Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart devs speak up about not having to do Crunch

The Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review embargo has been lifted, and the overall sentiment for the latest from Insomniac Games is overwhelmingly positive, posting an 89 Metacritic score and a Mighty Opencritic rating. In light of the beaming reviews, a shower of congratulations from colleagues in the industry were heaped upon the studio, but more than that, the developers themselves celebrated because of a crunch-free effort.

Grant Parker (Game Designer) and Lindsay Thompson (Animator) from the Rift Apart team have spoken up about their experience while working on the game, and it’s not something you hear very often from devs. Parker mentions his experience, “I can’t speak for anyone on the team but myself, but I didn’t crunch once. 40h weeks the whole time.” while Thompson goes echoes the sentiment, saying “I didn’t crunch once, entire production. A couple late nights here and there finishing something up, but COMPLETELY CRUNCH FREE.”

Note that they are not speaking in behalf of the entire company, just for themselves.

https://twitter.com/Binzimation/status/1402327290722193414

Crunch has been a big topic in the gaming industry for quite a while now, and has been a talking point on how studios need to take better care of their employees. Certain high profile titles have been put in the spotlight for massive crunch and the culture around it. That said, with all of the glowing reviews from majority of the media and critics for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, it’s great to see an example of a top-notch quality game that was made without sacrificing the well-being of the team.

Recently, the next God of War announced a delay to 2022 to maintain the safety of the team and “to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.”

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will be available on June 11 exclusively for the PlayStation 5.

Leave a comment

Tooltip Text