Playing Hard "The For Honor Documentary"

[Badnik Mechanic]

So there's a documentary on Netflix right now called Playing Hard.

It basically follows the development of the game For Honor, yes the Ubisoft title which is very grindy.

 

I don't want to spoil too much about it, but.... It's a really eye opening look at the politics of game development to the point where you'll be asking for someone to look into how game devs are treated.

Whilst the doc follows the development and release of the game, they avoid the grind and micro transactions controversy and make the game out to be a huge hit. 

There is a really shocking sub story going on... 

Basically, the creator of the game slowly has creative control taken away from him, before he's effectively fired and kicked out of the company just prior to the games release.

The health and mental well being of some of the devs completely collapses, one shows how he now has to sleep wearing an oxygen mask because his health is so poor.

 

So many of the devs just appear depressed as the management slowly puts more demands on them and starts to change what they want to make into a money making machine.

Give this a watch, it's about 1 hour 30min so it's not that long and it's a really interesting insight.

[SgtBloxx]

Will this series be covering other games in the industry?

[Kaze no Klonoa]

Haven’t heard about this at all, but I will stress that unions are very crucial to alleviating this and that if you’re working in the games industry and are frustrated with bad conditions, consider talking to your co-workers and go to a organization like Game Workers Unite (gameworkersunite.org) to get the resources and advice you need to start a union internally. 

If you’re not involved with the industry, supporting us is more than enough! Most games are often made at the expense of other people and it’s a problem that’s the result of no one condemning awful treatment of workers and disorganized management.