The Dark Side of the Video Game Industry | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix
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- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2019
- On the latest episode of Patriot Act, Hasan takes a look at how the video game industry has grown into a $139 billion a year business and a cultural force. While gaming is more prominent than ever, some of the most popular video games are made under unfavorable working conditions. Hasan examines the exploitative labor practices at game developers like Epic and Riot Games, and the ways in which workers are finally fighting back.
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New episodes, new topics, every Sunday - only on Netflix. Hasan Minhaj brings an incisive and nuanced perspective to global news, politics, and culture in his unique comedy series. Subscribe to the Patriot Act channel now to stay up to date with episode clips and original content from Hasan and the Patriot Act team.
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Meanwhile in Japan, Nintendo delayed the new Animal Crossing till March and their share price went down because Nintendo didn’t want to crunch their employees.
Game company CEO's and management need to be more patient, treat their employees with respect, protect basic human rights, and stop "crunch" and forced labor. At the same time, gamers and media consumers *must* *also* learn to be patient and not get worked up about reasonable game delays, especially if it's to ensure the health and well-being of the development team. As for investors, most of them need to learn how to be better human beings in many, many ways.
Public ownership and stock markets need to be abolished. It’s absolutely gambling and speculation, and it does nothing but ruin products, wreck companies in the long term, and harm employees and consumers.
@@JaceCavacini You, uh, want to end the entire concept of shared ownership? Because that's what a stock market is for, and the concept drives modern economies.
@@metanumia you have written an amazing post yet it all seems fiction my friend
@@gabrielappleton4342 It's great for the super-wealthy who can invest, but the average person has no significant portfolio. It's shared ownership among the wealthy, not everyone. I'm not advocating for completely abolishing it, but something needs to be changed.
This is why most every gamer who knows anything about the video game industry hates the corporate giants
Corporate giants in any industry suck
Those corporate giants are the reason why you get the great games you do. You think an indie label can afford to pay 30 million for a game?
@@MrFireboyFTW
Actually most of the really good games these days are indie titles. The heavy hitter AAA titles tend to be over produced and released as a buggy mess. See; Anthem
FYI the "corporate giants" employ the majority of the people this video is trying to support. Despite common misconceptions about video game developers, the people who are actually in the trenches building these games are not:
- Getting rich off microtransactions, or getting rich in general
- Constantly coming up with new ways to rip off players
- Trying to do the least amount of work possible to shove a game out the door
- Deliberately ignoring player feedback
99% of employees in the video game industry are making "livable" wages to work in some of the most expensive cities, while being expected to work 60-80 hours a week to meet arbitrary deadlines set by c-suite level executives. Just know that the real enemy here is the people at the head of the ship, and if a good studio releases a good game - don't boycott them JUST because their publisher is a "corporate giant".
Source: 9 year game programming "veteran" who has worked previously for corporate giants
@@MrFireboyFTW great games like wat? Fallout 76?
As an industry vet for about 15 years. All of this was accurate. I was on games that sold over a billion dollars. Didn’t even get a tshirt. Crunching for 100 hours a week to just be let go after release of the game. At one point when my son was 2 years old I had to call him on the phone to tell him goodnight everyday because I was working so much. It can be brutal
Never thought that id randomly see a gaming vet
@@kaspervletter290 I’m all about that QA life.
As someone who is preparing to dive into the industry in about a year, any advice?
@@redi8229 depends on what part of the industry. Qa is VERY different than most other positions.
@@docholliday6663 I'm aiming my sights on Game Programming, but Game Tester / QA is also a possibility. How different is it with other roles?
This is SO true! I'm in the animation industry and have been working overtime every day (sometimes weekends too) for the past few weeks, with no overtime pay, or any form of compensation. Literally TODAY, came home, and while bathing my body finally shut down and I caught a fever.. Please spread the word to others to raise awareness, to those who are either workers or consumers of the game/animation industry.
That's awful; I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm currently working to become an animator myself and it's really intimidating to read about all the awful things animators get put through in certain industries. I made a speech about animator abuse a couple of years ago for a class and people came up to me saying they never even knew that was an issue. It's ridiculous and needs to stop.
@@etherealvampress It is pretty intimidating. I never really felt the overwhelming amount of work until I actually started being in the industry. It is difficult to share with people about the amount of work we have, when we can't really show it to the public due to our animation Work-in-Progress having to be kept as a secret until its actual release. And by then everyone only enjoys the end product, but not understanding the process of how it is made, and the workers physical and mental struggles behind the product. Thanks for sharing this with your class btw, hopefully it raises some awareness or starts a movement in the not so distant future
how are they allowed to not pay for your overtime?
That's so terrible !
Why didn't you leave the company immediately ? You're worker not prisoner so you can decide whether you would like to continue or not, so why don't you resign immediately ?
It's gotten slightly better, sometimes we manage to claim time offs for the weekends we come back but no overtime pay still. The people are nice and all, but its the crazy workload that gets to some of us. The pay is pretty basic as well, but because I need the job for experience and pay. There aren't many alternative animation companies where I come from, but I'm still keeping my options open in the future.
Edit: Funny enough, I'm typing this on a Saturday haha, coming back tmr as well probably
"fueled by passion, exploited because of that."
yes told my friend many time to do the web dev path with me instead of video but he is to passionate about it and he will be exploited because of it as well.
That's the choice you make to work in a field like this.
rushy scoper If your friend is becoming a programmer than the good news is he can transfer that knowledge and experience into other tech industries.
@@rushyscoper1651 Web dev is much better. Feeling bad for game devs tho.
much love to hasan's gfx team, they're amazing.
yeah the white boy turtle got to me
yeah
Honestly! i love the set too
I really want to know how they do it... Is it like a presentation or a long video clip?
