Misplaced Pages

#878121

108-674: Sega Technical Institute ( STI ) was an American video game developer owned by Sega . Founded by the Atari veteran Mark Cerny in 1990, STI sought to combine elite Japanese developers, including the Sonic Team programmer Yuji Naka and his team, with new American talent. STI developed games for Sega Genesis , including several Sonic the Hedgehog games, before it was closed at the end of 1996. After working in Japan for Sega on games for

216-422: A Genesis Nomad launch title, received negative reviews at its launch, but was recognized for its originality, and has been retrospectively called "one of those little-known 16-bit gems that are well worth taking the effort to play through." Die Hard Arcade has also been recognized for its depth as one of the last beat 'em ups. While it was never released, journalists have considered what impact Sonic X-treme , as

324-461: A cult following . Stephens also said that the game's late release delayed STI's movement to developing Saturn software, and that "neither STI nor the Saturn ever recovered from that." The Ooze entered development in 1994, stemming from an algorithm by programmer David Sanner. The game's approval was questionable due to its being unconventional and its main character being made of toxic sludge, and

432-593: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

540-559: A "sh" by Japanese speakers. Sega initially planned to send 11 developers. Sega applied for O-1 expert visas , for "nationally or internationally recognized" people with "a record of extraordinary achievement", unaware that the developers did not qualify. As a result of the applications for this quantity of unqualified visas, the US Embassy in Tokyo denied them all and temporarily barred Sega from applying for more. Sega instead sent Cerny to

648-518: A Genesis game based on the Saturday morning Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon , and took developers from Sonic Team and STI to the DiC Animation studios to demonstrate his idea, with Morawiec later designing gameplay. However, Sega management and senior members of Sonic Team disapproved of the idea, so Morawiec moved on to work on Comix Zone . As new consoles and the 32-bit era were on the way,

756-461: A Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, may have had on the market. Retrospectively, STI is given more credit for its game development than it had while it was active. More Sonic compilations have featured games developed by STI, and Sega has since opened more external studios outside of Japan. Ashley Day of Retro Gamer stated, "only time will tell if such companies can harness the same kind of magic

864-423: A creative loss", as STI had yet to come up with a game idea on par with Sonic , but lost two months of development. STI began development on Sonic 2 with a team composed of both American and Japanese developers. Over 100 people worked on the game and the main team comprised 20 developers. Sega of America marketing director Al Nilsen said that STI wanted "to go all out" to ensure Sonic 2 would be as successful as

972-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

1080-436: A factor with the forthcoming release of new video game consoles, the 32X and Sega Saturn . As a result, Comix Zone was delayed to the beginning of 1995 and two levels were cut. Morawiec also increased the game's difficulty on recommendation of Sega's test department, a decision he later regretted. Comix Zone was released to mixed reviews and saw limited sales, and according to Stephens did not break even, but later attracted

1188-713: A fan of computer programming and arcade games , joined Atari in 1982 aged 17. At 18, he designed and co-programmed Marble Madness , his first major success. After his time with Atari, Cerny became an independent programmer and signed a contract with Sega in 1985 to work on an arcade game out of an office at the company's arcade division in San Jose, California . Cerny was approached by Sega's president, Hayao Nakayama , about canceling his project and coming to Japan to work on software for Sega' upcoming Master System console. Cerny relocated to Tokyo in late 1986. There, he developed Master System products, including launch games and

SECTION 10

#1732773390879

1296-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1404-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

1512-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1620-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

1728-458: A group of younger, but experienced, arcade developers to the US to develop games for the region, and would be supplemented with American development staff as well. Suzuki wanted to call this new studio the "Sega Institute of Technology" (SIT), but was convinced by Cerny to change the name to "Sega Technical Institute" over concerns that the "s" sound in the group's initials would be pronounced instead with

1836-684: A move was to more closely connect STI with Sega of America's product development department, but the move worried Hector that STI's special status would be in danger. Hector ensured this status would be retained, reporting directly to Toyoda at Sega of America while still being allowed to avoid Sega of America's pitch and review processes. Employees at the new STI building were also given key access exclusive to them. Hector credited this unusual arrangement for fostering creativity and making STI "very special". Developers Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens, who worked for STI, expressed fond memories of working there for its uniqueness. In 1993, STI began work on Sonic

1944-406: A new producer and art programmer to continue Spinny & Spike . Woita assumed he would return to the game after finishing Spinball , but opted to leave Sega shortly afterward, and Sega determined that development could not continue without the original team. A sequel to Comix Zone was proposed but dropped, while Morawiec and Stephens set up an office to begin work on an original Sonic game, but

