November 19, 2004

Another Developer Pontificates on Electronic Arts Labor Practices

News.com has an article on Joe Straitiff who was fired from Electronic Arts for refusing to work 80 hours a week. On one hand, many of these employees do get paid over $100k and get stock options. EA stock has doubled in the last couple of years, so don't minimize that. However the hundred hour weeks without overtime pay is a tough situation, especially if you are a lower level worker who doesn't get a lot of stock options.

But game industry employees argue that months-long crunches are too much. One former EA employee in Canada, who asked to remain anonymous, earned more than $100,000 as an art director but said the company expected an oppressive amount of work hours. He said he once worked for four months without a day off and put in 80 to 110 hours per week for about eight consecutive months.
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