Fortnite Developers describe being overworked - "Unlimited time off" for Epic means getting fired for time off

Plunkie

Plunkie

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Dec 19, 2017
The popularity of Fortnite has been transformative for Epic Games. But the game’s explosive growth led to months of intense crunch for Epic employees and contractors, some of whom say they felt extreme pressure to work grueling hours to maintain Fortnite’s success and profitability, resulting in a toxic, stressful environment at the company.

In a dozen interviews conducted by Polygon over a period of several months, current and former employees say they regularly worked in excess of 70-hour weeks, with some reporting 100-hour weeks. Contract staff in Epic’s quality assurance and customer service departments spoke of a stressful and hostile working environment in which working overtime — while officially voluntary — was an expected service to the company.

Although contract staff were paid overtime, developers report a culture of fear, in which they were expected to pull long hours as part of their job. Some reported suffering health issues after working consecutive months of 70-hour weeks.

"I work an average 70 hours a week,” said one employee. “There’s probably at least 50 or even 100 other people at Epic working those hours. I know people who pull 100-hour weeks. The company gives us unlimited time off, but it’s almost impossible to take the time. If I take time off, the workload falls on other people, and no one wants to be that guy."

"I know some people who just refused to work weekends, and then we missed a deadline because their part of the package wasn’t completed, and they were fired,” said another source. “People are losing their jobs because they don’t want to work these hours.”
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Quoted is a summary, full article in source. Kinda glad Epic isn't tainting UT anymore given these kinds of management practices
 
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Tanner Glass said:
Also "Unlimited PTO" is a red flag and a trap.
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Generally any special snowflake benefit is an immediate red flag. If an employer offers anything more than exactly what's mandated by federal law, there's generally a lot of fuckery afoot.

Anything more that "we give you money, insurance and PTO" is signal to immediately terminate the interview and walk out the door.
 
BrunoMattei said:
Who would ever want to be a professional game developer when these guys routinely get treated like shit and have no real job security? It's a wonder AAA gaming is still a thing.
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I've read before about how if you're talented enough to work for an AAA developer, you're talented enough to get a much, much better job in a better environment that pays a lot more, like at a credit card company or something. You just don't get the glamour of working in the ????? ???? ????????
 
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Piss said:
I've read before about how if you're talented enough to work for an AAA developer, you're talented enough to get a much, much better job in a better environment that pays a lot more, like at a credit card company or something. You just don't get the glamour of working in the ? video game industry?.
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So what's the end game here? More work in games get outsourced to China, India and Vietnam? Those guys would be happy to work 70 hour weeks so long as they get paid decently (comparatively to their countries' average wage). Meanwhile people are tired of microtransactions and the other bullshit so can the industry maintain their AAA status?
 
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