Good people, community + strong IP in spite of poor studio leadership - Anonymous employee PopCap Games Employee Review

2.0
24 June 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

In spite of a recent layoff, there remain some really talented people, that genuinely care about PopCap's products and players. PopCap has strong IPs in Plants vs Zombies, and to a lesser extent Bejeweled and other nostalgic brands (Peggle, etc) Reasonable work/life balance True sense of community within the studio

Cons

Recently hired studio GM is business savvy, but has minimal experience building games and fostering a culture where game teams are empowered and positioned for creative success (although he thinks he does). GM will frequently play armchair designer with game teams resulting in high stress, uncertainty, chaos and churn within the teams themselves, often resulting in significant changes or resets of creative direction on products (live & in development). I would caution anyone female, or in a creative/lead position from joining PopCap until there is a studio leadership change, or studio can stabilize itself behind a successful new game.

Explore other reviews about PopCap Games

5.0
22 July 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Gone are the tech jobs where there was culture and fun. There are no pros

Cons

Think of any and it’s worse. Long gone are the days of fun and work hard to play hard.

4.0
13 Feb 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The Workforce and Culture department does a good job at making employees to feel good about being at PopCap with free Naked juice, some free food, activities, games rooms, gym, etc.

Cons

Lots of nepotism, incompetent managers, and low pay for working employees. Credit for work done is often given to the wrong people based on their connections to upper management, not based on who got things done. So-called "profit sharing" is really "arbitrary forecast beating." The more profitable the company gets, the smaller the profit sharing has been for employees. The company is at a stage where lots of middle managers with no relevant skills are being hired. It is becoming very top heavy. There is little incentive to work at PopCap after it was sold to Electronic Arts, as the pay is as low as before, the "profit sharing" is very low to non-existent, there are no more stock options, and there is a mad dash to earn the founders their over-ambitious EA earnout targets, which means burn-out work loads over the next three years.

3
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