar, because no shit?

oh I forgot to mention Miguel, who just died. at his desk, during crunch. this was after I left, on mkx I think. there's no doubt in my mind he'd be alive if it weren't for this absolutely insane practice

sorry, it was during IJ2, not mkx.

so this has blown up a bit by my standards so organize your studio: https://www.gameworkersunite.org/

You can follow @jlongstreet.

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