#Epic games dortnite Pc#
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“The biggest problem is that we’re patching all the time. If I take time off, the workload falls on other people, and no one wants to be that guy. The company gives us unlimited time off, but it’s almost impossible to take the time. “There’s probably at least 50 or even 100 other people at Epic working those hours. “I work an average 70 hours a week,” said one employee. Epic requires that current and former staff sign nondisclosure agreements limiting their ability to speak about the company’s operations. They all requested that their identities be protected, for fear of retribution from Epic or other employers in the game industry. Polygon interviewed current and former employees of Epic, including full-time staff, managers, and contractors working in development, QA, and customer service departments.

#Epic games dortnite series#

This transition away from hard launches of singular products creates a rolling series of deadlines for game makers. In a matter of months, some of Fortnite’s top streamers have become multimillionaires.įortnite Battle Royale is part of a broad trend in gaming, known as “games as a service,” in which popular titles are constantly updated with new modes, skins, weapons, and characters to keep the audience playing. Its regular updates, including new weapons and map alterations, are followed avidly by millions of players and fans. It is currently the most popular game in the world, especially among children.

#Epic games dortnite Pc#

While Epic spent years developing Save the World, the game’s original incarnation, the company rushed Battle Royale to market in response to the success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Windows PC and its impending release on consoles.įortnite Battle Royale quickly became a cultural phenomenon, earning Epic millions of dollars per day, and funding rapid growth at the company.

The game followed the summer release of Fortnite: Save the World, in which teams of players work together, gathering loot to fend off zombie hordes.

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“Getting a weekend away from work is a major achievement”Įpic launched Fortnite Battle Royale in September 2017 as a free game, in which 100 players are dropped onto an island, fighting one another until only one remains. Many workers in the game industry are hired as contractors, further limiting their rights. Some, such as Game Workers Unite, are calling for game industry workers to unionize in order to protect their rights. But in the age of early access releases, post-launch updates, downloadable content, and games as a service, crunch can be a constant problem. In the game industry specifically, it was generally associated with the period leading up to a game’s launch. Some reported suffering health issues after working consecutive months of 70-hour weeks.Ĭrunch is the name given to working intense overtime, sometimes for stretches that last weeks or months. Contract staff in Epic’s quality assurance and customer service departments spoke of a stressful and hostile working environment in which working overtime - while officially voluntary - was an expected service to the company.Īlthough contract staff were paid overtime, developers report a culture of fear, in which they were expected to pull long hours as part of their job.

In a dozen interviews conducted by Polygon over a period of several months, current and former employees say they regularly worked in excess of 70-hour weeks, with some reporting 100-hour weeks. But the game’s explosive growth led to months of intense crunch for Epic employees and contractors, some of whom say they felt extreme pressure to work grueling hours to maintain Fortnite’s success and profitability, resulting in a toxic, stressful environment at the company. The popularity of Fortnite has been transformative for Epic Games.