Epic Games Laying Off 900 People is Good, Actually – Bring Back Da Crunch!

Another A-hole Gamer here! I’m gonna ignore Flavian Braggadoccio’s absurd assertion that Tic Tac Toe Online needs an easy mode, and talk about something way more important to gamers like me, the real hero in games development – crunch.

So Epic Games has recently fired over 900 people from their company, which has caused a lot of backlash and think-pieces in the games industry. Some people are calling it a necessary move to streamline the company and focus on pushing out more branded skins in Fortnite. Others are calling it a sign of greed and corporate malfeasance, and that Tim Sweeney shouldn’t have tried to bribe developers with so much cash, or sued Apple in a holy war against platform fees. Either way, nobody – not even an a-hole like me – likes to see layoffs.

But personally, I think it’s good for the industry. We’ve been suffering from a glut of low quality games for too long, and this may be the wake-up call we need to get back to the good ole days of video game development. When companies didn’t waste time on “live services” that didn’t matter and focused on pumping out oodles of games that were fun to play, cracking the whip when need be. Which was quite often. No whip? Well, then no Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. No Mass Effect series. And certainly no The Last of Us.

I also love the idea of crunch time. It reminds me of when I was in college, working on my master’s thesis at 3 am while downing Red Bulls and eating cold pizza. Those were the good days. Nowadays, there are too many people who want to be coddled and have everything handed to them. It’s time to get back to basics and do things the old fashioned way – 80 hours a week, and with the constant threat of being fired after the game is launched.

Epic Games is a trendsetter, and I hope other companies follow suit. Let’s bring back the crunch, the hard work, and the dedication that made video games great. And let’s not forget about the gamers, because they’re the reason we’re all here in the first place!