Crunch in Diablo 4? Blizzard is responding to allegations from former and current employees
In a few months it will be time: Am Tuesday 06 June 2023Diablo 4 will be released for PC, PS5, PS4 and Xbox One/Series X. Then the more than ten year wait on Blizzard’s action RPG. After many fans were rather disappointed by the third part of the legendary dark fantasy game series, all hopes now rest on its successor. And previous previews, which are based on a test event with selected game journalists, sound extremely promising. Despite technical problems, there is one huge open world with an incredible amount of content to explore. The direction of the developers seems clear: back to the dark style of Diablo 2.
Diablo 4: Reports of crunch, mayhem and cancellations
In the middle of the pre-order phase of Diablo 4, which has just started, a report from the Washington Post bursts, which has it all. Former and current employees report a chaotic five-year development. The main characters of Diablo 4 (buy now €79.99 ) were replaced several times by Blizzard’s leadership, which caused a lot of chaos.
Crunch in the form of overtime was presumably not explicitly ordered, but supervisors apparently encouraged their employees to work in the office ten hours of work and longer. This happened, among other things, through financial incentives and bonuses, which you only want to redeem after completing the game.
Diablo 4: Blizzard comments on allegations from employees
According to the contacts of Washington Post the current release date cannot be kept without a crunch. The actual date has already been pushed back several times. It is also questionable whether Diablo 4 will be released in June 2023 in a finished state. Andrew Reynolds from Blizzard Entertainment commented on the allegations.
“As you may know, game development, particularly in the case of Diablo 4, is a complicated, ever-changing process. Production on this title is going extremely well. Overtime is on a voluntary basis and is limited to certain teams.” In addition, one would regular surveys ask employees how satisfied they are with the working conditions. “The results of these surveys are the most positive in recent years.”
Also worth reading: Diablo 4 is now available for pre-order on PC, PS5, PS4 & Xbox One/Series X
An employee of Developer Studios Blizzard Albany sees it differently. He replies to the Washington Post that while gaming companies don’t mandate crunches, they do incentivize employees to exploit themselves to the point of burnout. These are bonuses at the expense of people’s mental and physical health in order to complete the game under development as quickly as possible.
Source: The Washington Post
Reference-www.pcgames.de