While working conditions at game studios have significantly improved throughout the years, “crunching,” a term used when developers are forced to work long hours to meet a game’s milestone or deadline, is still a part of the work culture, and it seems it won’t ever go away.
Even someone as renowned asHideo Kojimaisn’t immune to crunch, as the legendary game maker recently shared his thoughts on it.
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Hideo Kojima Calls Crunch The Most Demanding Period Of Game Development
Over onTwitter/X, Kojima noted, “The most demanding period of game development—both physically and mentally—commonly known as “crunch time.” On top of mixing and Japanese voice recording, there’s an inevitable pile of other tasks: writing comments, explanations, essays, interviews, discussions, and non-game-related work. It’s incredibly tough.”
The tweet quoted aprevious tweetfrom the game-maker with the caption “Tired,” while showing the night sky of what I presume to be somewhere in Japan.
Sadly, the video game crunch work culture isn’t something that’s going away anytime soon. If someone with Kojima’s stature isn’t immune to it, you can bet the lower rank and file employees won’t experience any better.
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If you’re wondering which game Kojima is crunching for, chances are, it’s forDeath Stranding 2: By On the Beach, as the sequel is set to be released sometime in 2025. Aside from Death Stranding 2, Kojima is also working on a horror game for Xbox titled “OD,” and another project where the game designer returns to his stealth gaming roots in Physint. While the development of both games are ongoing, Kojima recently shared that work on it has been affected by the video game SAG strike.
It’s not just Kojima that has spoken out about crunch, as even Naughty Dog’s big boss, Neil Druckmann, hasshared his thoughts, and mentioned how there should be “guardrails” in place to protect staff.
Will there ever come a time when crunch isn’t needed in game development? Probably not. As long as budgets are this high and sales goals are bordering on unreachable, expect this cycle to continue.
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Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
WHERE TO PLAY
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the upcoming sequel from Hideo Kojima for Death Stranding. As mysterious and inscrutable as the first game was leading up to launch, details are sparse on this bizarre open-world exploration game.