2052-501: A new theme within two hours. Though it received poor reviews, Sonic Spinball sold well. Following the release of Sonic & Knuckles , Yasuhara quit, citing differences with Naka, and went on to develop games for Sega of America. Naka returned to Japan in late 1994 to continue work with Sonic Team, reuniting with Ohshima. STI was left with mostly American staff. Further complications came from internal corporate tension: Sega of America operated as an independent entity, and relations with

2160-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

2268-649: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

SECTION 20

#1732773390879

2376-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

2484-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

2592-697: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

2700-482: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

2808-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

2916-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

3024-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

3132-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

3240-549: The Jak & Daxter series. In addition to Sonic X-treme , several games were considered but ultimately never developed. A sequel to Kid Chameleon and Jester , which featured a nearly-invulnerable clay character, were canceled due to STI shifting resources to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 . Another, Spinny & Spike , was developed by Kid Chameleon programmer Steve Woita and greenlit by Kalinske, but never made it out of development after resources shifted to Sonic Spinball . Sega hired

3348-659: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

Sega Technical Institute - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

3564-516: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

3672-667: The Master System , Cerny proposed the creation of a development studio in America, which was approved. When Naka quit Sega after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog , Cerny convinced him to join STI. After completing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992, STI was divided in two due to friction between the Japanese and American developers: the Japanese developed Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles before leaving in 1994, while

3780-528: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

3888-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

3996-456: The programming language from assembly to C , an unusual choice for Genesis games at the time, which greatly accelerated development at the cost of frame rate and performance and optimization issues. A last-minute difficulty occurred when the team learned that Sega did not own the theme to Sonic the Hedgehog , which had been used in Spinball. Morawiec tasked lead composer Drossin to write

4104-575: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Shinobi (1987 video game) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

4212-614: The Americans developed games including Sonic Spinball . The failed development of Sonic X-treme for the Sega Saturn became representative of a culture shift at Sega, and STI closed at the end of 1996. The mainline Sonic the Hedgehog games developed by STI are considered significant in the history of the Genesis. Developers have described STI as a unique workplace that did not fit into Sega's corporate structure. Mark Cerny ,

4320-498: The Americans were not treated respectfully by the Japanese. Further complicating this was STI's involvement with the Sonic franchise and Naka's desire to oversee the process personally, as well as Sega of America's initial hesitation to assist given their lack of confidence in the character. After Sonic 2 was completed, Naka refused to develop another Sonic game if he had to work with an American team again. Cerny's replacement at STI

4428-540: The Hedgehog 3 . Naka selected the majority of the team, while Hector oversaw development. Due to the game's scope and Sega's commitment to the start date of a corresponding American McDonald's Happy Meal promotion and TV ad campaign, the team split the game in half, with Sonic 3 released in February 1994 and Sonic & Knuckles in October. Sonic & Knuckles was released with "lock-on technology" to connect

Sega Technical Institute - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-452: The Hedgehog 3 holds an average score of 89% at GameRankings, indicating positive reviews based on its aggregate score of five reviews, while Sonic & Knuckles also received positive reviews. All four games have been rereleased multiple times in various Sonic compilations. Kid Chameleon is recognized for its original character designs and abilities that made it play like "several different platform games rolled into one. Mega placed

4644-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

4752-1096: The Institute gave us some great games and produced some amazing talent. Today’s industry would do well to take a page from Sega’s book about how to make a development team feel at home, and the story of the Sega Technical Institute is living proof of how too much corporate interference can kill a good thing." Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

4860-420: The Japanese were not always smooth. Former Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske claimed some executives disliked that Nakayama appeared to favor US executives, and "a lot of the Japanese executives were maybe a little jealous, and I think some of that played into the decisions that were made". By contrast, author Steven L. Kent wrote that Nakayama bullied American executives and believed the Japanese executives made

4968-470: The STI offices. Cerny had envisioned the Japanese acting as mentors to the Americans, but cooperation was difficult due to language barriers and cultural differences. STI artist Craig Stitt recalled Yasuhara and lead artist Yasushi Yamaguchi as easy to work with, but Naka as "an arrogant pain in the ass" not interested in working with Americans. Another STI artist, Tim Skelly, said that Naka would have been happier working with an all-Japanese team. Cerny said of

