The success of Fortnite translates into exhaustive work schedules for the employees of Epic Games

Benjamin Rosa 23 April 2019

1 906 2 reading minutes

Thanks to Fortnite, there is a constant crunch at Epic Games. Long hours are not mandatory but they greatly condition workers for fear of being fired.

With Fortnite's success, you might think that it's one of the most profitable games out there and therefore there's less pressure on workers after so many years of the mantra that "crunch is necessary because of time and budget constraints." But in reality it's translated into even more work and a worse environment for Epic Games workers. Polygon has been secretly interviewing a dozen Epic Games workers about their conditions over the course of several months.

A lot of pressure, a lot of work and little rest for months to keep Fortnite alive

They conclude that it is normal for Epic Games workers to reach 70 hours a week, and sometimes they reach 100. It would be the equivalent of working ten hours a day without resting on weekends or fifteen hours a day respectively.

Days like this came to light when they revealed the working conditions to make Red Dead Redemption 2 at RockStar Games. This is supposed to be totally voluntary, but in reality there is pressure so that the workers do not refuse it, and for this reason there are almost a hundred people who accept these days. All this due to the extreme popularity of Fortnite, which with the competition and the enormous number of players, are in a constant crunch to get content and maintain it.

Managers have a mindset that all change must be instantaneous and nothing can wait. If something doesn't work it has to be fixed while working on the development of the next content patch. If a worker takes a weekend off to rest and the work commissioned is not finished, he is fired as a punishment or the contract is not renewed. In the case of contractors, it is very possible that the contract will not be renewed. Several workers agree that salaries are high and have many bonuses but the work style encourages people to stay only to cash a few checks and then go somewhere better with savings for the future.

Source: Polygon