Cuphead: Studio chiefs valued employees more than on-time release

The video game industry hasn’t exactly held its laurels when it comes to working conditions lately. Numerous sexism scandals in some large studios such as Activision Blizzard or Riot Games have come to light. But there are also reports of Fallout 76 developers who were driven to mental and physical ruin due to the great stress. But not every studio wants to be a negative example. the Cuphead makers want to show how to do it right and counteract “trends” like crunch.

Cuphead executives care more about employees than schedules

Maya Moldenhauer is the studio head behind the developers of Cuphead and its DLC. She recently spoke about how she puts the well-being of her employees first. She also has no problem rescheduling appointments. “If it takes longer for the game to come out. Who cares?”so Moldenhauer in one Interviewed by IGN.
In fact, the DLC for the Shoot and Gun, The Delicious Last Course, was supposed to be released in 2019, but was postponed several times to to avoid crunch and has experienced another delay due to the pandemic.

These shifts are possible largely because Moldenhauer isn’t breathing down a major publisher pressuring them to self-publish their games. What happens when you try to make appointments by hook or by crook despite the pandemic, we saw impressively last November with the total failure of Battlefield 2042.

Mental health as the number one priority

The animations in Cuphead (buy now €11.00) are mostly made by hand, which is why it was difficult to find people at Studio MDHR. “Finding employees is difficult“, says studio boss Maja Moldenhauer. “The most important thing, especially during Covid, was that everyone was happy. These are video games. Take your time. Mental health has had to come first, giving yourself the space and time you need, especially in the last two years“. This concept paid off, with Cuphead they managed a terrific box office hit. Read up Page 2what motivated Moldenhauer to make this decision and why she doesn’t care about financial success.

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