EA's bright and shiny new corporate trademark is "Challenge Everything." Where this applies is not exactly clear. Churning out one licensed football game after another doesn't sound like challenging much of anything to me; it sounds like a money farm. To any EA executive that happens to read this, I have a good challenge for you: how about safe and sane labor practices for the people on whose backs you walk for your millions?
I am retaining some anonymity here because I have no illusions about what the consequences would be for my family if I was explicit. However, I also feel no impetus to shy away from sharing our story, because I know that it is too common to stick out among those of the thousands of engineers, artists, and designers that EA employs.
Our adventures with Electronic Arts began less than a year ago. The small game studio that my partner worked for collapsed as a result of foul play on the part of a big publisher -- another common story. Electronic Arts offered a job, the salary was right and the benefits were good, so my SO took it. I remember that they asked him in one of the interviews: "how do you feel about working long hours?" It's just a part of the game industry -- few studios can avoid a crunch as deadlines loom, so we thought nothing of it. When asked for specifics about what "working long hours" meant, the interviewers coughed and glossed on to the next question; now we know why.
Within weeks production had accelerated into a 'mild' crunch: eight hours six days a week. Not bad. Months remained until any real crunch would start, and the team was told that this "pre-crunch" was to prevent a big crunch toward the end; at this point any other need for a crunch seemed unlikely, as the project was dead on schedule. I don't know how many of the developers bought EA's explanation for the extended hours; we were new and naive so we did. The producers even set a deadline; they gave a specific date for the end of the crunch, which was still months away from the title's shipping date, so it seemed safe. That date came and went. And went, and went. When the next news came it was not about a reprieve; it was another acceleration: twelve hours six days a week, 9am to 10pm.
Weeks passed. Again the producers had given a termination date on this crunch that again they failed. Throughout this period the project remained on schedule. The long hours started to take its toll on the team; people grew irritable and some started to get ill. People dropped out in droves for a couple of days at a time, but then the team seemed to reach equilibrium again and they plowed ahead. The managers stopped even talking about a day when the hours would go back to normal.
Now, it seems, is the "real" crunch, the one that the producers of this title so wisely prepared their team for by running them into the ground ahead of time. The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm -- seven days a week -- with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm). This averages out to an eighty-five hour work week. Complaints that these once more extended hours combined with the team's existing fatigue would result in a greater number of mistakes made and an even greater amount of wasted energy were ignored.
The stress is taking its toll. After a certain number of hours spent working the eyes start to lose focus; after a certain number of weeks with only one day off fatigue starts to accrue and accumulate exponentially. There is a reason why there are two days in a weekend -- bad things happen to one's physical, emotional, and mental health if these days are cut short. The team is rapidly beginning to introduce as many flaws as they are removing.
And the kicker: for the honor of this treatment EA salaried employees receive a) no overtime; b) no compensation time! ('comp' time is the equalization of time off for overtime -- any hours spent during a crunch accrue into days off after the product has shipped); c) no additional sick or vacation leave. The time just goes away. Additionally, EA recently announced that, although in the past they have offered essentially a type of comp time in the form of a few weeks off at the end of a project, they no longer wish to do this, and employees shouldn't expect it. Further, since the production of various games is scattered, there was a concern on the part of the employees that developers would leave one crunch only to join another. EA's response was that they would attempt to minimize this, but would make no guarantees. This is unthinkable; they are pushing the team to individual physical health limits, and literally giving them nothing for it. Comp time is a staple in this industry, but EA as a corporation wishes to "minimize" this reprieve. One would think that the proper way to minimize comp time is to avoid crunch, but this brutal crunch has been on for months, and nary a whisper about any compensation leave, nor indeed of any end of this treatment.
This crunch also differs from crunch time in a smaller studio in that it was not an emergency effort to save a project from failure. Every step of the way, the project remained on schedule. Crunching neither accelerated this nor slowed it down; its effect on the actual product was not measurable. The extended hours were deliberate and planned; the management knew what they were doing as they did it. The love of my life comes home late at night complaining of a headache that will not go away and a chronically upset stomach, and my happy supportive smile is running out.
No one works in the game industry unless they love what they do. No one on that team is interested in producing an inferior product. My heart bleeds for this team precisely BECAUSE they are brilliant, talented individuals out to create something great. They are and were more than willing to work hard for the success of the title. But that good will has only been met with abuse. Amazingly, Electronic Arts was listed #91 on Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2003.
EA's attitude toward this -- which is actually a part of company policy, it now appears -- has been (in an anonymous quotation that I've heard repeated by multiple managers), "If they don't like it, they can work someplace else." Put up or shut up and leave: this is the core of EA's Human Resources policy. The concept of ethics or compassion or even intelligence with regard to getting the most out of one's workforce never enters the equation: if they don't want to sacrifice their lives and their health and their talent so that a multibillion dollar corporation can continue its Godzilla-stomp through the game industry, they can work someplace else.
