In a new Kotaku report, the outlet has shared details of a recent all-hands meeting featuring Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty. He touched on various aspects of the Xbox business, including the continued handling of its studios and how the company is working on integration with the likes of Bethesda and other big teams.
According to the report (which claims to have seen video evidence of the meeting), the Xbox exec spoke about crunch culture, particularly at Bethesda, and how he believes it's changing as time goes by.
"Crunch culture is…if you go back 10 years ago, it’s a little unfair to put that on one studio [...] It was just part of the industry. I don’t say that to justify it, I’m just saying it was part of the culture of the industry. I literally slept under my desk early in my career. And we looked at that like a badge of honor."
"I know from talking to Bethesda leadership that we do not have a situation where people are crunching and we’ve got this bullying atmosphere…I’m confident about that."
Starfield's delay should be a good sign that the teams are being given the time they need to finish up on Xbox projects these days, compared to a recent report that suggested developers were crunching on Fallout 76 back in 2018.
Booty also spoke broadly about conditions at Xbox Games Studios, assuring employees that "there’s avenues for them to report that [employee concerns] anonymously back to us that goes through HR".
[source kotaku.com]
Comments (15)
So, its official, ES6 coming 2030!
Personally, I'll believe it when it comes from devs rather than the guys who have always denied it took place. However, if it is true, then thats a very positive step in the right direction, and long may it continue.
I have to think there is some truth to this from the consistent delays we are seeing from games. The overworking has gone down but marketing and scheduling hasn't caught up yet. Games are just going to take more time to develop than they use to and I think you'll start seeing less hard dates so early before release.
That's nice to read. Hopefully it stays that way. Now they just have to get their studios to collectively find their release rhythms.
I wish we had this kind of attention for the film industry and our 60 to sometimes 80 hour weeks.
Shocking breaking news. I could have never guessed crunch wasn’t an issue… the time is 2022…still no Xbox games
Crunch at Bethesda? Right enough, I always wondered how their games were so polished at launch.
I’m all for them taking their time to deliver a proper current gen product. It irritates me when I buy a game that states will take XX hours to finish which could translate to several months to finish only to have the developer say “Oh hey, guess what? The sequel is coming out 1 month after the first game came out!”
This actually gives us more time to show the first game its well deserved attention.
@dsar9012 Oh believe me I'm with you on quality. I ran my own review site a few years back and the amount of crap I got for giving Crackdown 3 a 4/10 and ripping MS apart (once Metacritic posted my review) was shocking. I was just as critical when Nintendo got Odyssey, Sony got the Crash trilogy, and we got... Super Lucky :/
Not a bad game by any means but hardly competitive against what the others were doing. It's too dry at the moment and they simply cannot afford to keep this up. They need to find that proverbial release pattern, and they need to better structure their departments.
I don't think anyone can sensibly disagree with the fact that things just ain't too pretty at the mo.
@dsar9012 I was aiming that response at the gaming industry as a whole. Obviously there are exceptions like Skyrim & Fallout. I think they are using ESO as a filler in the interim but that game gets old and repetitive. I am glad they are extending the development time for Starfield, I want that to be a “blow my mind” experience.
@dsar9012 Aside from the fact that you'd rather have people overworked to the point of sleeping under a desk than wait a few months more for a game, and that's appalling as is, how ignorant can you be? Seriously, what does "wokeness" have to do with any of this? Learn the definition of words before spewing them out randomly to gain brownie points from other online edgelords.
@clvr See, when it comes to crunch (and by crunch I want to be clear that I'm defining that as the grueling process that sees employees made to sleep on floors and worked to the absolute bone) I disagree with the process.
That said...
Microsoft does need to get their crap together, and has needed to for a long time now. Things were exciting when they were buying out developers left, right, and center, but have we really seen much fruit from that? I mean really?
We've seen a few solid gems here and there, but we're still waiting to get over that hurdle of having consistent releases from the (now) vast collection of studios under the MS belt.
MS have said in the past that their developers will enjoy creative independence, and while that's fine and should indeed be praised, there definitely does need to be some form of moderating implemented. It's dry right now. It shouldn't be dry, but it is. We should be seeing consistent releases from their many studios and we're not.
Instead what we are seeing are negative reports from the likes of Undead Labs, lack of progress made from the likes of Everwild, and reports that suggest that crunch is a thing of the past. I firmly believe that 2023 will be a turning point for MS and we will start seeing a steady increase from first party releases, but MS needs to ensure that that consistency is maintained.
I think a little consumer anger is warranted here and there. I don't condone crunch, but I can absolutely appreciate the frustration. The community needs to hold the brand to a higher standard. We've seen great things this last decade, but it's not come without letdown.
@Kaloudz if expressed this way, in a balanced and well thought out matter, that's a sentiment I can get behind.
It's with people like this @dsar9012 that I just can't, they really do my head in for how ignorant and conspiratorial they can be, and how little sense they can make. No arguments, just gut feelings spewed out as facts.
And that's not even touching on their insistence on crunch. That's a whole other can of worms.
@clvr I'm new here so I'm not yet acquainted with other users and how they conduct themselves, long-term. That said, I wholly appreciate your last post just now, it shows that you're someone that you can have a good, constructive, and fair discussion with. Furthermore, and to reiterate, I absolutely agree with your stance on crunch. I just wish things were in a better place overall, but again, I'm certain 2023 will be the pivotal turning point for Xbox.
@Kaloudz yeah it's been nice talking to you too!
It's reassuring to have a level headed discussion on the internet from time to time lol
Have a good one mate, and welcome to the community if you're new(-ish) 😄
@clvr Thanks so much buddy I've frequented here before, but only ever as a reader, so it's nice to get involved on a more grounded level. I gave up on forums and chat sites after a week over on N4G lol! Hopefully things fare better here.
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