5076-403: The Sega Technical Institute did so long ago." Ken Horowitz of Sega-16 stressed the importance of STI's games on the Genesis, and also framed STI's history as a cautionary tale of corporate politics. Of this, Horowitz said, "Be it the continued growth and success of the core Sonic games, the innovative original titles, or the unique development atmosphere that was unrivaled anywhere else at Sega,

5184-616: The SegaScope 3D glasses accessory. Despite initially planning on a six-month stay, he worked with Sega in Japan for over three years. In 1990, Cerny desired to return to the United States. At the same time, the Sega of America CEO, Michael Katz, and the executive vice president, Shinobu Toyoda, prioritized increasing game development in the US due to a lack of games catering to American tastes. This resulted in Sega's head of research and development, Hisashi Suzuki, announcing his intention to send

5292-587: The US and had him hire Americans without assistance from Japan. Believing it would bolster creativity, Cerny located STI near the arcade division offices in San Jose, away from Sega of America's headquarters in San Francisco . Within a year, STI had outgrown its space and relocated to Palo Alto . Ken Balthaser, Sega of America's product development manager, did not support STI's independence and wanted it to be part of Sega of America's corporate structure. He

5400-480: The US, and he also joined STI. In September 1991, Cerny pitched Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as STI's project for the 1992 Christmas season, giving the team 11 months of development time, but Sega management considered it too soon for a sequel. STI explored other concepts, but in November, Sega reversed course and told Cerny that it needed Sonic 2 for the 1992 holiday season. Cerny said that this did not create "much of

5508-535: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

SECTION 50

#1732773390879

5616-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

5724-514: The animation. According to the game's lead programmer, Mike Schwartz, the Japanese and American staff collaborated well despite the language barrier; Sugano and Doi had some understanding of English, and Cerny, a fluent speaker of Japanese, helped to ensure good communication. Sega also sent American staff members, including Schwartz, to Japan to visit Sega's headquarters, with Sugano and Doi leading their tour. Despite STI's efforts, which included having each character's likeness approved by their actor in

5832-527: The best decisions. According to Hector, after the release of the Sony PlayStation in 1994, the atmosphere at Sega became political, with "lots of finger-pointing". STI's next game, Comix Zone , entered development before Sonic Spinball but was placed on hold so Morawiec could work on Spinball . After presenting his concept to Hector, Morawiec was encouraged to pitch it directly to Kalinske, who approved and gave his approval again after Spinball

5940-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

6048-538: The company. New management had taken over shortly before the studio closed. Decisions were made to streamline game development, and Sega of America's product development department branched to form SegaSoft . With STI's recent new responsibilities, it was restructured to report directly to Sega of America and became the new product development department. After STI's closure, Morawiec and Stephens left Sega and formed Luxoflux . Cerny and Yasuhara remained friends after their time at STI and reunited to work with Naughty Dog on

6156-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

6264-508: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

6372-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

6480-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

6588-461: The developers to bond and spend their off time together; this led to increased communication between artists, designers, and programmers, which was crucial because the game's development did not use version control to prevent overwriting the work of each other. The game includes over 100 levels despite the small 1 MB cartridge used, but does not include any save feature . Kid Chameleon was released in late 1992 and sold well for Sega. Shortly after

SECTION 60

#1732773390879

6696-527: The engine due to them working in C, and there being no documentation they could use to understand how to develop with the NiGHTS engine. The loss of the Nights engine cost the team a further two weeks of development time. After programmer Chris Coffin became severely ill with pneumonia , Wallis made the decision to cancel the game. X-treme was announced as delayed, but was officially canceled in early 1997. STI

6804-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

6912-572: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

7020-400: The game at #35 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. Comix Zone , a beat 'em up , faced mixed reviews from GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly at the time of its release, but has been retrospectively praised for its originality, including the concept of moving through the pages of a comic book and defeating enemies drawn in front of the player. The Ooze , originally planned as

7128-460: The game was moved to the 32X and Michael Kosaka was placed in charge of the team. He created design documents for the game, but resigned in the middle of 1995 due to corporate politics. Executive producer Dean Lester resigned later in 1995, with Manny Granillo taking over as executive producer and STI producer Mike Wallis being placed in charge of development. Wallis stated that he had little to no control over his team despite supervising it because of

7236-514: The game, Sega sent over a group of artists, programmers, and designers to STI, who supplied additional artists, music, and animation. Die Hard Arcade became Sega's most successful arcade game produced in the US, and helped the arcade division to sell off the excess inventory. As Sonic Team was working on Nights into Dreams , Sega tasked STI with developing what would have been the first fully 3D Sonic game, Sonic X-treme . Development of Sonic X-treme began in late 1994 at STI. Hector conceived

