According to a new report by Colin Campbell of Polygon, several employees at Epic Games are working in excess of 100 hours per week on their worldwide phenomenon Fortnite.
The report featured 12 current and former employees who worked in the development, quality assurance, and customer service departments. One employee revealed that between 50 and 100 employees within the studio currently work 70 hours per week on average and if any employee takes time off for any reason, their work will then be transfered to another employee. Stating:
“I work an average 70 hours a week. There’s probably at least 50 or even 100 other people at Epic working those hours. I know people who pull 100-hour weeks. The company gives us unlimited time off, but it’s almost impossible to take the time. If I take time off, the workload falls on other people, and no one wants to be that guy.
Since the report was published a representative of Epic Games has stated that part of this is due to crunch time and did reveal that in some cases people have worked over 100 hours per week. Stating:
“Extreme situations such as 100-hour work weeks are incredibly rare, and in those instances, we seek to immediately remedy them to avoid recurrence.”
Many believe this will add more recognition to groups like Game Workers Unite which aim to start a union within the games industry.