@@LetsPlay4Free there are real time softwares called Ventuz, Notch, motion. that can do those things on the fly. Its more like a presentation, but the gui is open so u can drag and drop and update
I never realised how much a show like this was needed. It teaches me things I never knew and the host is the most likeable person ever
Ikr
ruclips.net/channel/UCFR8-q7D2OIgyKsiZ_Qa6Gg
Have you been watching "Last Week Tonight"? John Oliver is the host and he is awesome. It's a similar show in terms of structure and humor. It's on HBO but they post the majority of every episode here on RUclips.
“Teach”
Spreading false information
This comment has not aged well
The real irony is that the founders of Activision Blizzard founded the company because they were treated poorly at Atari.
How about naughty dog are they good to their workers are treat them awfully
This aged like wine... all Riots are former Activision Blizzard..now Blizzard is getting cutted on these charges
Abuse is a cycle
@@vonb2792 more like milk..it's not good that that happened
Activision (originally called Computer Arts, Inc.) and Blizzard (originally called Silicon & Synapse) were found by the same exact people?
*Makes Drake joke*
Hasan: Why are you booing me? I'm right.
LOOOOOOL
nah man, it sounded like more of like "oOoOoooOOOoo" 'cause them shots were Fired LOL
@@ps7ykLiTT Yeah, like you got there sir ?
But it wasn’t booing lol
timestamp?
Nintendo baby, delaying their games to take care of their workers. (and the fans understand!)
the same nintendo that has no problem sueing people all the time for emulators, for very old games you cant even buy anymore. Yeah sure Nintendo is the angel here *sarcasm*
@@flycrack7686 if you make an emulator you know what territory you are stepping in to
@@Mark-xw5yt if you have nothing to say of value... dont even try
@DumbLewi Dumb i am not refuting any good argument, but this wasnt one.
@@flycrack7686 Fuck off.
As someone who works in a Japanese game company, yeah, there's crunch and we sometimes feel trapped between tight deadlines and loud demands from gamers, but there's one thing we have over our American counterparts: job security. The Japanese work culture is really something, but unless you intentionally f***ed up or the company is literally bankrupt, it's highly unlikely they would fire you. And even if you were out of a job you would still be enrolled in the National Health Insurance program, as well as be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Or if you fucked up they would place you in a room and give you nothing to do till you want to quit
@@otogigamer that sounds like my ideal job. In a room not having to deal with anyone or anything AND get paid?!?!?!!!!! Sign me up!
What are the gaming white companies? Who are the best to work for?
Crunch sounds awful, but job security and national health care sound fantastic.
@The Dissident Brit Me too. I always love Japan when it comes to work ethics.
Unionize the gaming industry! These people who make these games that impact my life and many others life in such a positive way should get better treatment.
Stg
You know what happens when you unionize something, it will financially HURT.
Unless some multimillionaire funds your game, invest in you, where would you get the funds?
Unless you get the funds yourself?
Not my taxes.
And then what happens? The US government starts funding them with the taxpayer's money or starts offering them bailouts?
@@alohatigers1199 we have a minimum wage and 40 hour work weeks instead of stupidly low wages and crazy high work hours because of unions. In a healthy capitalist economy, workers are supposed to unionize to organize for things that will better their life as a natural tension against the company's natural desire to seek the highest profit at the lowest marginal cost. let them unionize. my god.
@Aloha Tigers If basic human decency makes your company unprofitable, then maybe EA should go out of buisness. They should go out of buisness anyway but you get my point.
As a game developer, I could only say this !! Thank you Hasan..
This is why I never really tried to pursue a career in game development. I'm a female who likes having a life outside of work.
If only Social Guild's or Cooperative Work companies could be supported, but not only will it require trust from each other. Bank's and the Government wouldn't support such thing, and Companies own by just One or Individual would stifle the Competition.
R u not working (overtime)😂😂😂
@Joe L'Horri Not everyone has the luxury of having their mom's basement to crash at for free, Joe.
Game developers need to unionize
I'm in the VG industry and I love this episode ! Thanks Hasan for shedding some light on the subject
wait, some? is there more darkness?
@@DRiungi if you want the games industry laundry list Jim Sterling is a good place to start. It's so bad. :-(
@@DRiungi Hasan summed almost everything wrong with VG industry here !
The worst thing was unpaid overwork, lack of transparency in plannings and unnotified layoffs.
Yeah same, there's a lot of shitty pay and contracts. Crunch is a horrible word that we shouldn't use. It should just be called over time.
My brother was, but after all the crunch he had to do, barely getting his fair share of payments, he quit and now he is in the Cyber Security sector.
13:15 "As you can see, all of these women have one thing in common. Look closely. It's their attitude"
Lmao 🤣🤣🤣
Nintendo Looking At American Gaming Companies: "You have no honor."
Those piece of shit might honour their stuff but they don,t honour their community.
japan work culture is worse man.....
@@aahilalwani5019 not in nintendo
Insanely ignorant because japans work culture is way worse.
@@Floridamangaming729 ,true
The poetic justice that a studio called Riot would end up fueling the biggest game worker riots to date.
I mean, it's not a riot, but I get your point.
Not ironic at all.
Irony is defined by the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
If anything is almost poetic justice.
Anita Sarkeesian was right all along
army6669990101 thanks for the correction I think that’s what I meant.
Riot starting off the biggest worker riot is deffo ironic lmao
Crunching is ridiculous. When games are delayed, the consumers almost always understand. I've seen nothing but positivity for the delaying of ACNH or the Stanley Parable: Deluxe Edition. The vast majority of us care much more about the health of the workers and the quality of a game than we do about release date.
Yep, but they will work that overtime without overtime pay.. That's the problem
You say that, and I agree with you. It even getting better as time passes. But still there's a lot of angry screeching every time big title is delayed, like cyberpunk 2077.
@adam merill unfortunately I don't think all gamers are like you man and thats sad😣
Joel Viju yeah I think the games I play tend have kinder communities so I might have a biased view, like it’s animal crossing we’re excited when we see toe beans on Tom Nook we’re not going to get angry because we have to wait a couple months
I assume the problem is that we have so much choice these days if a title gets delayed it'll quickly fall out of the radard. and while small studios can manage because they don't invest as heavily into advertising and can focus on building sales over time, the big studios are banking on the inital sales when released.
