Pros
Pay is double that of almost all competitors, and co-workers are generally kind, creative, and supportive. The work is extremely fun, and NDs get a lot of agency to make the stories their own. Fully remote work is super convenient.
Cons
- Terrible work-life balance I started to view holidays as extra time to work and try to get ahead instead of taking the time off. I worked 14-hour days regularly and barely stayed afloat. If anything happens — sickness, accident, life — you’re off schedule and have to magically make up the time. I worked almost every weekend and holiday. It almost cost me my family and my health. - Set up to fail The deadlines are completely unreasonable if quality of any kind is desired. NDs are responsible if their contract writers can’t meet the unreasonable deadlines, so add that to the already overly demanding work time. Contract writers are also paid terribly, not vetted at all, and have little incentive to stay on schedule, so mine regularly flaked or turned in awful work that I had to redo. - CEO referred to our content as the “chicken nuggets” of the interactive narrative space When I spoke up about the deadlines compromising product quality + my health and well-being, the response was to just make garbage (chicken nuggets). I also knew NDs who demanded way too much of their contract writers so they could look like they were getting so much done without actually doing work themselves. - No growth potential After I’d put in over a year of blood, sweat, and tears, earned bonuses for my books doing well, and consistently maintained a high quality bar, I asked about a promotion. I was assured that it would be investigated…and I never got a response. I even suggested ways to make it work, and I was eventually told they’d be happy if I left and got a promotion at a different studio. Basically, I got a soft “we’re never promoting you, so you should definitely look elsewhere.” Thank god I did. - Questionable money management Not only was I ignored in my request for a promotion, but no one received cost of living wage increases even though they were promised. Also, we received paychecks late 1-2 times, putting a lot of people in a terrible position with paying their bills.