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Workers 'rights in the video game industry have become a hot topic, prompted by massive layoffs without notice, closures of workshops and horrendous stories of developers' parades.
The work needed to create gigantic and expansive worlds is partly the reason why such stories exist. And when you think of the impossibly gigantic virtual worlds, Ubisoft and its open world Assassin & # 39; s Creed the series comes immediately to mind.
In a recent interview with the leaders behind Assassin's Creed Odyssey Ubisoft Quebec studio, the conversation focused on tightening and work-life balance. Although the experience of one person in the same studio differs from that of another (the bosses admit that there is still work to be done), they have however been able to offer a view from the top of one of the biggest video game productions of 2018.
Edited for length and clarity.
So you have all this experience of managing large teams and things like that, and of course we are conducting this interview in the midst of these conversations about these labor issues, we are talking about unionization, we are talking about crisis, of these massive layoffs. arrive all of a sudden, work-life balance.
I wonder what you think about these ongoing conversations and how do you approach these problems at Ubisoft, in your studio?
Patrick Klaus, General Manager of Ubisoft Quebec Studio: Yes, it is a very real subject. And this is something for which the studio, in recent years, has done its best to be extremely proactive, trying to get into the competition with the best, but also ensuring that our teams, our talents, our creators, are well placed to continue to grow, [they’re] Feel good about staying at the studio and want to provide some work-life balance.
"We … think that the exhaustion of our teams is a false economy, we risk losing them or disengaging them, and we will not get the best out of these talents if we force them to work insane. . " hours of crisis. "
We put a huge emphasis [on this] to post-Assassin's Creed Syndicatewhich was difficult. It was our first big triple-A [game] leaving Quebec City. [We had] seek to improve certain ways in which we develop our games in terms of scope, work we undertake in terms of prioritizing our investments, in terms of role and responsibility, in terms of tools; to be more efficient in the way we work.
Although we can always do better, I can tell you, hand in hand, that[[[[Assassin's Creed Odyssey]did not require a massive crisis, as maybe some of the triple-businesses of five or ten years ago. We can always do better, but we have been pretty successful in delivering a great game that hits good quality. [level], while ensuring that our teams are not exhausted and disgusted to work in games.
In our management team, we collectively believe that exhausting our teams is a false economy. We risk losing them, or disengaging them, and we just will not get the best out of these talents if we force them to work hard at crazy hours. We still have some way to go, but I am happy with what we have accomplished.
Marc-Alexis Côté, Senior Producer, Odyssey: Let me step in … The way we will continue to improve the games is to continue to work together as a team and to continue to grow the team. The only way to do that is if people want to continue working together. And the way to do it is to have a good work-life balance within the team – because [a bad balance] That's when problems start to occur.
I have been at Ubisoft Québec since June 27, 2005, since the opening day of the studio. I was a programmer, a level designer, a game director, a game designer, a creative director – I've seen almost everything. I've seen the growth of the studio and the production of games from different angles. And certainly, at least here at Ubisoft, the way we approach these great triple-A productions worth hundreds of millions of dollars is very different from what it was in the past.
I think we have matured in the way we manage what we are trying to achieve. It may sound trivial, but [the way] you avoid long-term tightening, it's about continually reassessing where you are, what you're trying to achieve, how much work remains to be done, and better measuring that.
It was something we had very, very badly 15 years ago, but as the industry grows, we are managing our teams and our scale better and better. All the studios will not develop in this way, not all teams will develop in this way, but this is one of the commitments we made to our team when we started: that we manage the scope of the game that it was super ambitious, but every two weeks we would reevaluate it with them to make sure it remains feasible.
Just to follow up: Patrick had mentioned being proactive, you talked about tools and efficiency and evaluate [progress] regularly. Could you discuss concretely how you communicate with your staff? You mention every two weeks that you talk to people? And also what settings do you keep in mind when it comes to manpower and workload?
"It may sound trivial, but [the way] you avoid long-term tightening, it's about continually reassessing where you are, what you're trying to achieve, how much work remains to be done, and better measuring that. "
Side: We try to have the workload assessed by our teams. So we have creative goals that flow from the creative direction, the teams themselves. But we want them to define their own work, so we say things like, "It's the high-level goal we're trying to reach, how do you achieve that goal?"
We try to bring in the team, to introduce a lot of agile development principles into the broader game development framework. So you do not necessarily have to deal with this as an engineering project, but rather try to approach it in a multidisciplinary way. work where everyone sits and tries to [do] it works together.
And if that does not work out – sometimes the teams decide, "It's so important to us that we do more work." And often, when we see a team doing more work, what we do Let's get them to rest a little bit later, again [in order to] not accumulate the type of debt that we often see on a project cycle of three or four years.
If a team says, "We really think it will improve the game, we want to make an extra push." It's like everything is fine, but then you have to slightly lift your foot off the pedal to stay in good shape and maintain that kind of balance. This is the kind of tool we put at the disposal of teams to be able to define their scope and propose solutions to achieve the creative vision so that it is not a dictatorship. Rather, it is an ongoing discussion between management, the team and the creative part of the team. And, again, rest people on a regular basis so that they can stay fresh and motivated.
Many jobs in creative industries studios – they do not have 9 to 5 jobs. Do you think it's a possibility? to have this kind of "schedule" of a "regular job" in game development?
Side: We give our employees a lot of flexibility to structure their schedule according to the work they have to do. I'm really trying to see this as a kind of three-year cycle or four years depending on the project.
