Then why not take the criticism on the chin? Crunch is bad at any studio, including Bethesda. Own it, don't deflect.

Sometimes you just gotta take it, Booty..

That just makes them a hypocrite?

That's exactly why you would say such a thing. There's literally no other reason to mention it unless you're justifying it.

And yet he feels he should defend them. So he's acknowledged the issue, it makes no odds when it took place.

If he feels the need to comment on it at all, he should simply assure everyone that it won't happen on his watch. Instead, he defended them because he felt they were being singled out. That's deflection, not condemnation.

Pointless saying this to you though, I do realise this.

Did YOU bother to read the article? Or is your brain selective with the information it can absorb?

"Former Bethesda employees said that Xbox took a hands-off approach to managing ZeniMax once the acquisition closed, frustrating workers who’d hoped that Microsoft would improve their employment benefits.

ZeniMax wasn’t the only Xbox-owned studio that allegedly received relative autonomy from the publisher. Former employees at Undead Labs also claimed that Xbox took a “hands-off” approach after acquiring that game studio. While it may seem good that the publisher is allowing acquired studios some operational freedoms, sources at Undead Labs worried that such permissiveness “allowed dysfunction to fester.”"

Lmao don't be ridiculous. How are you gonna put this awful practice on the gamer? If it's not ready, gamers whine, so what? They'll still buy it down the line and devs/pubs know that. You think if I send a tweet saying "hurry up", they're going to work harder and longer? Lol

It's done to make money sooner. To satisfy investors, per the preferred schedule, at the behest of the management. You can't possibly be that naive that you don't understand that. I refuse to believe it.

I never said it was wholly the gamers fault - obviously corporations are to blame too, but yes, gamers contribute.

The next time a big game gets delayed, go on the developers twitter and see how much abuse they get - both the company and the individuals who work there. Some will even be getting death threats if the game is big enough.

And no naivety at all on my part - I've lived through game delays myself, seen how much potential community reaction is weighted before making the call to delay a title, and seen the BS received from the community.

The industry and gamers view game delays as the end of the world and use it as a reason to attack the people working on the game, when in reality, delays should be common to ensure both quality of the game and quality of life for the staff.

^ Orchard, you clearly have zero clue what you're talking about on this front.

Now you're justifying crunch if the backlash is bad enough. A few stupid people on twitter say stupid things and you'll adjust a project timeline to appease them? That's just not how the world works, but go ahead and try screaming and swearing next time you get a parking ticket and test the theory for yourself lol

You never give in to bullies. All that does is proliferate bullying. I can accept that's not always easy if it's one-to-one and face-to-face, but for a corporation what you're suggesting is pure fantasy and if that's how you make your decisions, you'll last 5 minutes in the role.

As for your suggestion "delays should be common", no, the project should be better managed, obviously outside of extenuating circumstances like pandemics, earthquakes and the like.

Crunch is never the answer, on that we can agree, but if you arrive at a point where that option is even being discussed, you'd better have a damn good reason for things getting that far.

MS is larger than all 3.

No they are not. Google it.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/te...

Here is one but there is much more written on this.

Well since I don’t have hard data to either refute or a agree with your opinion. I’ll stand by what I’ve said. But that is really where the problem arises. Nobody knows for sure how much crunching goes on and how widespread it is. One persons experience at one company does not speak for the whole.
As for delays, can you provide data that supports your claim that with that extra time they are crunching? I’m not saying your wrong but opinion vs hard facts and obviously hard facts are what’s needed.