Game Development Conditions Could Drive Devs East 87
Kotaku has up a feature piece looking at the opening of a new studio in mainland China. Staffed by expatriate Western game developers, it represents something that founders Chris Pfeiffer and Max Garber see as a future trend: developing games in the west is soul-crushing. The two participated in the grind to get Resistance: Fall of Man out in time for the PlayStation 3 launch, and have now opened a studio with the goal of 'making great games while living a good life.' Lower costs in China allow for a higher standard of living, while labour laws will force game studios to stick to rational work-weeks. Pfeiffer also suggests that the overwhelming costs involved in making games will force U.S. studios to outsource development work to Asian nations. When that happens, Pfeiffer's studio and compatriots will be ready.
Less is more? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not even sure how the standard of living is relevant. It applies to every job equally. You gain due to the lower standard of living, yes, but you also lose some things, like living in a foreign country you're not familiar with. It's not like outsourcing is some always benficial action to do. You win some but you also lose some. If not, all companies can just pack up and resume operations in China!
Re:Chris Taylor setting an example: Work/life bala (Score:4, Interesting)
India (Score:3, Interesting)
but you can live there as well as in China for the money.
If they consider to stay there long-term it might be a factor.
Publishing practices need to change... (Score:3, Interesting)
One of two things will break this trend. Either publishers will become less relevant as self funded studios become common (who knows how this will turn out as Vista pushes game development off of open platforms into a console and portable only world), or the rest of the venture backed software industry will start to treat their employees poorly enough that game development doesn't look so bad anymore. Either way, it's likely to get worse before it gets any better.
Regardless, it's hard to see how China has anything to do with this story other than to stir up the outrage of outsourcing and send hits to the website. So they opened an independent studio, and they did it in China because they have some delusion that their happiness there was due to geography and not the fact that they actually took a vacation... I wish them luck, really, but the geography of this story shouldn't be the focus. It's a red herring.
Work law in China sounds good! (Score:3, Interesting)
Saying that, the UK is behind a lot of Europe, and the US behind us...
As for Japan, I'd gladly put with with the crunch there I think. It's hard for a while but the rewards are genuine.
Re:Work law in China sounds good! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Chris Taylor setting an example: Work/life bala (Score:3, Interesting)
This is an issue I actually talked with my current employer about during the hiring process. I've now worked at a pretty well-known studio for the couple of years, and have shipped two successful games. So far, I'm still working normal 40-hour work weeks, except for the few weeks before and after the ship data (after because it's online). And so far, I have yet to come in on a weekend.
The company was founded by guys who were tired of the burn at other companies and wanted to make sure theirs was not like that. Lots of our devs have families and young kids, and it's a great working atmosphere. And, we're *still* very productive. Many companies are starting to understand it's just not worth burning out your talent and losing them for the sake of a single title.
For anyone looking for a job in the industry... don't let anyone tell you that everyone in the industry goes through insane crunches. Crunches, yes, but the days of mandatory death-marches are fast disappearing. Many developers love to brag about how many hours they worked during the end days of a project (guess it's the game developer equivalent of a war story), but I'm no longer impressed. Putting up with that kind of a nightmare is just foolish at best, and destructive at worst.