A lot of time during project development, it's not a 9-5 job as you say. It could be a 9-3 job, it could be a 9-4 job. Sometimes it's a 9-6 job, so again, producing a video game is not a constant job. We ask people to be creative, that's what we're looking for in people.
But we try to give them the flexibility of both. It is not enough to come to work. If you're in a more difficult time, we think it's good for you to be at home if you wish, and to let yourself cool and think about things that could improve the game or improve your career, or all the rest.
But sometimes … and still often, it comes from the people themselves. They have a brilliant idea, they want to apply it, so they will put pressure for a few weeks and then rest a bit.
Klaus: If I may add, what we are seeing is that we are getting better results with some autonomy. [for our teams]. Obviously, autonomy implies the responsibility of teams, individuals. It works better for us.
But also, we are not in New York, San Francisco or London in terms of talent pool. We must therefore keep our teams, our creators, fulfilled, happy and engaged in the studio. Because if we lose them, you know, it's hard to find the level of talent you've invested in. It is therefore beneficial to take care of our teams, not just to start a game, but also to [keep] our teams in good health.
With respect to some of the checkpoints as well, in our projects, we look at the deliverables, we look at what has been achieved compared to what was planned. We also analyze, together, the health outcomes of the team, based on certain indicators.
Which indicators do you use? Can you give me some examples regarding measuring the health of a team?
Klaus: Things to do with the score of the net promoter. I do not know how familiar you are with this process, to take a snapshot of your team and have some data on promoters minus detractors and neutrals, and you can follow that trend over time and dig into it.
As for the pyramid, the pyramid of Maslow's basic hierarchy of needs, do they have the tools, do they understand the vision, do they have the structure, the way is it cleared? Marc-Alexis and the management team will endeavor, every time they see data that will raise certain flags, to dive in and see that a small snowball does not become an avalanche. Go to the action and then follow up.
"You want people to invest, but if you are simply moved from one project to the other, it can also result in creative burnout, so we found."
Jon Dumont, Creative Director, Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Without going into the big formulas, one of the design principles we try to establish is to review the content of the game every two weeks. The content management team [helps determine what] we will continue to push – things that unfold. But [it also helps determine which content to] give up quickly – which we are not sure or what the team thinks is not good.
Our commitment to the team is to look for the right designs so we do not try to force something that does everything, you know, like a pizza. Then we try to determine what is good about it, which is true in the design process, every two weeks. we [also] Organize milestone assessments every six to eight weeks in which we quickly evaluate the game, what is missing, what we should stop working on and what is good.
And the team is part of that decision-making and evaluation. It helps us not to push a million things at the same time. Even though they are gigantic teams and we have collaborators everywhere, we try to really evaluate what's out there, ask the right questions and say what we would like to go into a bit more. The team focuses on the good things most of the time. It's not always perfect, but we're really trying to focus on improving the game instead of hoping these things will improve it.
We try to be agile in long-term management, as well as from the point of view of design, instead of imposing a game bible at the beginning of the game and doing it for three years.
In the video game industry, the idea is that when a project ends, you fire a group of people. But that does not happen too often with Ubisoft. So, how do you manage the numbers during the ascent and descent and between projects?
Klaus: We never do that at Ubisoft; these large fractures at the end of the project. This is not in our philosophy.
Two things to answer your question. The first is that the triple-A games we make evolve. Previously, there was a massive reduction in the number of times you got your master gold, you submit to a first part and you go to manufacturing. Most Ubisoft games, if not all, especially Assassin's Creed works towards a very long, very long game cycle.
Yesterday, we announced the post-launch plan, the most ambitious we've ever seen on a Assassin's Creed. We want brand actors to provide content to keep them entertained and enjoying them. This means that a significant part of the team will continue to work on Assassin's Creed Odyssey and post-launch in the foreseeable future.
In terms of workforce management, it is the staffing of staff Odyssey. We are fortunate to have other projects under way at Ubisoft Quebec, which unfortunately I can not talk about, but I am going to take some of it. [staff to] rise in power. We are also a collaborative network of studios where co-development from one studio to another is part of Ubisoft's DNA.
For example, if 60 creators are available in the next six to nine months, I will discuss with some of the [managing directors] from other studios – Montreal, Toronto – and explain to them what this talent pool looks like in terms of features and how we could potentially help some of those other big triple-AS from the Ubisoft portfolio.
Side: Before each person moves on to another project, she also has time to rest. It's really a studio-level initiative, so people have time to calm down.
You are so involved in the work that you do creatively. You want people to invest, but if you are moved from one project to another, it can also lead to creative burnout, so we found.
The other thing that matters is sometimes that, at the end of a project, you will find that you will need some types of people less than before, but you may need their expertise. … So [for example] we have a group of artists on Odyssey who have started to implement a project to improve their skills while remaining available for a project when needed. Again, this is our way of trying to make sure that we want to continue working together, so that we become better.
Klaus: I think in this relationship of trust with our teams and in the growth of our staff and in the investment we invest in our staff is more important than the optimization of the income statement because if we were only motivated by the optimization of the income statement, we could proceed with reductions. at the end of the project. But our talent is our power and we will invest in our talent.
Note: In the follow-up emails after the interview, we asked, "What is Patrick?" [Klaus]Is the union's view of the suggestion that the gaming industry should be organized and think that Ubisoft would do it one day? "Has it ever been raised inside workers and management?" Ubisoft Quebec refused to comment on also refused to offer detailed measures regarding extended periods of work.
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