In fact, while I can't know, I would be surprised if the big studios even mention game quality in their internal memos' outside of basic playability.
This comment is pretty late considering this aired in 2019 but I just wanted to share my experience of working for the gaming industry in Southeast Asia. Not everyone realises this but a lot of big game companies don't actually make their game assets entirely in-house and actually hire smaller companies which specialize in a specific area to create whatever asset is needed for them. During my internship semester I ended up working for one of these type of smaller companies. I was immeditaely thrown into the deep end and given duties that one would expect would be given to a more experienced fulltime worker. Basically I had the workload of a normal fulltime employee but not the salary of one. The boss didn't keep track of my internship contributions (which he was supposed to because he needed to write an assessment to send to my university ) so I had to prepare a slideshow about everything I did for the company and present it to him on my final day. During this presentation, he seemed surprised at the amount and quality of work that I contributed (he actually questioned me on whether the artworks I created were taken from the internet because apparently, it was better than what he expected from an intern). That internship caused me to reavaluate joining the video-game industry and I ended up working for a non-videogame company after my graduation.
Dude, they crunch their in-house workers, and outsource work from third world countries too for cheaper stuff.....Talk about squeezing em till they're dry. My sister and mum work like dat lol, mum was a "consultant" so no full time benefits, and my sister too. Like this be upgraded slavery for us 😂
Love from PH my dude. Bring back SEA servers to games!!!!!! Haha lmao
If only gaming businesses and industries will be refined and etically reformed then maybe one day it will finally be a stable and friendly envitonment.
@@sacharrin I wish that too but I don't see it happening any time soon.
I'm 20 year-old and i gonna be a game programer. After watching this sad video about game industry. I had seen my dark future
If you can pick a smaller studio you can sometimes find a studio that cares about both quality and its workers.
Don't join a company with more than 200 people ;)
Good luck
I'm 18 here, I think I might go for computer science as a base and go for game programmer as a job. In that case if game development goes bad, I can just go be something else about computer.
@@jorntumrongwit9056 i am a game dev in HS who is gonna study computer science this fall. My advice to you is when you get the chance, go indie. It's riskier but you could reap so much reward
Ya, but the real question is; If you tied Hasan's hands, would he be able to talk?!
Only 21 likes ? Underrated comment.
Heeeres Johnny I mean they tried it in the first Deep Cuts, and it didn’t stop him 😅
LOL
some Italian blood maybe ?
HAH! I think it comes down to a sort of theatrical delivery of everything he says; it gives the entire thing a performative quality that can be a little distracting when combined with the hand movements.
I saw this on Netflix, just this morning. But I am here just to say thanks for doing this Hasan. Because as someone who loves Video Games, it always breaks whenever I hear news of exploitation of the developers who make it.
This has been an issue that is going on from years and especially from last few years it has gotten worse and worse.
So Thank You for shedding a little more light on it.
"Games have hard release dates. They can't just fall behind schedule."
**cough** Cyberpunk 2077 **cough**
After they started receiving death threats for delaying release dates. Then they released it to make everyone happy but knew it wasn't finished. *cough* gamers are the problem too *cough*
Cdpr is very different from a typical AAA game company
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@daisyconcepcion8687 really?
They just delayed the game like 3 times in 2020 alone
Better not to announce a release date at all
Oh but they wanted to make it before Christmas
@@napoleon3026 Well thats true, if they didn’t announced a date it would of help. But being delayed three times is ridiculous but so is the threats . Back when game stop was the place to get all your games and pre orders, I never heard anyone getting angry to the point of death threats. I guess now people are protected by computer screens and dgaf.
This guy is pretty much Netflix’s John Oliver.
Except for the fact that Oliver is factually wrong many a times
@@sohamdeshpande6595 Now I might be a bit blinded by my praise for him, but can you point out some instances of this?
@@natedogwilder2137 Ok, there are many such instances:
1. His one on Modi completely missed the premise of CAA and the interpretation of the act was literally factually wrong. For instance, he pointed out how it would work with relation to NRC which was just incorrect (and by the way was the same argument used by modi's opposition the INC... what a coincidence). BTW not a modi fan here.
2. He on many instances tried to show the racism of Trump and used clips completely taken out of context and sometimes simply altered.
3. His interpretation of the Iran Nuclear deal was so biased that it didn't even consider the side of Trump, didn't even mention it, just called him an idiot and all that.
4. On his one on Venezuela he didnt even criticise the idea of socialism even once just pointed out what the govt there did wrong, and never once criticising the foundation of the issue - socialism.
There are a few more that I must have forgotten.
@@sohamdeshpande6595 Ok, I see your point. But I still enjoy his shows. And maybe I’m a bit biased because of my political beliefs.
@@sohamdeshpande6595 Well Ya he's more left leaning but he has facts to back up what he's saying. Yes he might not bring up arguments against his view unless he can counter them but that's what every politician opinion host and Journalist does and he's a comedian so of course people want to see him clown on trump and other people hell he clowned on Obama when he was in office.
I want Hassan’s GFX team to appear in the show more
They’re like a poor mans pop up video
time to put them to the CRUNCH
One of the biggest reasons I watch is for the graphics, they are superbly done.
I remember hearing that this show had a pretty big budget and im so glad to see it's going to making an awesome production
That's crazy that his GFX team won an emmy. I always thought the layout and info gfx were top notch.
That is some next-level media skills. No other soft media show is at Hassan standards on gfx, camera and presenter performance. Plus, there is actual journalism. 10+/10
FranzPierdynand this show is dope AF!
Yeah, they're on point!
He is nailing it with his show
@@dontundra2259 .
The GFX team gag was funny 😂
Man, I wish he was my ppt partner in college. Would've nailed every presentation
Love that the audience listens instead of clapping every 5 seconds
i hate that they laugh at everything.
