A developer with SEASONED has disclosed shocking information regarding the development of an important game.
He describes appalling conditions of work on a triple A shooter at a major game studio.
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Anthem, released in 2019, is a role-playing third-person shooting game developed by BioWare and published by EA.
BioWare is well-known for impressive story-driven games, such as Dragon’s Age and Mass Effect.
Anthem was extremely disappointing to fans of BioWare’s other games as it didn’t have a story like many were expecting.
The game was also criticized for its heavy dependence on microtransactions, despite it being full price.
After launch, many features such as the ability to fly were removed as they may cause a game crash.
Former developer at BioWare, Ian Saterdalen, revealed shocking details about the game’s development.
He claims that the team was given just 15 months to develop the game’s massive open world and complex physics system.
This short development time frame is given as one of the main reasons why Anthem didn’t live up to players’ expectations.
Saterdalen made an even shockinger claim.
The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us. TwitterOne Saterdalen user wondered how the company managed to produce such an expansive game within only 15 months.
He replied: “Too many work hours. For 15 months, I worked about 90 hours per week (along with many other team members).
“I’m sure others were doing those hours before I arrived.
“It wasn’t sustainable and not even a position we should have been in.”
The average UK worker works 37 hours a week. Anything above 48 hours is illegal.
If Saterdalen’s story is true, this means that the team worked an average of 13 hours a day, every day, including weekends.
Burnout and crunch culture are serious problems in the gaming industry, and if Saterdalen’s claims are true, they would have resulted in a lower quality game.
Georgina young on behalf GLHF.
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