NantGames Reviews

The work culture is a mix of "as long as it gets done" and "we're expecting you to put in 8 or more hours every day". If you go for a doctor's appointment, you are expected to "make up" that time later. Many people grovel when they need to be absent to take care of themselves or their family. It is extremely common to see people signing in and working even when they're sick. There is mixed messaging about crunch culture. Leadership claims to not believe in it. They also just asked that we start to put in extra hours ahead of a deadline that's a few months out. In the same message it was implied that approved PTO would not be treated as PTO, and we will have to work more before/after to compensate. People who have worked "overtime" (salaried) have infrequently been given any kind of reprieve for their efforts. While Nant does not pretend to be "woke" or "inclusive", I'll confirm. It isn't. Women are frequently spoken over in meetings. Their ideas are often stolen and re-stated by male coworkers. There is little mentorship or room for improvement. You will be given just enough time to do the bare minimum. Tech debt is only addressed at the last minute once it's obvious it's breaking something. It feels like everyone is so overburdened there's no time for us to help each other. Promotions, raises, and any kind of advancement have been put on hold indefinitely. They choose to hire externally rather than promote internally. The studio head at times feels like the workplace bully. He will insert himself into Slack conversations and belittle other peoples' opinions. The once-thriving social channels have all gone quiet. Many are afraid of antagonizing him. The design and iteration of features is haphazard, and the stress of meeting changing goalposts is put on individual developers. Design documents often lack specifications. Features get the majority through development before a designer swoops in and demands massive revisions. The lead designer frequently makes decisions pertaining to UI/UX with no regard for the patterns and rules the art team has developed. It feels like he's out of touch with the development of the game. Bugs are often filed for elements of work that have not been started or are known to be incomplete. The lead engineer does not serve the best interest of his direct reports. During engineering meetings, he shuts down any discussion he deems too negative. There was previously a system of reflecting on the sprint and noting things learned and areas we have room for improvement. Previously, feedback was collected and rarely if ever acted on. Now it is no longer collected at all. The lead engineer also makes technical decisions that feel short-sighted. A large portion of the game is controlled by the client that absolutely should not be. This, amongst other short-sighted decisions, leaves the impression they intend to launch this game and abandon it. QA is the glue that keeps this popsicle stick ship of a game together, but they're treated like grunt workers. They've been thrown under the bus when it's our shoddy engineering practices that are truly at fault. Instead of QA working closely with developers, production typically keeps them siloed. Nant IT has draconian policies that make it incredibly difficult for developers to do their work. The current IT employee is known for yelling in meetings. When a keylogger was installed on work machines, Nant responded with a meeting that was incredibly demeaning and brushed away everybody's concerns. There used to be more good things about this company. A rapid shift in attitude from leadership around September 2023 soured everything. I would no longer recommend this job unless you are simply looking for a remote job above all else. It feels like leadership is well aware that they can treat us poorly because of the current job market.

We have been repeatedly asked to work extra hours as the project moves from one arbitrary deadline to another. It's been more than a year since anyone's gotten a cost of living increase much less a real raise or a promotion. Some people have been promised promotions for years. They're given the responsibility without the title or the salary increase. The Director of Engineering on an MMORPG does not know the basics of the internet works. Nobody in charge has any idea what the audience of our game is, so they say "it's for everyone". When you're targeting everyone, you're actually making a product for no one. Studio leadership has gaslit the team to the point where the social channels are ghost towns.