Compulsion Games Reviews

Whilst the studio is clear about which kind of games it is making, it is still figuring out the process of building them. It has been tedious on the team because development and progress pace could be better handled. The studio has grown massively, which has unfortunately led to some growing pains. The most prominent issue being the clash between (in simple words) the “old, indie crowd” having shipped We Happy Few and the “new, senior AAA crowd” hired after. The conflicts that arise between both mostly fall on differences in how people are used to work: indie being more organic and free-flowing and AAA being more methodic and structured. Whilst most colleagues have been a true pleasure to work with, there has also been some with a very toxic, negative energy. Whilst at first, I have been very sympathetic to them and understanding of their struggles, I came to realize that they were emotionally immature people with inflated egos. These people have been projecting their own shortcomings onto others, blaming them and refusing to be accountable for their own situation. These toxic individuals were entitled, convincing themselves that they were better than others. They got jealous about other employees’ successes — such as promotions, pay grades, bonuses, etc. They were unable to trust superiors and were paranoid to the extent of thinking that everyone was out there to punish them. Instead of trying to make the project better, they were so frustrated about feeling under-appreciated that they spread their negativity onto others. Some even ignored good-willed coworkers only trying to help. The reason I am bringing the above point about toxic people is that I am unsatisfied with management’s reaction towards them. Whilst these despicable people are found everywhere, more drastic measures should had been taken to weed them out, before they did extensive damage. Management should put their feet down more and stop allowing blatant disrespect. Thankfully, those negative people pretty much all left, being unsatisfied and looking for greener pastures. Sadly, not without their contempt lowering the team’s morale and tarnishing the studio’s reputation in the process.

Toxic positivity. What that mean is that everything be fine. Even though they clearly not. If you point out something's wrong, then you get hammer or ignored. As mentioned in oder reviews, the internal survey is heavily to the positive while ignoring the obvious bad. For a studio under the XBox banner, there is to expect a lot more ethical behavior. Amateur attempt at running a video game studio. Other studios have their own issues, but least they try act like they know what they are doing. For a company that says it being full of industry veterans, it is surprise at how poorly things are run. Process is a bad word in the company. They are then surprised why deadlines are missed. Claim that COVID is reason they have lost most of the animation team, some artist and programmers but it is probably more to the manager being bad. Expect more departure in the near future. Could not make decision, and stick to it. -If you are think of interviewing for this studio, respect yourself enough to ask questions if they give you the chance to: 1. How many people have come back to work at the studio after leaving? (the answer is 1) 2. In the last week, what problem have you solve and how has this affect your team?