But can they?
The EA Mambo, paired with other giants such as Vivendi, Sony, and Microsoft, is rapidly either crushing or absorbing the vast majority of the business in game development. A few standalone studios that made their fortunes in previous eras -- Blizzard, Bioware, and Id come to mind -- manage to still survive, but 2004 saw the collapse of dozens of small game studios, no longer able to acquire contracts in the face of rapid and massive consolidation of game publishing companies. This is an epidemic hardly unfamiliar to anyone working in the industry. Though, of course, it is always the option of talent to go outside the industry, perhaps venturing into the booming commercial software development arena. (Read my tired attempt at sarcasm.)
To put some of this in perspective, I myself consider some figures. If EA truly believes that it needs to push its employees this hard -- I actually believe that they don't, and that it is a skewed operations perspective alone that results in the severity of their crunching, coupled with a certain expected amount of the inefficiency involved in running an enterprise as large as theirs -- the solution therefore should be to hire more engineers, or artists, or designers, as the case may be. Never should it be an option to punish one's workforce with ninety hour weeks; in any other industry the company in question would find itself sued out of business so fast its stock wouldn't even have time to tank. In its first weekend, Madden 2005 grossed $65 million. EA's annual revenue is approximately $2.5 billion. This company is not strapped for cash; their labor practices are inexcusable.
The interesting thing about this is an assumption that most of the employees seem to be operating under. Whenever the subject of hours come up, inevitably, it seems, someone mentions 'exemption'. They refer to a California law that supposedly exempts businesses from having to pay overtime to certain 'specialty' employees, including software programmers. This is Senate Bill 88. However, Senate Bill 88 specifically does not apply to the entertainment industry -- television, motion picture, and theater industries are specifically mentioned. Further, even in software, there is a pay minimum on the exemption: those exempt must be paid at least $90,000 annually. I can assure you that the majority of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these practices are not only unethical, they are illegal.
I look at our situation and I ask 'us': why do you stay? And the answer is that in all likelihood we won't; and in all likelihood if we had known that this would be the result of working for EA, we would have stayed far away in the first place. But all along the way there were deceptions, there were promises, there were assurances -- there was a big fancy office building with an expensive fish tank -- all of which in the end look like an elaborate scheme to keep a crop of employees on the project just long enough to get it shipped. And then if they need to, they hire in a new batch, fresh and ready to hear more promises that will not be kept; EA's turnover rate in engineering is approximately 50%. This is how EA works. So now we know, now we can move on, right? That seems to be what happens to everyone else. But it's not enough. Because in the end, regardless of what happens with our particular situation, this kind of "business" isn't right, and people need to know about it, which is why I write this today.
If I could get EA CEO Larry Probst on the phone, there are a few things I would ask him. "What's your salary?" would be merely a point of curiosity. The main thing I want to know is, Larry: you do realize what you're doing to your people, right? And you do realize that they ARE people, with physical limits, emotional lives, and families, right? Voices and talents and senses of humor and all that? That when you keep our husbands and wives and children in the office for ninety hours a week, sending them home exhausted and numb and frustrated with their lives, it's not just them you're hurting, but everyone around them, everyone who loves them? When you make your profit calculations and your cost analyses, you know that a great measure of that cost is being paid in raw human dignity, right?
Right?
===
This article is offered under the Creative Commons deed. Please feel free to redistribute/link.
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December 3 2004, 00:17:08 UTC 16 years ago
Bungie isn't EA
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 00:51:49 UTC 16 years ago
What has EA said about all this?
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 00:55:14 UTC 16 years ago
have you heard anything official from your company? I can't imagine they don't know about these blogs and can't beleive they haven't tried to send an email or meetings explaining their position. I would be extremely upset if I worked there and after 2-3 weeks there hadn't been any explenation or viewpoint offered up by the senior staff/CEO's on how they want to correct some of these issues and truly make it "the number one people company". Do they want art unions, and programming unions?
spz
You can't rape the willing
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 02:56:13 UTC 16 years ago
Have some pluck, have some balls, and quit, start your own company, change jobs, change fields, get your self fired so you get unemployment, do something. A friend of mine put it best: 'You can't rape the willing.' - if it's too much to bear: quit. If it's not, shut up and deal with it, you make a boatload of money, and there are plenty of other options. No one is MAKING you work at EA. No one is MAKING you work for ANYONE. This is america, dammit. If you can't find an employer to suit you, become your own damn employer.
Lollygaggers.
$40K a year, in California?! Sweetie, you know nothing
Anonymous
December 7 2004, 17:20:15 UTC 16 years ago
Re: $40K a year, in California?! Sweetie, you know nothing
16 years ago
EA's SweatShop
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 05:17:49 UTC 16 years ago
RE: This is why Unions were created!
