Game news “We had a bit of crunch” Even the immaculate Baldur’s Gate 3 saw its developers work overtime on weekends, but “very rarely” according to the director
The director of the studio behind the immense Baldur’s Gate 3 admits to having resorted to crunch a few times during the development of the title. However, he claims to have been far from abusing the practice, despite its inherent disadvantages.
Crunch yes, but quite rare
It was during a question-and-answer session organized by Swen Vincke, after her conference at the Digital Dragons show in Poland, that the latter was asked if its developers had been subjected to crunch during the production of Baldur’s Gate 3. The boss of Larian Studio then declared that “the teams were not forced to crunch ‘too much’”, even adding “that they were probably even less so on BG3 than in the past”. However, he admits that he didn’t really have a choice to complete the title on time.
“We didn’t overdo it too much, but we had to do a little bit of crunch. And I think, to be honest, you’re always going to have a little bit of crunch when you’re trying to finish something, especially when there’s so much going on to do.” – Swen Vincke (Digital Dragons)
To water down his statements, he quickly added that each employee exceeding their standard working hours was obviously compensated, which, according to him, “some studios do not”. According to him, his teams only worked “very, very, very rarely on weekends or after 8 p.m. in the evening”. Words which obviously relaunch the debate concerning the practice, particularly in the era of ever more gigantic titles with ever closer release dates.
School case
A debate which notably affects another studio well known to gamers, behind the immense Red Dead Redemption 2 or the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6: Rockstar Games. Fact, It is now common knowledge that its co-founders, Dan and Sam Houser, are known for rebooting, revising and removing large parts of games that are already well advanced or even completed. During the 8 years of work necessary to achieve RDR2the Houser brothers and other directors notably made various major changes to the story and game mechanics. All in all, necessary changes, but which added a lot of work to the teamswhile the game, already postponed several times, could no longer postpone its release.
Employees have repeatedly reported experiencing crunch for several months or even years, therefore launching a controversy concerning working conditions in video games. This ignited all the more when Dan Houser confided, to New York Magazine, having worked more than 100 hours per week several times. These statements and the extremely positive reception of the title then raise the question of the necessity of crunch in today’s video game society.