Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
[Editorial] General: Ranking the MMO Devs by Employee Satisfaction
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
If you're looking to break into the gaming industry, where should you go? We all have our opinions of the “good” and “bad” companies to work for, but that's usually based on nothing more than a vague impression and isolated stories – some of which are flavored by our impressions of the company's games.
Read more of Jason Winter's Ranking the MMO Devs by Employee Satisfaction.
)
Comments
You nailed it.
No, the reason is all the good talent has gone to indies. Also, the customer base now consists mainly of the "casuals". So it's only natural that games aren't going to be the same as they were a decade ago.
I seem to only enjoy playing a handful of MMOs and old-school games anymore. I am all about the PS1, GBA, DS right now.
Now, which one of you will adorn me today?
Well i have to repeat once again that numbers are never close to any accurate statement because who you ask can make a huge difference.Ask the underpaid staff and likely you get a no good response,ask the highly skilled that are relaxed and never pressured because they are so highly skilled and you get positive results.
However in saying that i am not the least surprised to see Epic as number 1,they are imo and have been every since they arrived the number one operation out there.They house tons of highly skilled technical people,as i stated those type of people always feel comfortable because they are likely paid well and treated well.
Very surprised to see Square Enix down the list,they retain most of their staff unlike other businesses that lose their people in drones.I also remember Square stating they wanted their new game engine to be compliant with the old one so they didn't have to re train their employees all over again.Perhaps it is working under the condition of so many earthquakes that has their jimmies rustled :P
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
There is also that many major studio's satisfaction has been dropping in recent years. So even Epic isn't exactly #1 by any means. ("Was good then, now average" review)
Not a very good nor accurate rating list but whatever.
+1
But I do feel a bit sorry for Cabrine. They worked hard for W* just to have it crash and go F2P. I loved the game except for the combat and combat is about all you do in the game.
I'm always wary of sites like these. Hell, these days I'm wary of pretty much any site with reviews as companies can buy "reputation management" services these days to go review them or their product favorably even if it's a piece of crap.
My other hesitation is that people are much more likely to run to a site like glassdoor and complain about a bad job or a terrible manager than they are to go praise a good job and a good manager. Comfort is nowhere near as motivating as discomfort or dissatisfaction.
Interesting article. I use to work for one of the companies on that list as a community manager/game master. It was a shit job run by a group of businessmen that knew nothing about gaming, let alone MMOs, except that they sold digital goods and could be huge cash cows. Being one of the first major F2P companies on the NA market, they made a ton of money very fast with very little upkeep cost. Then, the market started to become competitive and filled with non-shit titles and as a result, they have greatly suffered in the past few years. I worked with some truly amazing and smart individuals, but management was neither of these.
I think a good CEO for an MMO company is two things: Somebody who knows how to run a business and somebody who knows MMO gaming.
Complete guess here but if a CEO on this list is below a 50% rating, he probably lacks one or both of these things.
Many times, you'll get CEOs who are actually gamers and have amazing ideas, but they are oblivious on how to turn their vision into a proper and thriving business.
On the opposite side of the coin, you have businessmen that do not know shit about gaming except the numbers they can look at. They get into the business not because they love gaming but because they love money.
I applaud the CEOs of companies like Valve, Blizzard, Riot, and Obsidian because they do things the right way.
Also, one more thing: Don't be discouraged from making your own gaming company if that is truly what you want to do. I've worked with a group of monkeys who had no idea what they were doing...and they were successful for YEARS just because the audience for online gaming is HUGE and they are always itching to try something new...whether good or bad.
As the great Shia Labeouf once said 'JUST DO IT!'
CCP's and Zenimax Online's scores are a lot lower than I thought they would be, considering both studios seems to be doing pretty well at the moment and don't belong to a remote megacorp like NCSoft.
Edit: looks like the complaints against CCP come mostly from its US offices, with the Reykjavik office being the big remote megacorp in this case.
The difference between ANet's and NCSoft's scores is also pretty telling.
