The company refers to this problem, an endemic disease that affects many of the large development studies.
Rockstar Games, BioWare and Naughty Dog have been three of the most notorious cases of crunch that have been uncovered in recent months. Labor exploitation is deeply embedded in the DNA of the studies, to the point that it has become a major media issue. In an interview with GamesBeat, Greg Coomer and James Benson, designer and animator of Half-Life: Alyx, respectively, have touched on the subject. According to Benson, Valve is a "very family-oriented" company, so it tries to reconcile work and family life without the work "slowly eroding" family life.
"I think we have purposely made the crunch model not the norm, and fortunately, it is something that doesn't happen at Valve," he says. "Except in rare cases where the project is in the last weeks of development." So a group of people chooses to work "hours that are somewhat extended, with the aim of passing certain stages."
Valve headquarters. Photo: official blog
They want to retain their developers
Coomer says that in the final weeks, there are employees working longer, but that Valve's general policy is to ensure that developers do not accumulate hours and hours, to prevent them from being burned.
"As someone who has always been with Valve, I am quite proud of the fact that even in recent months, when Alyx was nearing completion, I was able to walk around the office, and by the end of the workday the studio was empty." He explains that they have hired the best developers, so they don't want to get to the point where they burn out and leave. "If we made them unable to see their families or to work too many hours, we would be shooting ourselves in the foot." He acknowledges, however, that “they cannot avoid” that some people spend more hours at the end of the project and for “a few nights”.
Half-Life: Alyx is out now on PC. The game, designed for reality, is compatible with all glasses that work with Steam VR.
Source | Gaming Bolt
