Cooperative Innovations Reviews

No cons worth noting really

This is a VR company that has been operating for 3 years and yet has never made a VR game before. It shows. There’s no schedule or plan to any development. Delivery dates will change at random, for arbitrary reasons. The majority of the time management don’t know which VR platform they’re planning to release on. Staff turnover for the last year was 60%. The CEO is only interested in marketing the business so he is never in the office. This is a problem, because he leads on game design, and won’t let anyone make decisions without him. The CTO is a bully and a micro-manager. There’s no working project management here, which is why nothing ever gets finished. The managers refuse to accept this. You won’t know what you’re doing each day because of the lack of organisation. If you do know what you’re working on, you can expect the CTO to tell you you’ve been doing it wrong. Daily life at work is unpredictable - 1:1s and meetings happen at random and can last 3+ hours. Despite this, you are expected to tell management what you’re doing three times a day (daily report, stand up, and walk arounds). 1:1 reviews are a scary experience - only the CTO has input, and he won’t tell you in advance if there is an issue. His opinion about you will mostly be based on whether you agree with him or not. The CTO monopolises the company with his personal viewpoints on how to make games and how to behave, using ‘experience’ as his only justification. The CTO will pick on individual staff members and belittle everything they do. He will over-explain simple things and tell you that you’re not experienced enough to be making games. Probation periods will be extended or ended without any written record or plan to resolve any issues. This will come as a surprise to you, and you’ll be afraid for the first 6 months of the job. There's no career progression here because it's a small company. Pay rises will be inconsistent across departments and they'll probably forget to apply it to your pay cheque. Pay slips rarely arrive. The company’s finances are unpredictable. You won’t get paid on time unless you ask. The benefits listed on the website don’t apply in real life and you don’t get paid expenses back. Many good staff members have left here because of how they are treated, but management do not listen. People leave managers, not companies. If you manage to leave, you’ll be treated extraordinarily unprofessionally. Expect to be gaslit and to lose your mind.