7344-471: The game, however, consider it the last truly independent game STI developed without outside interference. STI completed one game in partnership with Sega AM1 , Die Hard Arcade . The game originated as a means for Sega to use existing resources: Sega had produced an excess inventory of ST-V arcade boards, and had acquired the Die Hard license but as yet had no Die Hard games in development. To develop

7452-443: The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog . His team, consisting of American STI staff not working on Sonic 3 , was given nine months to develop the game, which Morawiec considered a "tight" schedule. To speed up production, Sega sent veteran staff from Japan to assist, including Sonic the Hedgehog artist Katsuhiko Sato. Additionally, Hector hired more programmers and assured his team that the game would be done on time. The team also changed

7560-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

7668-457: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

7776-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

7884-559: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

7992-596: The movie–including Warren Beatty , Madonna , and Al Pacino – Dick Tracy was poorly received and did not sell well. The game's late release in February 1991, eight months after the film debuted in theaters and two months after its home video release, prompted Sega to insist on being a part of film-based projects at least a year before the film's release date. STI began development on its next game, Kid Chameleon , in 1991, as they were finishing Dick Tracy . Cerny and others conceived Kid Chameleon in 1990 as an action game , with knowledge that such games were popular due to

8100-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

8208-540: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

8316-598: The organizational structure. During this phase in development, STI was asked by Sega of America management to evaluate developing the game for a forthcoming new console based on Nvidia Riva TNT technology. After Sega announced that it would focus solely on the Sega Saturn, development shifted to the Saturn. This cost the STI development team several weeks. The new game design featured a fisheye lens camera system that rotated levels with Sonic 's movement. In March 1996, Sega representatives from Japan including CEO Nakayama visited STI to evaluate progress. At this point, X-treme

8424-421: The original Sonic , since sequels were generally not well regarded. Its development suffered some setbacks; the language barrier and cultural differences created a rift between the Japanese and American developers. The Japanese were used to crunch conditions , with Cerny noting they often worked through the night and slept in their cubicles. In contrast, the Americans left at the end of their working day and locked

8532-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

8640-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

8748-456: The project was canceled by Naka. Games developed by STI include four Sonic the Hedgehog games. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 received critical acclaim and was a bestseller in the UK charts for 2 months. As of 2006, the game had sold over 6 million copies. Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, with an average score of 61% at GameRankings , based on an aggregate score of six reviews, but sold well. Sonic

8856-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

8964-467: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

9072-419: The reasons why he left. Cerny took this information to Sega of America executive Shinobu Toyoda, who had previously negotiated Naka's salary while in Japan. As a result, Naka relocated to join STI four months later, at double his original salary and additional bonuses. Hirokazu Yasuhara , who had designed most of the Sonic stages and gameplay, had been assigned shortly before the completion of Sonic to work in

9180-432: The release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991, the Sonic Team programmer Yuji Naka quit Sega following disagreements over salary and backlash from the company over the time and effort it had taken to finish developing the game. Cerny, who had been making frequent trips to Japan while he was setting up STI, and who had previously consulted with Sonic character artist Naoto Ohshima , visited Naka's apartment and listened to

9288-406: The situation, " Sonic 2 did ship but after that we said 'no more!'" Upon release, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 broke video game sales records; in November 1993, it was reported to be the best-selling 16-bit video game ever at the time. During 1992, Cerny left STI; he claimed to have done so as development on Sonic 2 was being completed. Masaharu Yoshii temporarily filled in as the head of the studio and

9396-460: The soundtrack for the game. Because Sonic 3 was not scheduled to be released for the 1993 holiday season, Sega was interested in a spinoff Sonic game. Sega's marketing team suggested a game based on the casino levels of the first two games. A pinball game pitch came from Morawiec, who had previously worked on the special stages in Sonic 2 . Morawiec drew inspiration from the 1992 Amiga game Pinball Dreams to combine pinball mechanics with

9504-487: The success of Nintendo 's Super Mario Bros. and that the Genesis lacked many of these games, and among the few it did have, none were originally developed in the West. A number of new staff were hired as Kid Chameleon 's development began. The team consisted of 15 people, all American, with sound being outsourced to a third party. Cerny facilitated open communication during the game's development and created opportunities for

9612-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

9720-409: The tone of the game. Progress was later hampered with the departure of programmer Scott Chandler and artist Marte Thompson. Sega's marketing considered bundling The Ooze as a pack-in with the forthcoming Genesis Nomad , but the coordination never happened. Released late in the Genesis' active years, The Ooze sold below Sega's expectations and was a critical and commercial failure. Those who developed

