Game Informer magazine recently did a survey for game developers on a variety of development related questions on the new consoles offered by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. There are some interesting results with the Wii garnering the most excitement out of the three consoles, and a somewhat disappointing result for Sony for all the questions...
Which system are you more excited to develop for?
. Microsoft XBOX 360 - 37%
. Sony PlayStation 3 - 16%
. Nintendo Wii - 32%
. PC - 5%
. Nintendo DS - 5%
. PlayStation Portable - 5%
Game Informer Developer Survey
Ever since the EA Spouse incident highlighted the issue of crunchtime and the absurd hours that is taken for granted in the games industry, many have debated on whether a union would solve the problem. A spokesperson for broadcasting and entertainment union in England says that with the current state of accepted conditions, many developers will simply burn out...
"Some companies have forced staff to work long hours because they can get away with it."Bectu is trying to encourage more game developers to join the union in a bid to improve working conditions. "We are trying to build up membership so we can go to employers' associations and show we represent the industry, the critical mass," he stated.
"We are a long way from that."
I would say there are definately companies in Australia that have the long hours culture. I remember when I was working for one particular company they would roster in all weekends and public holidays.
Lots of talented people have been scared off by this long hours culture... Some companies forget you have a life outside.... striking a balance is hard...
I've got a feeling ridiculous hours are a fact of life these days for a huge proportion of Australian workers.
Just ask a truck driver how many hours he works each week.
I guess the difference is that games developers aren't doing it for extra money, but out of pride in their work (or sometimes through coercion)
Game Developers are at high risk of being nerds