Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann Says There is ‘No One Solution’ to Crunch
Crunch-time has become the industry standard for game development. This problem is not going away no matter how much attention you give it. Reports from last year showed that naughty Dog“s” The Last of Us2 was a hard-hitting release despite being delayed..
Naughty DogNeil Druckmann, the co-president of the organization, commented on these issues in a recent interview. He acknowledged the problem but did not believe there was a simple solution.
In an interview with Ben Reeves, Game Informer, Druckmann and Evan Wells, Druckmann made the remarks. After a variety of topics, the conversation eventually landed on crunch time. Wells and Druckmann talked about the steps that the studio is taking. These included taking on additional management to ensure current Naughty Dog projects are progressing smoothly. The studio is looking to increase employee feedback. Druckmann explained that Naughty Dog’s leadership has been working harder to monitor how employees deal with stress and work.
Crunch culture is a problem with AAA developers for a while. Ubisoft, BioWare, Rockstar, and CD Project Red have faced similar criticisms for relying on crunch time to hit unrealistic deadlines. Naughty Dog may be able to provide real solutions for the overworked game developers. It will only be time.
