Jason Schreier from Kotaku shared a detailed in-depth report with a title The Human Cost of Call Of Duty Black Ops 4. His report reveals issues faced by Treyarch developers, his report claims the employees were annoyed with Activision decision to add more and more microtransactions in the game to drive revenue. Below is one of the sentence taken down from the report, for the full report please click the source link.
In interviews, many said they were just as frustrated with publisher Activision’s never-ending quest for increased revenue, and they were frustrated with the lack of influence they had on it. One of the most common complaints I heard from lower-level Treyarch staffers was that despite putting in night after night and weekend after weekend, they were rarely allowed to offer creative input on the game. – Kotaku.
Treyarch Devs were frustrated by the issue leading to a constant clash of minds between the creative and the suits at Activision.
People who are making the managerial decisions, the hiring managers, people in charge of all the departments who make the decisions day to day, they’re the ones who benefit from the bonuses, the higher pay, the benefits,” said one Treyarch contractor. “At the end of the day we’re all still there together working on the game. And yet we’re all treated differently.
Higher pay is nice according to one tester but what should be changed is the work conditions. Majority of us just wanted to be treated equally shared one of the testers, all are serious about the game and everyone had given days to work on it, but being treated as a subhuman even after being worked hard equally frustrates most in Treyarch.
After the report was published by Kotaku, Treyarch studio heads Dan Bunting and Mark Gordon dropped an email to the staff where they had requested to communicate with the department manager and openly share their concerns.
This has been a common issue among various studios were due to harsh working condition and unequal work environments had raised always raised concern. More have been among those who are on contracts.
