Every saga must have a beginning, middle and an end


told Polygon they had broken down outside of work hours due to the excessive workload and stress caused by working at TT Games. Some former staff have taken to describing their experience as “PTTSD,” and claim that their calls for change have been ignored over the years. According to Polygon’s reporting, TT Games’ crunch problem long predates The Skywalker Saga, with former employees saying that the studio’s crunch culture was born from the decision to release new LEGO games annually. Crunch was reportedly “premeditated” at the studio, and TT Games maintained an atmosphere where overtime was expected - with employees claiming that they were warned about potential consequences if they refused. Staffers reported that it was not uncommon to work between 80-100 hours, six days a week during crunch periods, with programmers, visual effects and animation teams being among the worst hit. Additionally, multiple QA testers for TT Fusion said that working conditions were among the worst they have ever experienced in the games industry. When asked to comment on crunch at the studio, and how these management failures have been


addressed, Smith replies:


“Prioritisation of individual health, wellbeing and work-life balance has been an important focus for change within TT for some years now,” says Smith. “No one should ever feel any pressure to work beyond their contracted hours; our long-standing paid overtime system has clear limits to prevent excessive working, and we’ve been ensuring that our managers and teams apply that principle consistently in their planning and culture.”


You were the chosen one!


June 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 79


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