Upper Management Drove Us Into the Ground - Anonymous employee Freedom Games Employee Review

Unlimited PTO, Good Healthcare Package, Great Developer Partners

Freedom Games has the potential to be a good company, The developers you get to work with are great and genuinely want to make great games. However, upper management makes that all but impossible. They put a huge focus on churning out as many games as possible in order to seek out a hit game while barely supporting developers in any meaningful way. They over-promise and under-deliver to developers in almost all facets, and force team members to go along with this charade, with many employees juggling 30+ games to support at a time. Upper management also does not listen to their employees and have massive egos. They believe everything they do is correct and if you do not agree, or say anything to contrary, you are being difficult and will either find yourself on the chopping block or ostracized. In 2023 many people left Freedom Games or were fired. Upper management wants to surround themselves with as many 'yes men' as they can in order to inflate their own egos. Likewise, if anything goes wrong with the company or its approach, they blame the employees instead of taking any responsibility themselves. Many employees were treated poorly, from being gaslit about things to having their job titles scrambled so much they didn't even know what they were supposed to be doing. Overall, this is a terrible company to work for because it is rotted at the top. I worked with many amazing employees who genuinely had a passion for indie games, but were never given the chance to actually do anything positive to support our titles. This company treats indie games like an assembly line. Sign it, do some bare minimum work, and ship it. Rinse and repeat until they hopefully get a big hit that recoups all the costs.

-my coworkers are the absolute best people I’ve ever worked with in any capacity and consider them all friends now -the developers I worked with were mostly all wonderful people and helping them achieve their dream of releasing a game is such an amazing and humbling experience. -unlimited PTO

Since November of 2022-they’ve averaged losing one employee per month. And with a company this small that kind of turnover is insane and speaks volumes about the company. They have hired people who within the first week have outright quit or begun looking for new jobs. All moral and social graces fall by the wayside in pursuit of leadership’s greed. Executive leadership are the kind of people who people who very firmly believe 2+2=5. Or 6. heck even maybe 7. But, definitely not 4. If you attempt to show them otherwise with facts, research, even outside articles? You’ll be reprimanded for giving pushback and will more than likely be called into a one on one w the CEO. There is no celebration of wins, but rather a hyper fixation on mistakes. They make decisions based off factually incorrect information that every employee will advise against. When that decision blows up in their face, execs will just say :” well, we’re experimenting. We’re learning.” And then try to blame an employee for the decision. Why will they make decisions based off factually incorrect information? Ego. They don’t want to admit they made a bad decision. They love to tout “extreme ownership.” But all that means is they have extra reasons to blame you for any failure. Even if it’s outside of your control. The execs here are the equivalent of a 7 year old wearing their dad’s pants, puffing out their chest, and pretending to be a big boy. It’s sad and we all see thru it. Freedom has only existed for 3 or so years and has already published 80+ titles. They even released 7 titles in one day. What does this mean for you as an employee? You will be overworked. Splitting your attention between at least 20 different games at one time. And if you complain about this, you will be questioned and told you obviously aren’t working correctly. :” why are you stressed? “ This is also a company that does not give raises nor cost of living adjustments. When the CEO was asked about raises after we were given our yearly goals, he said and I quote :” you know, raises aren’t always the best because it puts you in a different tax bracket.” Then he went on to say that they want to reward us in different ways like with the t shirts they had sent us the week prior. Let that sink in. They also have been late paying contractors…TWICE. Meanwhile, executive leadership will spend over $100k traveling to Gamescom, TGS in first class plane rides and lavish hotels. You will be talked down to. You will be gaslit. You will be underpaid. You will be overworked. You will be the most stressed you have ever been. You also will be asked to “stretch the truth” when dealing with devs. You will be even lied to by leadership. For work life balance, sure you have unlimited PTO. But you’ll get reprimanded if you don’t check your messages on the weekend. Or if the CEO replies to you on a Friday night at 10:30 pm, you’ll be reprimanded for not immediately responding back. Honestly I just feel depressed for all the developers that have signed their games to Freedom. There is no regard for games as art or for the well-being of the devs. Those developers deserve better. If you’re a developer reading this, you’re better off self publishing your title. If I could give zero stars I would. Avoid at all costs. I urge anyone reading to reach out to an ex-employee before interviewing with them or publishing your game with them.