gabe1010
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2023
- Messages
- 25
from glassdoor:
TLDR: they overscope, they don't promote or even recognize talented people, they suffer from nepotism, they don't keep up to date with advances in game design and tech, they focus on story to the detriment of everything else (which is a bigger deal for a 3D first person game than their old isometric stuff), and have very little experience with genuine AAA titles (basically 2D iso stuff and mediocre AA Unreal semi-open hub games).
Employee promotion is almost nonexistent. The leads and directors are entrenched, even with other employees who could do a better job. If it were a bigger company this wouldn't be that big of a deal. At its current size this stifles the studio's overall growth.All of this contributes to a feeling of, "don't rock the boat." When you're hired, you'll probably stay at the position for the rest of your time at Obsidian. Owners will dangle promotion promises for years until people either threaten to quit or just straight up leave. The company has lost A LOT of good employees this way.
Company has been around 15 years, run by people who've been around 10 more. You'd think they'd know how to run a business by now, but you'd be wrong. Leadership is completely entrenched in old ideas and micromanagement. Despite several close calls in the past, the company has not structured deals in a timely & effective manner to prevent massive layoffs. Any sense of "open" structure is an utter farce - leadership has no time for you on a personal level (despite the facade of an 'open-door policy) meanwhile getting involved on a microscopic level on projects and not allowing the talent they have to shine. Pay is below average, no bonuses. Zero career progression/promotions, spare in-the-trench or if you're a friend or family of an owner. Massive nepotism. HR is utterly incompetent. Owners have explicitly said they don't read reviews and decide raises based on their opinion of you. Due to micromanagement, leadership causes massive delays in projects due to midnight hour decisions or pivoting. Company strategy is to do the same thing for the next 5+ years with little innovation. Executive producer holds all the power.
Games tend to be way over scoped and under staffed leaving a lot of game to be cut back at the end of production.
The don't focus on anything other than story. The art department is kind of a joke and they don't focus on making a game great there. Instead the keep saying that story is everything and really everything should be important. I feel like they are so behind on tech, art and real game-play that they are doomed to fail. I couldn't stay there anymore. The art directors there, I feel, have given up on making great art or are are just extremely toxic.
Vastly overscoped projects. Gaslighting when backpedaling on overscoped requests. Embarrassingly limited understanding of what makes a "AAA" game. Almost nonexistent understanding of modern sustainable production. The review titled "subsistence-level game development" is sadly still true. Much of the practices stem from a game dev philosophy of 20+ years ago and many leads and directors cling to ideals from that era. Upper management reacts at a glacial pace to team pleas for help.
TLDR: they overscope, they don't promote or even recognize talented people, they suffer from nepotism, they don't keep up to date with advances in game design and tech, they focus on story to the detriment of everything else (which is a bigger deal for a 3D first person game than their old isometric stuff), and have very little experience with genuine AAA titles (basically 2D iso stuff and mediocre AA Unreal semi-open hub games).