@Ok Boomer i don't even know what that is. should i or is ignorance bliss?
@Ok Boomer ah, like a soundboard.
Because its paid audience
👏
*Evergrowing sympathy and love towards Hassan's GFX team is undeniable.* 🤩
Mehmet Filiz They do good work. They're really good. l noticed the quality right away. Compare it to say John Oliver. It's very, very amateurish in comparison
@@arxsyn I agree, although I think John Oliver's graphic style has its own charms.
Uh yeah they do
@@arxsyn Maybe Patriot Act has more budget than John Oliver
@@noname-ue7lb I absolutely agree with you.
Hasan is using it that way thats why I didn't want to be that guy tring to correct everyting.
A lot of people need to know this especially kids considering their future careers in Gaming. Thanks for the info
It's Such an amazing talent to be such hilarious,informative & provocative about all the topics with top notch perfection,timing,depth of the script and perfect examples,
I have been also wondering how the hell he's doing the whole take in one go.
Being an Indian I'm feeling so proud of you bruh ♡. 🇮🇳
" It's Fortnite. Drake's second biggest reason to text 14 year olds"
Subbed
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Saw this on Netflix, but you cant read comments on Netflix LMAOOOO.
literally same
That's exactly why I'm here.
Yep. I watch it at least once on Netflix for the viewing algorithm, then again on RUclips for the comments
Angellina Jayliever same
*Normie detected*
I always heard game developers are overworked and can't enjoy life. This came around the time I was gonna apply to university, someone said don't choose game development for your major. You'll die making the games you love but will never be able to play it.
Thing is, game dev is the most volatile industry by its own nature. Ask any pro game dev, you can never predict the outcome of a feature you've planned to do. Even if it's complete and works, it might never ship cuz it's just not fun.
The bottom line for game dev is: You can't plan for what is going to be fun or entertaining.
Just try to find a game worth mentioning, that has shipped on time and on budget.
But that's just the pure nature of it why it's just a hard thing to manage.
I do agree though, US has very poor labor laws that enable way to much toxicity by corporate.
Hasan as a game developer for the last 9 years I would so have been open to be interviewed for this episode. Thank you so much for shining light on this. Its stressful. We work hard for our cash and go through crunch just so kids can make so more money by streaming and having people say our games suck.
It's mostly not programmers etc grying interviewed which is sad
There's a reason why you don't stream... There's a reason why your working and not investing your time .... You'd rather have someone tell you what to do. Create your own life. Stop living a life others place for you
@@muniztv6831 Dude, at some point someone has to work for someone.
I don't know what's the deal with streaming! Like... If your watching another douchebag playing a game and cussing, screaming, breaking hardware and shit ... Why not use that time to play the game yourself?!!
A veteran, huh.
"Crunch" happens outside of gaming as well. Software engineers in the medical industry, and others, routinely work sixteen to twenty hours per day, or more, while being salaried, vs. hourly. For this reason, they do not receive overtime pay for their efforts. Unionization would be a good idea across all industries, for software engineers. Not just gaming.
If you had watched all the video he mentions that.
What's even worse is a lot of labor laws have been changed to allow this as well. Those need changed too.
Not just software. It seems to be happening in other fields as well.
Every employee should seek unionization. It secures a fair livable minimum from which you can negotiate from.
Architecture for example, they love to work you till you get sick and they either you get fired or you quit. And the payment it’s a joke. So I just switch careers and started my own business.
So the next time you're demanding a lot about your games not getting patched in time, or not getting the contents that you asked for, remember that the people who develop these games are human, and they're not getting paid for doing the extra work that comes from your demands.
I love how he covers everything people actually need to be paying attention to but is super under rated 🙂
Japanese anime animators get faced with the same amount of cruelty
That’s why the Kyoto incident was heartbreaking. They made dozens of beautifully animated animations and paid their workers well. They treated them like real people and didn’t stress their employees like most of the anime industry, if we could apply the same method to workers in the gaming industry, imagine the all the things they could create with their passion and not deadlines
You can't technically take Kyoto animation as an example here. In that attack, 3 huge directors (Yoshiji Kigami, Futoshi Nishiya, Yasuhiro Takemoto), and all of their animated worked so far, were the victims of that incident. Luckily, Naoko Yamada survives which is a miracle for us since she's the director of K-on and Silent voice and we didn't lose her talent.
As someone who have a friend in the anime industry, my uni friend, Kyoto animation is like the 1% of the anime studios that actually treats their employees well with a reasonable wage. I'm not sure how they managed to maintain their studio from bankruptcy, when many veteran anime studios, even the newer ones, went bankrupt, or indebt.
Like Manglobe, Artland, Production IMS, etc. Even now, there are studios that are doing well who's on the verge of bankruptcy, or is already in debt. Copying their method will not solve their problem, since the Japanese anime industry is more severe than the gaming industry. It isn't applicable, that's what im trying to imply here.
@@Qopa
"I'm not sure how they managed to maintain their studio from bankruptcy"
Make only 1 massively marketable anime every 2 seasons.
they really make 1 well made anime, and design merchandises all around them, they also adapt from light novels from their own publishing, and hold competitions for the right to get published.
Most Other animations studios goes for quantity over quality.
@@Kaimax61 Manglobe had done exactly what you described, but not alot of people were buying their merchandise, or getting light novels/animes/mangas legally. Which had resulted in their bankruptcy. Alot of this have mainly to do with internet piracy.
Keep in mind, they made shows like Samurai Champloo, Dead man wonderland, World God only knows, Hayate etc. At least 2 of the listed names have over 4 seasons (or a 100 episodes). Clearly, they had animes that're doing well in Japan, and their marketing strategy wasn't working out against internet piracy. I think Production IMS was also responsible for Jojo as well and they went bankrupt.
