The developers of The last of us part 2Naughty Dog reveals what it's like to work with 'crunch' and how the team is expected to head towards a future that doesn't include it.
'Crunch' refers to the idea of encouraging workers to put in more time and work long, hard hours to meet unrealistic deadlines. It is a common problem in the games industry, as many larger developers and publishers are putting more and more pressure on developers. A new documentary after the production of The last of us part 2 touches on the topic and how it affected the team.
“I'm realizing that I can't crunch like I used to,” said game designer Emilia Schatz. “I can't put everything I have into these games as much as I could when I got here.”
However, the documentary also addresses how the reality of the crisis is inevitable in some cases. Co-director Anthony Newman even goes so far as to claim that better organization and improved processes “don't solve the crisis,” but rather “allow you to make a bigger game.”
Even having said this, Naughty Dog still wants to try to eliminate the crunch. “When we bring people on, we tell them we have a reputation as a processing studio, and that's something we don't want. And it's something we're not going to do anymore,” said QA leader Patrick Goss.
This process will include eliminating activities that may foster the crisis. For example, Naughty Dog is known for offering “crisp dinners” and free dinners which may have been introduced to accommodate people working late but instead encourage developers to stay later than they should. Hopefully, removing them, sending out regular questionnaires, and allowing hybrid working conditions will go a long way toward improving the work lives of many of those who work at Naughty Dog.
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