"Unionize!" - Ummm, that doesn't really fix anything discussed (excrutiatingly poor leadership at the Bioware level) but sure, keep fighting the good fight
I think the idea is that the working conditions are currently unacceptable, and that forcing restrictions on them might actually force management to plan rather than rely exclusively on crunch time to "finish" games as they have in the past. In reality, it's likely not that easy, but it's obvious something must change - both for the workers, and for the quality of games. What isn't as obvious, is what needs to change IMO.
Crunch time will always be a thing (experienced it myself in the software development world), but relying on it almost exclusively is obviously not a sustainable model.
"People crying at work is not acceptable" - Yeah well, there are lot of really weak people who can't handle any kind of stress. It certainly is a problem and something that needs to be looked at but this is the real world: it is stressful and having to deal with people who fail upwards is just how it is
True, but it's not a good condition for either the workers or the productivity and, hence, the company itself. There are steps that can be taken to mitigate this, as a project being mismanaged like this should not be "how it is". I realize the real world isn't an ideal scenario, but that doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't be improved - particularly from our perspective, where the product obviously suffers.
"Frostbite sucks! Screw EA" - Bioware chose to use Frostbite despite knowing how hard of time they had with it pn Andromeda and knowing EA wouldn't give them support over Fifa.
I'm pretty sure the use of Frostbite was known to be a mandate from Soderlund across EA, rather than specifically BioWare's choice. They mentioned this in the article, and it's come up as an issue as far back as Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Calling this "real journalism" is a huge stretch since it only got one side of the story (understandbly, awful managers tend to not want to talk to anyone) and he got people who help push his "unions for everyone" narrative.
Granted, we have a very low standard for "real" journalism in the games industry. However, the fact that we have insider testimonies into a company's inner workings is a rare treat. Jason Schreier is really the only one who (occasionally) provides this.
The call to unionize really has nothing to do with the target audience for this article, anyways...that's between the workers and the developers/publishers, and if anyone knows what their industry is like, it's them. Gamers have no more authority than someone with an internet connection, a passing interest, and a big mouth.
I'm not sure if it's sad that we as North Americans read an informative news article and only see an agenda, or if it's sad that every informative news article also has an agenda. It's probably one of those things, maybe a bit of both....either way, all I can tell you for sure is it makes me sad.
At the very least, it's interesting to hear about the issues with the engine, the diverting of resources, a flip-flopping design direction, and the lack of support. It all makes a lot of sense, really.