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 06:05:22 UTC 16 years ago
Unions won't work in the video game business, and if it does, all be damned if it's carried under the banner of the left leaning hucksters that keep posting. Keep the political agendas at home, shut the fuck up, you're ruining the cause.
How typical to exploit real concerns to promote political agendas. Keep it the fuck away, concentrate on the issues and stop beating us over the head with "unionize" bullshit. It's not the 1940's. I don't want fucking "Red" teamsters slapping each other other the back. We're developers not Richard Gere sympathizers you pathetic fuck.
Re: This is why Unions were created!
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 09:33:03 UTC 16 years ago
Re: This is why Unions were created! -- okay, a statement on politics in general.
16 years ago
Invitation to a party...
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 06:43:52 UTC 16 years ago
Maybe on a highway somewhere, a shot could go off. If it hits one, who's gonna give a sh*t????
Career change?
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 06:55:16 UTC 16 years ago
They don't pay what the "game industry" does, but hey, you get to shoot people, right? Just think of them as former managers.... hell, why go to Iraq to do it... Do it NOW, while they don't expect it. I mean it. We've got to start assasinating these assholes. They don't deserve to be on our planet. Don't be a pussy, kill a manager for mom......
Unions???
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 07:06:43 UTC 16 years ago
ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 07:29:15 UTC 16 years ago
QA is the real EA sweatshop.
the make you sign away your rights when you start working there, and give you the false idea that maybe if you kiss enough butt, you might be considered for some lowly production job, even though everyone i worked with had graduated from colleges with related degrees that should have put them in production, but the real truth is that if you work as a tester, you'll almost never make it to production, because if you're any good they just want to keep you there.
and god forbid you speak out against your superiors. that's a sure fire way to get canned. if you're not prepared to be a yesman that kisses your supervisors butt 24hrs a day, don't apply at EA.
they made us sign a paper that basically gave them the right to fire us whenever they want for whatever reason. this came after several of my friends slaved away for years as testers (which are all temporary employees except for the supervisors "leads"), to get that full time status, only to have that goal shattered by a piece of paper.
the turnover rate for testers is far higher than that of production. EA will say that that's because it's cheap labor and they have to, b/c testers are usually college students and are "seasonal". this is only true for about 10-15 percent of the QA staff, as everyone who manages to get past their 3 stage interview process wants to keep their job, especially after working 80 hour weeks.
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 09:42:26 UTC 16 years ago
Since when does merely having any kind of degree mean you deserve to be "put" anywhere?
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but EVERYONE pays taxes.
Seasonal or not...that's not the point. It's nearly completely unskilled labor. It doesn't require anything more than a high school diploma, no matter how many of your fellow testers had degrees.
The overtime sucks, but at least you got overtime for it. You found the workload and conditions sucked, you didn't like it, and you quit. I would recommend the same to anyone that feels that way.
If you really are a "struggling digital media artist" and you're any good, why bother getting a job as a tester at all? Why not just apply on your artistic merit?
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Points of Agreement and Disagreement
Anonymous
16 years ago
Points of Agreement and Disagreement (continued)
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Points of Agreement and Disagreement (continued)
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
Re: ha! tell your SO to try working as a tester for EA
16 years ago
QA is the real EA sweatshop
December 3 2004, 07:55:27 UTC 16 years ago
QA is the real EA sweatshop.
the make you sign away your rights when you start working there, and give you the false idea that maybe if you kiss enough butt, you might be considered for some lowly production job, even though everyone i worked with had graduated from colleges with related degrees that should have put them in production, but the real truth is that if you work as a tester, you'll almost never make it to production, because if you're any good they just want to keep you there.
and god forbid you speak out against your superiors. that's a sure fire way to get canned. if you're not prepared to be a yesman that kisses your supervisors butt 24hrs a day, don't apply at EA.
they made us sign a paper that basically gave them the right to fire us whenever they want for whatever reason. this came after several of my friends slaved away for years as testers (which are all temporary employees except for the supervisors "leads"), to get that full time status, only to have that goal shattered by a piece of paper.
the turnover rate for testers is far higher than that of production. EA will say that that's because it's cheap labor and they have to, b/c testers are usually college students and are "seasonal". this is only true for about 10-15 percent of the QA staff, as everyone who manages to get past their 3 stage interview process wants to keep their job, especially after working 80 hour weeks.
BUG REPORT
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 09:30:22 UTC 16 years ago
-Tester
Re: BUG REPORT
16 years ago
Re: BUG REPORT
Anonymous
16 years ago
NEED MORE INFO
Anonymous
16 years ago
Spouse isnt the only one...
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 11:32:25 UTC 16 years ago
How to stop this madness now...
