Game news “This is something we won’t do again”, Naughty Dog addresses one of the major problems in the video game industry
A true scourge of modern video games, crunch refers to a period of intense work which can be exhausting, both physically and psychologically, for development teams. The problem now seems to be taken seriously and that’s good!
A reputation that does not date from yesterday
Always faster, always stronger, always higher! The evolution of video games has coincided with heightened demands from players and many studios have entered the dance of buzz, the spectacular and the unexpected. That’s how it is, we always need more! Unfortunately, what may have been a norm in the 1980s and 1990s (with a nascent industry and young, passionate people, single and without children, who didn’t care about working hours with friends) no longer corresponds to our times. . Crunch is a scourge and several studios, starting with Naughty Dog, were quickly labeled for using it at unreasonable levels. While this criticized method affects areas that go well beyond video games (notably in animated films and the creation of special effects in cinema), the problem was addressed in the latest Sony documentary devoted to the making of The Last of Us Part II.
Like large studios, Naughty Dog is renowned for the quality of its productions, but this often goes hand in hand with terribly intense crunch periods for employees. The American firm thus had this sad reputation of having made crunch a corporate culture. And this problem was addressed in the documentary dedicated to The Last of Us Part 2, a sign that Naughty Dog is seeking to put an end to – or in any case, to mitigate as much as possible – such practices. Those in charge have obviously understood that crunch is much more harmful than beneficial to a project. Based on previous reports, working 12 hours a day, including some weekends, is no longer acceptable. As Emilia Schatz, co-lead game designer of The Last of Us Part 2, points out, she is unable to work as before, with the same intensity as when she arrived at the studio. The company seems to have realized this and has put things in place.
Is the crunch problem really taken seriously?
However, by watching the documentary, and as the GamesRadar site notes, Naughty Dog tries to be conciliatory towards its employees, in particular by addressing the implementation of free meals, but some emphasize that it is mainly to push employees to stay later. In reality, the problem is addressed, but through the prism of awareness, without dwelling on the real harm and damage of such a practice. Director Neil Druckmann still wants to explain that The Last of Us Part 2 followed a different approach from the original, in the sense that it is a project which had a real pre-production, with a story, a beginning, a middle and an end which have been fixed in advance.
In this sense, the documentary is still interesting because it highlights this awareness that is conveyed within the Naughty Dog studio. Druckmann certifies that the objective is to eliminate the crunch and several partners agree, explaining that each new employee is told the following: “ Crunch is something we don’t want and won’t do again. » It no longer remains to hope, for the employees, that this translates into reality, But it seems that the remake of The Last of Us Part I, to speak only of itself, was carried out without problem.