Best experience of my career - Art Director Manticore Games Employee Review

It’s exciting to be working on a new game from the ground up in a startup environment.

Lots of hiring, but also layoffs

Almost all of the non-leadership individuals are talented, friendly, and great to work with. They still have funding.

The leadership clique struggles with effective management and work organization. There's a significant lack of trust in team members and individual contributors, resulting in an extremely hierarchical approach that leaves no room for employee agency. The workplace lacks psychological safety. The leadership clique demonstrates limited understanding of game development fundamentals - from creating quality games to establishing functional iteration and evaluation processes. The leadership clique prioritizes immediate productivity gains while creating substantial long-term technical and operational challenges. The current meeting structure is inefficient and consumes valuable time without meaningful outcomes. Excessive technical debt has accumulated, resulting in development cycles that are roughly four times longer than necessary, with additional time required for bug fixes post-implementation.