9828-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

9936-477: The two games and allow them to be played together as originally intended. Both games were developed in Palo Alto before STI relocated. Hector said Sonic 3 had a troubled development. He recalled having to prevent the rest of Sega from bothering the team while simultaneously making sure the game would be finished in time. Additionally, Hector struggled to balance resources between Sonic 3 and other projects, Naka

10044-473: The two teams together while integrating them when it was needed by the game being developed. STI maintained its unusual place in Sega's organizational structure during Hector's tenure. According to Hector, STI reported both to Sega's Japanese headquarters and Sega of America, but was independent and did not fit into corporate structure. After Sonic 2 was released, Sega relocated STI to Redwood City , closer to Sega of America's headquarters. The idea behind such

10152-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

10260-508: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

10368-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

10476-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

10584-441: Was Atari and Electronic Arts veteran Roger Hector. Having been recruited by Toyoda to join STI while working with Disney Interactive , Hector knew Cerny and met with him as he was departing. According to Hector, he knew what Cerny had done at STI and wanted to maintain that status quo as long as he could. Believing the tension between the Japanese and Americans at STI was normal, Hector adapted his management style in order to keep

10692-442: Was Yutaka Sugano, who had previously created the arcade game Shinobi and had already been assigned to work in the US. The first STI project was Dick Tracy , based on the 1990 film for which Sega obtained a license to develop a game. Sega gave STI five months to complete development, while STI still had only Cerny and Sugano on staff. American staff were hired to program the game, and Japanese graphic artist Takeshi Doi worked on

10800-424: Was already well behind schedule, with the main game running poorly. After seeing the boss battles performing better during the demonstration, Nakayama ordered the game be reworked using that engine instead. This effectively removed the main game development and removed their developers, designer Chris Senn and programmer Ofer Alon, from the project. They would later try to develop a version of X-treme for PC, but it

10908-668: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

11016-459: Was credited as Sonic 2 's director. Cerny's reasons for leaving included Nakayama's disapproval of Cerny's spending before Dick Tracy and Kid Chameleon were released, Cerny's refusal to create games with small development teams in short time frames as was commonly done with Master System games, and the rising tension between the American and Japanese staff of STI. In particular, Cerny felt that

11124-411: Was disbanded in 1996 as a result of changes in management at Sega of America. New focuses were given to STI, including product localization and management of external development teams. According to Hector, corporate politics and fighting amongst the executives could not be rectified. Hector had been given additional responsibilities over all of Sega's product development, leading to his decision to leave

11232-424: Was not guaranteed to ship. The game's main artist and designer was Stieg Hedlund , who took over after the original designer left. Hedlund considered The Ooze a great opportunity and worked to move the game along and made the game's first stage to teach players how to play. Though marketing wanted to change the look of The Ooze to a more cartoon-based design, the game's art director refused, fearing it would change

11340-504: Was overruled by Nakayama, who was convinced by Cerny that he could make this level of independence work, something which had never been tried at a major game developer before. This allowed Cerny to report directly to Sega's offices in Japan and avoid the game concept approval management of Sega of America. He aimed to establish an elite development studio that would combine the design philosophies of American and Japanese developers, much like Suzuki's original plan. Cerny's first employee at STI

11448-562: Was rejected on the same grounds of quality and performance issues. On the Saturn project, the developers worked between 16 and 20 hours a day to meet their December 1996 deadline. This proved fruitless after Sega of America executive vice president Bernie Stolar rescinded STI's access to Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams engine following an ultimatum by Naka, who was now producing Nights and reportedly threatened to quit Sega if STI used it. In July 2022, Naka denied ever threatening to quit, but clarified that STI would never have been able to use

11556-400: Was released. Development began with a three-man team of Morawiec designing, Adrian Stephens programming, and executive producer Dean Lester, but grew to a team of nearly a dozen. Development was relatively smooth and became STI's top project, with the full support of Sega's marketing department, but pressure was mounting as the American team had not released a game since Spinball . Timing became

11664-403: Was sometimes seen as a harsh leader, and American staff not on the Sonic 3 team became jealous of the priority given to the game. To facilitate better communication, Hector brought in a Berlitz language teacher to instruct a class in Japanese. Some Americans did contribute to the development; artist Chris Senn contributed concept art for Sonic & Knuckles , and Howard Drossin contributed

#878121