Providing a frank insight in to the pressures of game development, a beleaguered employee from Kaos Studios has spoken out about the studio's intense efforts to get Homefront finished on time. He reveals that employees had been working a ten hour daily schedule for six months and are now embarking on "7 day a week crunch mode."
Speaking to Develop , the Kaos Studio source said “we have been crunching for the last 6 months or so at 10 hours a day and if we did not hit our bug goal that week we would have to come one weekend day as well for 6 days a week. Over the holiday many of us were on call and unable to leave to see our family or do whatever. And now we are in 7 day a week crunch mode."
Meanwhile THQ's Vice President of Core Games Danny Bilson joked about the schedule on Twitter , saying "At Kaos studios in NY sitting with a team that's finaling on 7 day weeks for a couple of months. Talk about that "thousand yard stare."
Writing to Develop in response to these reports, Kaos general manager, David Votypka refutes the claim that employees were asked to work over the holiday period. "The main part of the “holiday” time that could not be taken off this year by the entire team, was the week between Christmas and New Years. Generally THQ gives that time off, but it is discretionary based on project needs, and part of the team was needed to work several of those days."
He also states that while Bilson's "7 days for a couple of months" claim was an exaggeration, one third of the hundred strong development team are working 7 day weeks, saying “this has only been the case for the last two to three weeks leading into our final submission.”
