41% of video game professionals admit to working more hours than stipulated, known as ‘crunch’

November 16 (Portaltic/EP) –

The 41 percent of gaming professionals admit to experiencing ‘crunch’ – periods in which they work over-the-clock hours, typically to arrive on time for an agreed-upon delivery date.

This is one of the conclusions reached by a recent study by the Spanish Association of Video Game and Entertainment Software Producers and Developers (DEV) in its ‘Radiography of Spanish video game development professionals’whose objective is to provide more detailed information on the reality experienced by the sector and to analyze the perceptions of professionals dedicated to the video games development.

This study, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sporthas been carried out based on an anonymous survey in which 465 professionals from the video game industry have participated and has been subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

One of the factors that have been studied in this report is the so-called ‘crunch’, which refers to the periods of work that exceed the threshold of stipulated hours. This phenomenon occurs, generally, when they are forced to allocate more time to an activity due to a delivery with a deadline.

This happens to 44 percent of the people surveyed, who claim to work between 40 and more than 60 hours a week, while 61 percent of the total conclude that they have worked between 41 and more than 90 hours a week when asked about the time spent in a week over the past year.

However, from DEV they have determined that people who have worked more than 90 hours a week They have claimed to have done so of their own free will and not under any obligation.

In relation to platforms and performance, the survey results show that computers continue to be the main platform for developers, as they are chosen by the 63 percent of the total.

between the consoles PlayStation is the most chosen by these professionals (specifically, by 31 percent of the total), followed by Xbox Series X/S (29%), Xbox One (22%), Playstation 4 (21%) and switches (twenty%).

In the realm of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), DEV researchers have determined that the Oculus Quest is the platform of most interest, according to 41 percent of the total respondents. It is followed by PSVR2, the viewer developed by Sony that will arrive next year, with 25 percent.

MORE WOMEN IN THE SECTOR

After carrying out this exhaustive study, DEV has reached several conclusions regarding gender equality, one of which is the need to improve the presence of women and the quality of female employment.

The difference between one gender and another in the industry has been highlighted since the survey from which this report comes out, since 73 percent of those surveyed are men, 20 percent are women and 4 percent are identify as non-binary people.

Women developers have a lower weight after seven years of seniority in the industry. Likewise, from Spanish Video Game Development they have commented that women tend to have fewer permanent contracts and more temporary than their fellow men.

On the other hand, they have pointed out that it is necessary to end the existing digital gap in this area, since on average men earn about 7,400 euros more than women.

Lat age It is also another of the aspects that are part of this report, since DEV has indicated that it is a mature sector, where 76 percent of professionals are between 25 and 45 years old, and only 6 percent of those surveyed exceed this age. On the contrary, young people between the ages of 18 and 25 make up 18 percent of the sample.

In this sector, in addition, programming professionals abound, which account for 44 percent, compared to other disciplines, among which are design (34%), production (26%) and the art (23%), which are the other major profiles present in the sample.

Others belonging to the participants in this survey are professionals related to administration and Business management (12 and Marketing and Communication (11.8%), who have traditionally been underrepresented and who, over time, are gaining more weight in the industry.

In any case, the professions are highly differentiated by gender, since jobs related to programming, design, production and management of protects or monetization and business development They are usually occupied by men.

Women, on the other hand, are mainly dedicated to areas such as art, marketing, the press, human resources, sound design or online community and support services.

SECTOR TRAINED AND IN CONSTANT LEARNING

The report also focuses on the academic curriculum of professionals dedicated to this field and indicates that more than half, 54 percent, claim to have a degree or master’s degree. On the contrary, 23 percent claim to have formed on its own.

In fact, self-training gains more weight as the years of professional experience increase, coming to represent 43 percent of the total with more than a decade in the sector. According to DEV, this is due to the scarce training offer existing 10 years ago in our country.

Here the differences are also clear between men and women, since there are more women with a degree (30%) than a master’s degree (22%), while men have more dedicated master’s degrees (30%) than a degree ( 25%).

Another of the sections included in this study is the one that refers to the employment situation of these professionals and determines that quality work predominates, since almost 65 percent of those surveyed have an employment contract or are self-employed.

In this sense, more women are employed hired by a company (63%) than men (57%), a situation that is otherwise reversed, since men (14%) are more ‘freelances’ than women (12%).