The concept of "crunch - mandatory and intense overtime over an extended period, often at the end of game development - has long been a derogatory term in the gaming industry, and steps have been taken to reduce it. Today, we can even see examples of studios that boast about not applying crunch.
But it hasn't always been that way, and now three Sega veterans share with 4Gamer (thanks, Automaton) how incredibly tough it could be as recently as 2012. They are Toru Ohara, Takaharu Terada, and Toru Yoshida, who previously worked on Phantasy Star and Sakura Wars, among others, and the latter explains that the workplace was basically a second home:
"In the 1990s, every new Sega office was equipped with nap rooms and showers. Even in the 2000s, the two Haneda bases still had them, and I believe people continued to use them. It was basically expected that people would be sleeping over at the office."
These "nap rooms" remained until 2012, but today it is not only the gaming industry that looks down on these methods, which have cost employees both their health and their relationships. Even the Japanese government has taken a stand against the phenomenon. Despite the fact that it could be brutal crunch, Terada says that not everything was bad though:
"Those times were also a way for us to communicate, and sometimes it even sparked new ideas. So I think we kind of enjoyed and valued those nights at the office. It didn't really feel like a company, in some ways it felt more like a club activity."
Do you care about how game developers are treated, and does your knowledge of these abuses influence your game purchases?