@@Qopa That's why I think Kyoani's style of Slice of life and adapting/marketing really sells. What you listed from Manglobe, none of them feels have marketing power to survive as a merchandise, hayate was the closest.
@@Kaimax61 When I listed Production IMS, they are also responsible for nearly all the famous ecchi harem shows that you see. Hundred, Masou Gakuen HxH, Date a live, Shinmai Maou. You would expect their merchandise to sell right? Well they went bankrupt. Artland had shows like, Mushishi, Senran Kagura, and Katekyo Hitman Reborn!. And they went bankrupt.
It's not that simple as you may think. The drop in animation quality (frames) when compared to the past, and you seeing the shitty animations now, shows that their merchandise were working until internet piracy gotten incredibly popular overseas and within Japan.
However, outsourcing their labour with China and Korea is one of the common solution that im seeing after doing abit more research. One of the reason you see a korean names in the ending credit of every animes. It doesn't completely solve the problem though.
I work on a locked mental health unit and we had a patient who worked on guitar hero. She told me lots of stories about the working conditions and it really opened my eyes to the gaming industry. This is 100% real and affects the workers more than you would think.
this whole situation is horrible but to play devil's advocate, no one is forcing them to become a game dev. If people weren't so willing to jump into these companies arms and they had a shortage of people wanting to work there then they would make conditions better and safer to attract said employees.
@@tomcruisemiddleteeth it's called playing devil's advocate, idk if you know what that is?
@@tomcruisemiddleteeth and yes it's not their fault but it kind of is because they keep going back to said companies. If they could all band together and just say no to working for shitty companies, no matter how passionate they are, then maybe they could get the companies to listen to their grievences since no one is filling the positions for which they are hiring. Your basically forcing their hand by playing the market, which is what a free market is designed to do.
slgarcia 47 Most people don’t have the privilege of choosing their jobs.
@@slimerone It's that thing that people do to show off how smart they are. Or is it that thing when they negate someone's lived experience for their own amusement? I get them confused.
It's so sad that something that makes us so happy and fulfilled like video games have such a bad impact on the people that make it. I wish the world was more balanced and fair.
“And they are no match for a dude named Felix who loves the n-word”
I've worked in the game industry, and this is all true. They threaten to sue you for millions of dollars if you say anything specific about either their game or even another game from a different studio. You can't say you like another studios game; they basically tell you to never talk about games, or the industry. I was working mandatory 12-16 hour days, and still had to work another job just to make ends meet.
Looks like I dodged a bullet there, almost went to school for game design
we all appreciate the work you guys do, and your health is more important than rushing a game release thats gonne be buggy because of crunch.
were you a tester? this is 100% true for QA testers.
@Jocaguz18 You don't know what you're talking about. There's an article out there where some Blizzard employees are living out of their cars, have multiple roommates, or have to work side gigs like Uber to make ends meet.
Living and working in a high cost-of-living state like California forces people to live paycheck to paycheck.
And it sucks for the average game developer because they can't really negotiate for a higher salary due to the dozens of sheep that are waiting to take their jobs.
MrBits I’m pretty sure it said in the contract your going to be treated like shit and fired in five months too. Puhleeeeeeze. Jobs lay you off for any reason without a warning that they don’t even need to provide.
Hey Hasan, I absolutely love watching your show. I have one suggestion though - having subtitles would also enable the deaf community across the world to consume and learn from the show. Hope every video can have subtitles going forward. Fingers crossed!
youtube has closed captioning available for every video
@@LegendShark Thanks for letting me know! Such a phenomenal innovation. Jared would you know of any apps that also support auto captioning for videos.
@@MerrilDiniz Ted Talks has captions..on RUclips and on its apps
@@MerrilDiniz Try Get Subtitles or Easy Subtitles apps
@@MerrilDiniz Phones also have built-in captions that overlay over any type of media with audio
same is the problem with anime . dont feel like watching it when you realise the animation designers arent paid for months . tbf , this situation is similar for mobile companies and companies that require any sort of labour . workers are just made to work for free. thats the whole reason china sells products for cheap , cause they have made these products by free labour .
Bro so innocent he doesn't even know the word for "pedestrians in GTA"😂😂😂😂
First of all: Props to the GFX team. Quality comedy there. Second, as a veteran gamer, I am grateful that these issues are being talked about seriously. My husband and I love video games, and it is devastating to hear/read about game workers being laid off or quitting. I hope unionizing works. Good games can only truly come when game workers are treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves.
Unionize! Fuck management they take what they want the workers should too!
Good games only are made when the developers are grinding. But games only get made if they alive. So.....
From many of us in the industry , we thank you for shedding light to the world on this
Nick Barone maybeee ummm quit if you get booty hurt about your job
@@coby1393 that... right there, sums up your immense stupidity and ignorance all in one sentence.
Y'all need to unionize
Showing gamers how video-games are made is like that one video where the dude showed those kids how chicken nugget are made ngl 😂
"Games have hard release dates, they can't just fall behind schedule!"
Well see there's your problem
Hasan's Graphic's team is LITERALLY insane. Unlimited respect.
It's the producers money.
What you can do with billionairs casg
Figuratively.
And here in India it is the same thing for Software Development industry. I just got fired 3 weeks back because I didn't work on weekends. The irony is everyone here is only preparing for interviews but not a single widely used software has came out of Indian Software Industry.
I mean just look at Skype, which has been made by developers in Estonia a country smaller than any state in India and it is almost essential for the video calls and chats since so long.
Thank you for raising this topic mate! So much Love from Gujarat, India
Skype has nothing to do with this , and Estonia may be birth place but the programmars were not Estonians !
@@zuboy4272 okay sorry! But I hope you got the gist of what I was trying to say, here it is a rat race like how teenagers here do to get in a big college.
