Pros
- During it's Wilmslow years, it was a very chill and personal experience. The smaller size of the company lent to this. - Project has great potential. - Incredibly skilled teams with intelligent people. - CEO has a vision and is participative in its development. - Restructuring of the senior management was much needed and increases confidence towards the future of the product and company. - The technology shows potential. - Manchester office is new and has some nice perks, which are starting to dwindle due to cost cutting. - Friendly teams. - Manchester location is good. - Managers have retained their human element. Most are family people, this might give them greater empathy. - Pay feels appropriate. - Depending on the project you are on, crunch is bad or crunch is very limited.
Cons
- Possibly over expanded during and after covid. - Finances are clearly being re-assessed. Recent high profile layoffs and cut backs. - With its expansion it is heading towards a more corporate setting, the cosy feeling from the old days is waning. - There is a feeling HR are monitoring more heavily. - Office policy has dictated 4 days in office, 1 day wfh, should be more wfh. I agree in office collaboration is beneficial, but so is a happier employee. - CEO micro manages the project and could ease the foot off the gas on details. - Design teams are more effective in recent times, but their numbers are lacking. - Bonuses have been missing in recent years. - Hiring freeze for 2 years except for teams in the most need. - Cut backs on spending, but the company has clearly spent millions on studio outfitting, and continues to do so. It's an inconvenient truth with no excuse. - The company is great, yet there is a feeling we could be part of the industry downturn. - Leadership, Director level, can feel chaotic, improvements feel like they are being made. - Chaotic design in recent years wastes time and money on inevitable rework. - Basic gameplay loops and features will do, everything is overly complex in its initial implementation. We can add complexity later! - Simple gameplay that has been in games from decades ago feels overly complex to implement.