author: Konrad Serafinski
Mortal Kombat Devs on Crunch: „100 Hour Week was Common”
Twitter has been on fire since former NetherRealm employees published some Tweet, claiming that development of Mortal Kombat or Injustice required them to work even 100 hours a week. Crunch was not the only inconvenience, because no bonus was paid for overtime.
A few days ago, we wrote about the inhuman working conditions at Epic Games. The topic seems to be returning in the gaming industry, as exemplified by successive reports of crunch. This time it's about developers from NetherRealm, the studio responsible for, among others, Mortal Kombat 11. Twitter entries of former employees and co-workers of the company create an image of a workplace where 90 or 100 hours of work a week has become a sad norm. It is worth noting that we are talking about the period when such titles as Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X, Injustice: Gods Among Us and Injustice 2 were created. PC Gamer reached several former employees who confirmed this information, adding also that despite such working conditions they did not receive decent remuneration.
One of NetherRealm's former programmers, James Longstreet, wrote on Twitter that the crunch during the development of Mortal Kombat 9 started in early 2011. He admitted that in the period from January 1 to the day on which day one patch was approved (the game came out on April 19), he took only one day off. Although it was his birthday, he still had to be on the phone (the same thing happened in the case of friend's wedding). Longstreet said that everyone worked like that, except the management, which left the company after dinner.
PC Gamer contacted another former NetherRealm employee, Isaac Torres, who admitted that he had been dealing with the crunch continuously for 4 months. He worked up to 100 hours a week without a day off. Beck Hallstedt, who worked as a concept artist on Injustice 2, also gives interesting information:
All the information was also confirmed by other former studio employees. Rebecca Rothschild, who worked on Mortal Kombat X and Injustice 2 in 2014-2016, admits that the situation has not improved even for a moment:
"I was working 90-100 hour weeks for both titles. I can personally say from my recollection that nothing improved from MKX to Injustice 2. Everything was down to the wire. Everything was worse."
There were also reports from anonymous employees who parted with the company. They have reportedly lodged a complaint with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) at one time. Unfortunately, this did not have the desired effect, but only aggravated the situation, as the employees had to accept worse treatment from the management.
All those who speak out on the subject of crunch agree that, despite the inhumane working conditions, the possibility of creating games in the company of so many talented people was something extraordinary. It is still unclear how NetherRealm and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (the publisher of the studio's games) will react to the words of former employees. It is worth noting, however, that Mortal Kombat 11 hasn't had an easy launch PR-wise. Fully justified allegations of grind, Denuvo security, and now reports of crunch. Nevertheless, the title seems to be able to fend for itself and even managed to record a best start in the history of the series.