Depends on the company and work culture. Where u were working pls ? So that i can warn my frnds in the IT industry
@@mumin9436 Bangalore India
@@pbdivyesh company name bro.
my cousin plays mobile legend for like 15 hours a day... and now has problem sleeping and if he's asleep he's hallucinating a lot and shouts almost every other hour like someone just entered his room and chokes him to death. now, he's confined in the hospital and the parents who played alongside him feared their kid might never wake up from his coma
Crazy how the gaming community tried to cancel him when he's a comedian shedding light on what really goes on behind closed doors
What really?
Most gamers are bots and brain dead
The bachelor's degree for Game Art Degree can be up to $90,000, dollars and if you got loans, it needs to be paid and this is how they get treated, with layoffs, disrespect and overworked with no pay. It's time for a Union.
Preserve the Union. I guess.
I have my bachelor's degree in video game design and have been laid off from a couple studios after the Crunch time of the summer. My dream was to make video games but after the instability of the industry I switched industries reluctantly.
What about going the Indie route?
maybe finding a smaller company thats recruitng could help?
I constantly have my eye out for opportunities like that.
@@2FittedBW hope you do well
sorry dude :( I also wanted to go into developing and design but now I'm thinking maybe I'll wait till the industry becomes fairer to pursue my passion
You wanna talk women in gaming but dont mention Amy Hennig who got kicked out of naughty dog by neil druckman. One of the greatest game story tellers of all time in the industry since late 80's
Did anyone notice that he said "Jay-z what did you see?" which is a literal pun.
Also I think I found out what COO is, 'Cancerous outrage overlord'
I can absolutely attest to the fact that this phenomenon is alive and well in the entire tech industry, not just the video game side of things. The same thing happened to me when I worked as a technical writer for a software company. Over the course of two years, they crunched me into a full-on depressive episode and fired me the first time I missed one of their insane deadlines. It took years for my mental health to recover and, honestly, my career and my earnings potential never did. My one solace is that the company folded.
Hope everything's good right now for you.
As a graphic designer I've been getting crunched this last year. And I know I'm getting crunched because I've been doing this for 12 years.
It's more widespread than that even. I write appeals for medical insurance claim denials. We have a daily quota to finish in 8 hrs which usually takes 12+ hrs to do while meeting the % success requirement (can't just put out any ol' junk to get it done.) The job is salaried so it's _allowed_ to take as long as you _need_ but no overtime.
Honestly, that's your own fault for drinking their kool-aid & becoming their indentured servant - sounds like you learned your lesson tho.
It's easy to say that but when the Bill's need to be paid, people will work any job.
As a law student, we just started studying labour law in uni and I have just been putting off studying the subject. But this video has got me so much more interested in my subject and I just might do my project on this. Thanks Hasan for this informative video!
Jyotirmoy Nath don’t they sign contracts that allow this
"Gawker unionized and then dozens unionized"
Seems positive yea but all what they don't tell you is that after all those companies closed down because of insane demands and they just sat there twiddling their thumbs in their unions
I can see some of Marx's theory of Alienation applied to this issue. For one the push for new features in a constant time period essentially degrades the effort a developer puts into thier labor, as a result their work becomes indispensable. Two, while development of games can result in creativity and fulfillment of oneself through work the fact that technology in general is relegated to algorithms designed to create addicts in gaming consumers, creativity is therefore focused on features that neither elevate the games purpose nor the developer. In hindsight it is part of a larger issue regarding commercial life.
Project based education is the best
Make sure you research where those job go after they unionize.
I used to work for Blizzard E-Sports and do graphic/animation for the LED screens on stage. It was literally 12-15 hour days, no overtime pay, alot of work, alot of end-game work, alot of backstage work, I was doing it all BY MYSELF here in Australia. It was messed up, and the fact it was all LEGAL.... Glad I quit.
when you have Netflix but still watch this damn show on YT
not gonna lie, thought this was gonna be another video on how games make people violent and wasn't really looking forward to it, so thank you for bringing light to such an important issue! like you said, gaming is one of the most profitable industries in the entertainment world but it's all built on the exploitation of developers. i dont game myself but i watch a lot of gaming content on youtube and it sucks to know that the people who create content dont get to enjoy it because they're so burnt out.
also, i can't afford netflix so im always grateful for the youtube uploads
I don't think Hassan is dumb enough to believe games cause violence.
Another video? There are serious videos about THAT?
When mass media say video games make people violent it's because the NRA pays them to say it.
@@arraikcruor6407 no one under 40 believes that anymore
What is this, 1997? :p
I worked for Activision for three years as a tester and I have to say that this is definitely accurate: underpaid, no perks, lots of overtime ("you got a pizza for free when you work overtime, that's a perk") annnnnd that's without talking about the toxic work environment and sexist culture. Working in the gaming industry looks good on paper but it's far from it.
That's because u were working as a tester😊 engineers get paid and treated ok.
Wow the presentation, the flow, the graphics, and the informative content is on another level! Multiple levels above John Oliver, my previous top favourite
Knowing this now, I feel like I can forgive those delays in a game release
Jee, you need to "forgive" someone if a game gets delayed?
Yeah I feel like a prick now. But to be fair, if assuming they're in a good working condition and still don't meet the planned release date then there is something wrong in the planning.
@@lornilula4213 Of course. But I don't think they need your forgiveness even in that scenario unless you had paid them money already...
@@AntonAdelson fair point. Eh, at least someone is kind enough to point out I'm being a prick. T
@@AntonAdelson and if you already payed them money, then.. stop. Preordering is bad for consumers.
CRUNCH is the main reason why I stopped working in the games industry. Staying up til 3 AM to get user interfaces completed only to have your boss say "it's good but..." Best decision I ever made to get out when I did! Keep up the good work Hasan. X A X
I'm too wondering, what are you doing now?
What do you do now?
also true to advertising industry. you work your ass until midnight when everyone is asleep only to tell you there are more revisions with even barely a praise, good thing my stay there was only temporary.
I am not a game dev, but am a gamer, and am ecstatic that this issue is being highlighted as it needs more voices.
