Development crunch is a high-profile problem at Western studios, but its place in Japanese work culture is complicated.
Trigger warning: This article discusses depression, suicide, and associated outcomes of work-related stress.
Attention regarding development crunch, once a relatively unremarked upon reality of game development, has gone mainstream.
This raises obvious practical questions: Does crunch exist within Japanese studios?
How is it recognized and treated within the cultural context of Japanese businesses?
The Japanese industry is notably insular, leading to very little information about their inner workings reaching Western audiences.
Esteban Salazar is vice president of business development at the Tokyo-based studio Stage Games.
He previously spent time at Success, Grasshopper, and Marvelous.
Overtime is the norm, stuff like that.
The legal structure of work differs in Japan, too.
Salazar noted that forced overtime is illegal in Japan.
Managers set the standard by their own behavior–it’s considered bad form to leave before the boss.
If your manager is staying late, it’s understood that you should, too.
When we do, we might not recognize them.
At work, too, he believes that struggle amplifies accomplishment."
Employees who leave work before their coworkers often part by sayingosakini shitsureishimasu.
This roughly translates, “I’m sorry for leaving before you.”
“Anecdotally, I’ll go home on time,” Salazar said.
“My work is done, I’m not going to stick around.
And I’ve been told, ‘Oh, you’re going home early.’
And I’m like no, I’m not going home early, I’m leaving on time.
I’ve finished my work for the day…
I’m leaving on time, I’m not leaving early.”
Aburakku kigyouor “black company” refers to a corporation known for its exploitative conditions.
More importantly, workers will often warn each other away from companies through whisper networks.
“Occasionally you hear things about that,” Salazar said.
“Like, ‘oh, I’ve heard that company is very black.
You know, it’s the blackest company, you don’t want to work there.’
And you definitely don’t hear about it in the Western media.”
These can range from stress-induced heart attacks and strokes to suicide.
The company later reached an out-of-court settlement with the family, and the company founder apologized.
Rovina Roquero and Salazar both said they’ve witnessed colleagues suffering from these acute issues.
“One of these people left because of the stress,” Salazar said.
“She was working a lot of overtime.
I think she had maybe some disagreements with some of the people that were supposed to be training her.
She left because she said her health was suffering from the job.”
It was a positive step, but companies weren’t uniformly on-board.
And that work culture, in turn, has an impact on family life.
And when that happens, it’s often interpreted less as a warning sign than a goal.
“I have seen people that are asleep at their desk,” Salazar said.
“Not just during break time, but at lunch, or our designated break time.
It’s kind of seen as something to be aspired to.
Like, ‘Oh, that person’s working very hard.'”
Sometimes, those long hours include not just standard overtime, but attempting to learn an entirely new field.
“We had new graduates come in who were very keen to be joining the games business.
Fresh out of school, the kind of people you really want.
The people that remind you how great it is to make games for a living.
“There were people that were learning to program that had never programmed before and things like that.
Killing themselves to do it.
Staying after hours to learn more about their new job they hadn’t studied at school.”
Understanding all of this, the question ceases to be whether crunch exists in Japanese game development.
Video games are just one part of a larger tech employment culture that often demands long hours.
And while companies are keen to hire international workers, there can be a culture shock.
“It can lead to tension,” he said.
“There’s two different understandings of what hard work is.
There was a kind of separation between the Japanese employees and the foreigners.
Because the foreigners would be like, ‘Oh, I’m not staying late.
I’m going home.
I’ve got a life outside this company that I want to get to.’
During crunch time, the foreigners still crunched.
They wouldn’t stay until the last train, or sleep at the office.
I’ve seen people sleeping at the office.”
And all of this presents a quandary in how we respond as an audience.
We often learn that a particular studio utilized crunch at a certain time and for a certain period.
In Japan, crunch is potentially anywhere, at any time.
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