The scores for ArenaNet are fairly decent while NCSoft is literally the worst. It makes me wonder how much better ANet and GW2 would be if they were their own company and not a subsidiary. I bet we'd actually see content like SAB back in the game if they had free reign.
Scott Hartsman's approval rating is staggeringly high in comparison to Trions overall rating. I've always appreciated Scott's hands on approach with the gaming community so it's easy to imagine it carrying over to the development side of things. ArcheAge was a disaster, but Trove was great and I think Devilian will be good as well. Trion's a company on the rise again.
Blizzards scores being so high surprises me. WoW really has fallen into the tank in the last couple of years but the employees are still giving good ratings. That gives me the impression that nobody at Blizzard actually gives a crap about WoW anymore. Quality going down while employee satisfaction is massive red flag telling me they're only in it for the money.
Just perusing a few of the postings, it's clear that 1) people love to work there because of Blizzard games and culture; and 2) until you get to be a senior anything, your pay is crap. Low pay is the number 1 complaint employees have against Blizzard and probably why it didn't get higher ratings.
So, your conclusion that employees are only in it for the money just doesn't stand up.
I'd also caution against comparing what you want from a game studio--quality game--and what an employee wants from their employer: good benefits, decent working conditions, fair pay. You can't equate the two goals. Sure, the guys who make Wartune don't deliver a AAA product, but it's more important to them personally to bring home the bacon.
I'm an outsider, but to me the game development industry reminds me of my time as commercial radio and television talent.
Everyone wants the job, few understand the work. Skilled people go where the money is, less than skilled go where the money isn't and they get upset over long hours, low pay, and being treated as a peon, and they're only there to get the experience to move on, which isn't conducive to a good attitude or job performance.
I don't know if it really is that way, and I'm sure there are exceptions. Just how I think it might be. I know for sure that broadcast radio works exactly like that. Been there, done that, changed careers. :-)
I'm not sure if I'd even want to work for a studio. It looks like a crap-load of stress.
It's not hard to get in if you have the right kind of skills. Most artists right out of school, or game Development programs start in QA first. QA is long hard hours with low pay and high turnover rate. If you can survive 14-16 hour long days 6 days a week and you're good, then you may get promoted.
It's a different story if you're a programer and have a CS or SE degree. They had some really lax hours, and more benefits overall. They also were in desperate need of QA engineers, seems like most people don't like fixing other peoples mistakes. I would say it was a good experience and I have no Ill will for the company I worked for. My gripes would be with how things were managed (not in my department, that was run very well), prima donnas that could do no wrong, and the long terrible hours. There is definitely a latter system involved, so I would agree with the previous poster on that. It just seemed the programmers where worth more than everyone else which kind of makes sense in a way. Would I go back and work for a developer again? Yes, I would but only after I finish my CS degree XD.
Here's my experience so far. Mind you, it's entirely anecdotal, based on place I've toured, hung out at, or worked at over the past decade and a half.
It's a crap-load of stress and a shit-ton of fun.
It's really late shifts and odd-hour conferences. It's company trips and outrageous parties.
It's working with creative people, genius people, crazy people, colorful people and it's often in an environment where these qualities shine through, for better or for worse.
There are viral successes and PR messes, glorious high-fiving and embarrassing writhing. There are times you feel like leaders and times you feel like lemmings, and sometimes you look back and aren't sure if the amazing thing that just happened was the result of incredible brilliance or collective bullshit resilience.
It's dark cubicles, bright modern environments, gaming lobbies, and meeting rooms. It's stressed sighs, satisfied smiles, exasperated facepalming, victorious exclamations, raging about changes, applauding changes, flipping out about wasted work and raising your glasses in celebration of the latest update, publish, or title to go out the door. Throughout the day one can often hear the occasional muffled chuckles at the IMs and links that get passed around.
It's ups and downs, and you're spot on about the stress, but that's only half the experience.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Wonderfully written. I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing the insight. :-)