I had been a fan of Activision-Blizzard for a while, but once I heard about the horrifying levels of toxicity, I stopped supporting it as a company. I don't buy the games, I avoid their merchandise and when people ask, I explain why.
However, I have noticed that the entire Gaming industry a maelstrom of abuses. CEOs trying to please investors and shareholders for their studios to chase trends. To keep up, trend becomes an issue especially when deadlines come up, a lot of companies won't delay games that NEED it. Developers and animators get stressed out due to crunch. Once the game gets released, the more popular franchises will typically be multiplayer and have microtransactions.
The AAA industry is terrified of experimenting with games. Even though they have the money and can afford the risk, this fear of disappointing their financial leeches drives them to an unsustainable business future because they refuse to see the fundamental truths; there is only so much money in the world, not everyone wants live service games, and chasing trends is a Sisyphean task because they aren't trying to set new trends.
Meanwhile Genshin: earns 1Billion during 6 months since launch. And the gacha characters just keep coming twice every 6 weeks.
It's great that someone with a lot of visibility like Hassan is bringing attention to an issue a lot of people consider niche. Good job!
@Srithor casual yes, but the Pro level is niche
Srithor It’s about the gaming industry, period! Niche Pro Level or otherwise. Wise up, why don’t you?
Someone like Hassan is the last person the gaming industry wants fighting for them. He clearly does not have any really sympathy for these people and is just talking about this to appeal to a younger audience. You can can tell in the first 5 minutes when he slanders one of the people who’s has had one of the most positive impacts on the industry ever.
Already watched on netflix. Just here to support. Great episode.
2:11
Throwing slander at the top RUclipsr, as if he was Racist... yeeaaa... great episode...
@@FriedrichBarb see its people like you that get butt hurt over jokes. Chill the fk out.
Slander is a joke, got it
@@FriedrichBarb enough with slander. We get it you learned a new word. Now just stfu.
same
Tbh most of the stuff that happens now is not historic, this is not going to go down in history, its just gonna be part of the timeline
Looking back, I almost feel like Activision Blizzard saw the spotlight on Riot's lawsuits for sexual discrimination / harassment and said, "Hold my beer."
Meanwhile, Nintendo delays Animal Crossing (a HUGE game to their fans) just to avoid crunching their employees. Nintendo’s always been da best.
Yes, very few companies actually care about their employees.
Nintendo also gets female representation right in their games.
are we gonna ignore lots of lawsuits agains fans sharing their games
@@DANiel25178 no that is really lame. I hate games that do that it's not” your” game it's the company's game. It's lame.
Not just Animal Crossing. They delayed Breath of the Wild by over a year. “A delayed game is eventually good; a rushed game is forever bad.”
Video game employees need to unionise fast.
They need to bring that crunch work ethic and do something positive with it. In the words of Shia LaBeouf, "DO IT, JUST DO IT"
Amazon doesn't hire union workers. What do you think E.A _et al_ will do?
@@lootbox289 They cave when the voice actor guild unionize and held their ground
Union ? US ? What are you a commie ?
I mean, TBF unionising has done *absolute wonders* for the US airline industry now, hasn't it?
We want patriot act bacccckkkkkk!! @netflix 😤😤😤
I'm from the future, Activision Blizzard managed to surpass Riot.
"The only tree hugger that makes the tree feel uncomfortable" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Huge props to your design team for making consistently great color theory choices! The complimentary colors always pop plus the wardrobe to match.
Great work!
agreed kudo to behind the scene team!!
That blue sweater is 🔥 Does anyone know where it's from? 😊
This is why I no longer get mad when video games get delayed. I'd rather a developer have more time to finish a game then have their workers work 100 hour weeks.
Oh you think that the makers of League of Legends are bad then wait till you meet the players
i mean, to be fair, the toxic spirit of competition does that to some people. Heck, look at sports fans in general, Insane levels of Tribalism. "my team is better and i will fight you for that opinion"
"The second biggest reason why Drake is friends with 14 year olds", Yo Hasan you didn't have to tear him to shreds like that... Actually you did, screw that dude
I agree with you, no need to drag him into this. It's a big allegation on someone without any proof.
@@ShadabGhafar he talks to 14 year olds
Shadab Ghafar Well, there is proof. Look it up.
@@ShadabGhafar he did the same exact thing with Baldwin, 10 years older than her, got really close to her when she was 14, and dated her the second she was 18. It's creepy, period.
@@KT-ki8ik oh I see, I didn't know that. Creepy.
HASSAN : I love my gfx team...
Hassan's gfx team : No you DON'T.....
GFX TEAM: ... so where's our 2018 Xmas gifts? :P
I think customers need to be the biggest supporters of workers. Because if we reduce this insane demand of new product every single week, maybe the original producers will not be forced into this crunch
getting this recommended exactly 1 year later. It just turned Aug 5th and i looked at the upload date without noticing the year and thought i was early and was impressed it already has 3 million views in 2 hours.
Wish he would of talked about how Nintendo has started taking steps to reduce or remove crunch even if it means delaying games.
He should talk about how gamers lack double standards when it comes to companies like CDPR and Rockstar.
Is that why Metroid Prime 4 was delayed?
I really wish tha gamers would understand that avoiding crunch would result in better games
@@duncansiror5033
Nah, that one was delayed because the developers and/or Nintendo didn't like how it was shaping up, so they took several big steps back to rework the game.
I think it would be funny if he mentioned "Mario Time " though I'm pretty sure NCL has improved since then
Exactly why I support indie devs nowadays, and it also seems like a trend. They have Discord chats with real fans and players about the quality of the game. That's hearty
David N I play a vr game called echo arena. The devs talk with players in game or discord. And regularly interact with the community. So much better than a game every year, with micro transactions everywhere
osu! is best game
Indie Devs crunch too - it's just more likely to be inflicted by their personal finances or the game publisher, not a manager. Google what the devs behind Super Meat Boy say about crunching to meet Microsoft's deadlines, and then Microsoft abandoned them anyway afterwards.
just like ubisoft?
