Phoenix Labs Reviews

Phoenix Labs has strong core values they bring up at every opportunity. It’s a shame leadership doesn’t adhere to them. Phoenix Labs is incredibly frustrating to work at. High-level leadership is constantly shifting goal posts and pivoting, causing thrash. This leads to leadership shifting blame to its low and mid-level employees. This comes down from the CEO and his inner circle, who mostly exist to micromanage and frustrate staff. It’s an old school “get it done” attitude that comes from most of them having backgrounds at Riot or Bioware. The CEO and this circle shift the blame by endorsing a strategy called “extreme ownership”. If a feature/patch misses its target, it’s not on them, it’s on the lower-level employees who should've “owned” the feature, despite constant misdirection from above. There is a sense of resentment from the top around game failures on their legacy title. It’s sad to see my coworkers feeling deflated and mentally exhausted on a weekly basis. Many employees are leaving once they realize the culture isn’t as advertised. And they certainly advertise their culture whenever they can, leading to a cult-like feel. It’s upsetting because so many of my coworkers are talented, wonderful people, but leadership has a way of making people feel undervalued, under fire, and gaslit constantly. There’s no avenue for anonymous feedback. All feedback must be owned and it’s encouraged to be “candid”. I’ve seen many coworkers who were candid have it backfire, causing repercussions. Or they bring something up but are gaslit and told that it’s not actually a problem. Bottom line, If you don’t agree, they will put a target on your back. Leadership doesn’t believe this is the case, and I think a lot of it is subconscious. I genuinely think they believe they’ve created an open environment for feedback, and reject the idea that these repercussions exist. They do. They strong armed employees to come back to the office months before there was a covid vaccine. Those who refused “left” due to creative differences. This is another trend. No one really gets let go from the workplace, but many leave because it’s “not the right fit” which usually comes from vocalizing worries about the company. The CEO often says that Phoenix Labs aims to be the next legacy company, saying things like they want to be the next Blizzard or Riot. If things keep going this way, I’m sure they will be from a PR standpoint.

Forcing employees back into office during the early days (August 2020) of a pandemic is probably one of the biggest issues. There isn't a better way to show that the company cares more about itself than it's employees than that. Leadership is some of the worst I've experienced in my career. They encourage open and honest conversations and feedback, then later use those words against you in a negative manner. At no point do they take that feedback an action in a way that is beneficial to the company and it's employees. If you want guidance and mentorship in your career, this is not the right place. With the poor leadership comes no game direction. The studio is constantly reworking aspects of their games over and over as personal opinion overrides creative direction. Games are built by committee's, and as that committee changes over the years, the game needs to be remade many times over, and never in a way that is a positive for players. The goal is not to make great games, the goal is to pull as much money from players with as little resources as possible. Making the game better is a secondary objective. Constructive Criticism and 'Negativity' of any kind is seen as a virus that must be weeded out - Even if it is delivered in a constructive, and polite way. If your feedback on something is anything other than singing praise, don't say it at all.