In 2018, game development studio Techland announced that it would survive a sequel to its horror hit Dying light. The game would be released earlier in the spring of last year, but it would be delayed indefinitely, with no clear release date or launch window announced from January 2020. With the silence around Dying light 2 an urgent question has been around for over a year which is the reason why the game is enduring such a difficult development.
A recent report from TheGamer‘s Editor-in-Chief, Kirk McKeand, gives us some long-awaited answers, outlining the struggling state of the studio’s work environment and shedding light on many issues affecting the development of the studio. Dying light prosecute. The report contains excerpts from ten interviews with former and current employees at Techland, all of whom wish to remain anonymous.
The evidence shared in the report claims that Techland is being masked by an “autocratic management, poor planning and a toxic work culture descending from above.” The report also claims that the management of the company had a negative effect on the morale and workflow of the employees, which in turn caused problems Dying light 2s continuous development.
Many of the problems apparently stem from high-ranking employees, including CEO Pawel Marchewka. Sources told TheGamer that Marchewka and managers of Techland rejected ideas from the studio’s experts, causing roadblocks in the game’s development:
“When an expert starts advising things that are not in line with the board’s agenda, it is slowly isolated from the project and responsibilities,” says another source. ‘It leads to them leaving or eventually being fired. To make a career at Techland, you have to be helpful. ”
At one point, the studio hired veteran Marc Albinet, who was previously a games director at Ubisoft, to restructure the studio’s design process. The 30-year veteran in the industry is failing to get the new workflow proposal approved by senior management, the report said.
In the past two months alone, at least 20 employees have left Techland, according to the report. With the studio’s high turnover rate, a source claims Dying light 2 ‘his narrative was rewritten “six times or so”. Due to the numerous rewrites, one source told the outlet that he has no idea what the final product will look like.
In response to staff retention, Marchewka said TheGamer that ‘making games is difficult and normal that sometimes there is a need to change the workplace and look for new challenges. I am very sorry that some of our employees left us and decided to find their way outside the structures of Techland, but I always wish them the best. ”
The report highlights other flaws at Techland and how the work culture is negatively impacted Dying light 2. I encourage you to study full time to read the full report to look at the appearance it offers with the problems of game development.