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 16:20:23 UTC 16 years ago
Time to understand that the u.s. gov isn't going to help either. Uncle Sam has changed, almost like one of the games they create, into our big brother. It's time for U S citizens to arm up and prepare for the coming police state. It won't be a long wait, I promise....
Good luck suckers, I'm shootin' my way out of here when I have to, until they get me.
Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 16:33:14 UTC 16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
December 3 2004, 17:24:00 UTC 16 years ago
Try living in reality.
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Quit now! not tomorrow!!!
16 years ago
What it is like to live on the other side...
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 17:40:39 UTC 16 years ago
1450 FASHION ISLAND BLVD.
SAN MATEO, CA 94404
TEL 415 571 7171
[LOGO]
September 9, 1998
Rusty Rueff
181-12 Turn of River Road
Stamford, CT 06905
Dear Rusty:
I am pleased to offer you a regular full-time position as Senior Vice President
Human Resources reporting to me. Your annual base salary will be $240,000 with a
50% target bonus. The bonus will be guaranteed at 100% of target in the fiscal
year ending March 31, 1999, and 75% of target in the fiscal year ending March
31, 2000.
I will recommend to the Board of Directors that you be granted a Non-qualified
Option to purchase 70,000 shares of Electronic Arts common stock in accordance
with our Stock Option Plan. This grant will vest at a rate of 2% per month over
a 50 month period commencing with your hire date. Your unvested equity position
will be reviewed on an annual basis in conjunction with the EA executive stock
option program.
Electronic Arts will provide you with a $2,500 per month (net of taxes) housing
allowance for a three-year period. We agree to pay the difference between your
acquisition cost and the sale price on your property at 181-12 Turn of River
Road if the selling price is less than the initial purchase price of $612,500.
In addition, Electonic Arts will be responsible for all normal and reasonable
relocation costs associated with moving to Northern California.
Your employment with Electronic Arts is for an indefinite term. In other words,
the employment relationship is "at will" and you have the right to terminate
that employment relationship at any time. Also, although I hope that you will
remain with us and be successful here, Electronic Arts must, and does retain the
right to terminate the employment relationship at any time. Should you be
terminated without cause prior to March 31, 2000, you will receive one year's
salary plus bonus as severence.
This offer assumes that you have the legal right to work in the United States
and can submit appropriate proof. If you accept the offer, please so indicate by
signing this letter where indicated and returning it to my attention.
Electronic Arts' mission is to make fun software for consumers and to help
interactive entertainment become a part of everyday life. To play a leading role
in this new industry, EA needs a dedicated team of pioneers with vision, a
passion for quality, a willingness to innovate and a desire to achieve great
things while vigilantly maintaining our integrity. I would be delighted to have
you join us.
Sincerely,
/s/ Larry Probst
Larry Probst
Chaiman & CEO
Electronic Arts
Accepted: /s/ Rusty Rueff
--------------------
Date: 9/18/98
-------------------------
September 17, 1998
Rusty Rueff
181-12 Turn of River Road
Stamford, CT 06905
Dear Rusty:
This will confirm our discussion on Tuesday, September 15. EA will provide you
with a one-time $50,000 (gross) signing bonus to help offset the expected loss
on improvements made to your current residence, and the temporary loss of income
you will experience in conjunction with Patti's resignation from Pepsi.
We also agree to extend vesting on your stock option grant for a period of six
months if you are terminated without cause prior to March 31, 2000.
EA agrees to provide a relocation program similar to the Frito-Lay plan with the
exception that we will not be responsible for any loan points nor will we
provide one month's salary in conjunction with your move to Northern California.
I am thrilled that you have decided to join Electronic Arts, and very much look
forward to working with you. Would you please acknowledge acceptance of the
offer by signing in the space below and returning to my attention at your
earliest convenience. Thank you.
Sincerely,
/s/ Larry Probst
Larry Probst
Chairman & CEO
Accepted: ________________________________________
Date: ________________________________________
(http://contracts.onecle.com/ea/rueff.emp.1998.09.09.shtml)
Rusty Rueff's contract.
Anonymous
December 3 2004, 17:42:09 UTC 16 years ago
So here is a question: What does someone making that much money, with those exorbitant benefits need a $2,500 per month housing allowance for???
I mean really.
Re: Rusty Rueff's contract.
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: What it is like to live on the other side...
16 years ago
Re: What it is like to live on the other side...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Hey, don't take this the wrong way but...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Hey, don't take this the wrong way but...
16 years ago
Re: Hey, don't take this the wrong way but...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: Hey, don't take this the wrong way but...
16 years ago
EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
December 3 2004, 18:52:52 UTC 16 years ago
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//ea-promises-changes-in-leaked-internal-memo-026800.php
-Peter
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
December 3 2004, 20:15:49 UTC 16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
16 years ago
Re: EA Responds: Leaked Internal Memo...
Anonymous
16 years ago
Unsatisfying enough to seem real.....
16 years ago
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