Overwork and burnout are recurring problems in the AAA games industry. Yet, it is rare to see major developers taking substantial steps to combat these issues. It’s, therefore, a pleasant surprise to see that Eidos Montreal appears to be one of the few taking tangible steps to prevent crunch culture and overwork.
The developers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy game announced its transition to a four-day workweek. The change applies to both the Montreal studio and its support studio Eidos-Sherbrooke.
Studio Head David Anfossi announced the change in a recent blog post on the company’s website. He explained a team is currently working on transition plans to adopt a shorter schedule that will go into effect in the next few weeks. After which, Eidos Montreal and Eidos-Sherbrooke studios will only operate Monday through Thursday. This reduces the total workweek from 40 hours to only 32. However, Anfossi notes that the purpose of this change is not to compress the same amount of work into a smaller period. He also claims the reduced hours will not affect the salaries of studio employees.
According to Anfossi, Eidos Montreal will be rethinking how the studio manages time and workflow. He hopes to increase productivity by focusing on the quality of work over quantity. He specifically cited halving the amount of time studio employees spend in meetings. To accomplish this, Anfossi says the studio will attempt to cultivate an environment where each team can define clear parameters for success and the management of deadlines. He also specifically mentioned the changes introduced by remote work as inspiring the studio’s decision. However, it’s not clear if or how the company will incorporate remote work into its future plans.
Anfossi hopes these changes will contribute to a healthier work environment and reduced employee turnover. The latter of which is a severe problem for some game developers. An extreme example would be Skull and Bones developer Ubisoft Singapore, which has hemorrhaged talented employees at an alarming rate.
On the other hand, Eidos Montreal isn’t the first or only game developer to transition to a four-day workweek. Bugsnax developer Young Horses recently adopted a similar policy. However, Young Horses is a significantly smaller company, which more than likely eased the transition. Meanwhile, Eidos Montreal is the first AAA developer to transition to a 32-hour workweek. While many studio employees are undoubtedly happy with the decision, only time will tell if other major studios follow suit.
Source: Eidos Montreal