Fantastic as always and dealing with a very relevant and hardly covered issue. Thanks Patriot Act for bringing us news and reviews with humour. Great job all!
I was working as a Level Designer last year. I was working 10+ hours a day, my employer said, I wasn't working enough. So I went to the company at weekend one day, almost half of the employees were there. Working. Our official working days were not weekends. Our employer thought this is normal behavior. I was so frustrated because meanwhile, our employer was PLAYING NERF IN HIS OFFICE. He was actually talented and working hard and crafted good works but that was it for me.
So next week, my performance started to go lower. Both because I was dealing with mental issues and he started mobbing. I wanted that job a lot, it was good money, dream job, and I was 23 years new graduate. I was a mythical succeeding millennial. I was doing a cool job and socially everyone was happy about it. So I let him humiliate me, he gave me tasks that have nothing to do with my position. Then one day, he called me to his office. Said he wasn't happy with my task. Then, right there, he said he doesn't want to work with me anymore. I was doing my job. I wasn't doing more than my job. I was having a life and not working seven days a week. It was a gross experience for me. So I didn't break my figure, went to the toilet, cried my eyes out. Come back, took my stuff said my goodbyes. Cried more on the way back home. I had to deal with a lot of depression for a few months. Fortunately, Right now, I am working as a freelancer. Do I get so much money? No. Am I fucking happy? Absolutely.
I have a lovely boyfriend, I spend a lot of time with him a lot. I doing my master's meanwhile, also really happy about it.
I suggest everyone who's dealing with these types of issues in the Gaming Industry, please do not let your employers treat you like a robot. It affects you and it affects others. Because you are making impossible expectations in their eyes. No money is worth it. If you are not working as a breadwinner in your family etc. Please don't do it. You won't even do anything with the money they give. You will have both mental and physical health problems, and you will probably pay a psychologist all this money you gain. You will save up money for holidays, but it won't mean anything.
I hope everyone better life.
"the crunch" is horrible practice that needs to end
I am not sure it can necessarily end, but I believe it should be like max 1 week before or after release and definitely paid in full
Are you Japanese or westerner?
Im cool with overtime, workers just need to be paid for it...
Sad as it may be, it is one of those things that probably wont ever disappear entirely, but it absolutely has to stop being normalised like it currently is.
The thing with crunch is that many games, especially smaller ones, start out as passion projects, so people may voluntarily work overtime because they enjoy what theyre doing and want to see it succeed.
The problem arises when this becomes expected behaviour, either from higher ups or even just peer pressure.
"[We don't crunch]. A delayed game is eventually good; a rushed game is bad forever."
Why are there so many dislikes?
*Mentions sexism*
oh.
Logan Benton because sexism in gaming only happens to men right
Double standards
@@BurningRubber454 Get a load of this galoomba
Because he got a little obnoxious in this one. And this is coming from someone that doesn't game ever nor gives even the tiniest of fucks about pewdiepie. He put like 50 classic virtue signal phrases in this one. Thought he was a little more self aware than this.
Sexism is worst in tech field
@@BurningRubber454 Did u even watch the video??
WOW! And this is only the 2nd video I've seen from this channel. Glad I subscribed.
Love the videos! You put so much time and work into them and they make my day better
I legitimately want to hug Hasan’s GFX team.
Love the fact ur do is edd
Did that moron just try to claim women make up half of all video gamers? Yeah I guess if your statistics are including the 60 year old women playing candy crush on their phones while they take a shit "gamers" totally. I guess that's why you see so many fucking women playing AAA games. Oh wait, they're 75% men. I'm sure all the real gamers out there are wondering where all the gamer girls were growing up because they were getting made fun of by the majority of women who tell them how childish video games are. Ridiculous statistics. The whole sexism nonsense. Imagine this, males like things more, and women like people more. Imagine that. Imagine fields like STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) are all dominated by males, while social sciences and health fields are dominated by women, nurses, teachers, psychologists, social workers, etc. Now let's all pretend those are sexist instead of genetically driven differences of interest. But of course no one's pushing women into the garbage disposal or fishing industries, they're being pushed into...math and engineering. meanwhile, no one's pushing men into health care. Guess its only important when it's women. Just like video games. Let those minority voices change video games to better suit their minority demographic in a field they are less likely to care about because it offends them that men sexualize everything because they're overtly sexual in nature.
Same
tomorrow you will ask for humping in the back! get a life man!
@@sikherhead1092 dont be a dick m8
I experienced this first hand at SCEA (Sony Playstation). They use third party contracting companies, fire people who won’t do 16 hours 7 days a week. Let you work 9 months then make you break for a month to avoid paying insurance. It was hell, common place to sleep under your desk on breaks. This was in 2002. I am amazed this is just becoming common knowledge.
If you can get away with murder, why not. That is business. Good luck and I'm sorry you have been put through modern slavery.
Wow, that's not fair. Power in numbers
do you think it's changed or still the same after 17 years?
@@Zotok990 everyone is a slave now which makes me wonder why dumb asses are racist
Yikes! It seems like an industry a lot of people get into because they love the job, and companies take advantage of that. They'd pull a lot of the same bullshit in entertainment if the unions weren't so strong.
Of course that all developed decades ago and animators/sfx came too late to the punch and they get screwed all the time.
The industry won't get better until designers unionize.
I will say getting people, even gamers to care about these things is a real struggle. One person I know was trying to get me back into Overwatch and when I told him no I don't play blizzard games anymore because of their practices, the response I got was "why do you care about that kind of thing, it's not like it impacts you."
I never saw this episode on Netflix. I'm glad youtube showed it to me!
Your intro is legit the only intro that I don’t skip.
Eman Al-Ghussain that’s why I don’t watch him on RUclips. Just so I can watch the intro which is there on Netflix 😂
@@abrarabeed Right?!!! Netflix is the only thing that actually has a "skip intro" button and I'm like "heck no!"