It looks like Path of Exile developer, Grinding Gear Games, has no plans to join the ranks of developers who have been called out for excessive crunch and poor management practices. In a candid post on Twitter, co-founder Chris Wilson addressed players who have expressed their anger over multiple issues including the game’s Synthesis league, noting that developers have to prioritize tasks, and that it may take time for certain improvements to be made.
Simply put, we can’t fix every problem every league. There are going to problems that we don’t address quickly. We’ll get to them as soon as we can. A big topic in the gaming industry recently is development crunch. Some studios make their teams work 14-hour days to pack every patch full of the most fixes and improvements possible. Sometimes when we read our own Patch Notes threads and community feedback, we feel that we are being asked to do the same. I will not run this company that way. While there’s inevitably a bit of optional paid overtime near league releases, the vast majority of a Path of Exile development cycle has great work/life balance. This is necessary to keep our developers happy and healthy for the long-term, but it does mean that some game improvements will take a while to be made.
Wilson added that his team is already working on a number of improvements and console features that have yet to be released. Grinding Gear is also preparing for Path of Exile‘s South Korean launch, which it believes should have happened years ago.
Wilson promised that he’ll continue to communicate regularly with the community, and will address topics such as console improvements in due course. He said that Grinding Gear will strike a balance between addressing immediate concerns and making long-term improvements.
Path of Exile is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
[Source: Reddit]
