THQ has responded to the recent revelations by an anonymous employee regarding intense crunch work taking place at Homefront developer Kaos as the game nears completition ahead of its release in March. The publisher has defended the working hours but said that it will try to lessen the impact on staff for the game's sequel.
The anonymous employee claimed that staff at New York-based Kaos had been working ten-hour days for six months, including some weekends. He went on to say that the studio had now reached a point where other staff were working seven days a week and that “over the holiday many of us were on call and unable to leave to see our family”.
Speaking to Develop, studio head, David Votypka, corroborates the employee's claims, but stresses that ten-hour days are neither "unique or abhorrent", adding: "Digital media companies, marketers, PR, even accountants in various industries throughout the nation, work ten-hour days regularly, 52 weeks per year."
THQ core games boss, Danny Bilson agrees: "There is an answer to [crunch], and it's better production pacing from the beginning. In the course of three years on Homefront, in the first 18 months there were a lot of changes and certain dips. Everyone's going to crunch on every game, it's just how long that crunch lasts [that's the issue].
"So we have to reduce the length of crunch. Every developer expects it; they're wise, they know what crunch is, their family knows what crunch is. But minimising the crunch is the issue. When 'quality first' comes into play, it can create more crunch. But honestly, the seeds of the crunch at Kaos were sown 18 months to three years ago. The first 18 months of how it got going and how it didn't get going and certain things, they've known for 18 months that the end was going to be rough.
"Is it rougher than other crunches? No. I've been been in some when I was in product development - and I've certainly watched it happen at other companies. Can you do it every year? No. Can you do it every three years? Maybe. But believe me, as they come out of it, all of the planning for the sequel is to avoid the length of crunch [seen on Homefront 1]."
"But you know why they're all there [at the studio throughout crunch]? It's because to any game developer worth their salt that I've ever met, making a great game is the most important thing. I think they're on that mission to make the best game they can, and if I said: 'Guys, you got three more weeks - which means three more weeks of crunch' - they'd say: 'Thank you.' Right? Making Homefront great is the most important thing to them."