The controversy surrounding game development crunch has permeated the barrier of social media and become a hot topic for developers and gamers alike. Most recently, DOOM Eternal Creative Director Hugo Martin has elected to share his experience with the industry-standard long working hours that once remained invisible to the larger gaming community.
Crunch is a phenomenon present in most production-based work environments, but extremely prevalent in the gaming industry. Frequently, workers are expected to log hours far past the norm of a 40-hour workweek — sometimes to the detriment of their physical well-being. Many developers end up working upwards of 80 or even 100 hours weeks, with that number growing exponentially the closer a game gets to its launch date.
This week, Hugo Martin made an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, where among discussions of DOOM Eternal's inspirations and the unavoidable disruptions of the Coronavirus, the topic of crunch culture came up. Martin insisted that rather than crunching, his work is his lifestyle, and that when he gets home, he throws himself right into researching pop culture so he can better inform future id Software games.
"It's not really crunch. It's like a lifestyle. I live and breathe this. No one makes me stay at the office, and even when I come home I see my kids, I do my thing, and then I just do research. It sounds ridiculous but my research is that of a 13 year old. I play video games and read comic books and engross myself in pop culture because essentially what we do is make pop culture content... you just have to ingest a ton of it which means it's 24/7. I get up really early, I do the exercise stuff, I come home and take the kids to school and then I have about two hours where I'll just play games."
This opinion that crunch can be a healthy and moderated lifestyle is not unique to Martin, as id Software founder and current Oculus CTO John Carmack shared a similar sentiment in his own appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience back in August of 2019. In his appearance, Carmack argued in favor of developers being allowed to become obsessed with their work and blur the line between life and work, insisting that placing a legal limit on working hours would inhibit this ability.
Many game developers speak out in contradiction to Carmack and Martin's point. Many have taken to social media to share stories of being forced to work days upwards of 14 hours and the toll this takes on their mental and physical health. For every developer out there who wants to marry their work to their daily life, there is another trying to draw the line between what they do in the office and how they spend their free time. With major gaming events like E3 canceled due to health concerns, it may be time for an overdue reexamination of industry working practices to ensure better conditions for developers.
Still, some developers — and their fans — fight to maintain their ability to work 24/7 so titles can be released without delays, a choice that continues to widen the rift this controversy has formed. No matter which way it goes, the industry is reaching a tipping point and the gaming community can expect to see changes in one way or another.
Doom Eternal will release on March 20 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One and Nintendo Switch at a later date.
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience