New Report Details Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Rocky Development And Studio Crunch

After years of development, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga finally got a release date for April 5, after a long wait. It seemed for a time that the project might be in serious danger, but a new report from PolygonThese concerns appear valid. The outlet talked to 30 current and former employees of TT Games (speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation) who revealed TT’s lifetime history of crunch, a negative workplace atmosphere, and how The Skywalker Saga’s development suffered from it. 

According to the report, TT’s success with early Lego titles was a result of it becoming a victim of itself. The studio’s annual release cadence meant that overtime and crunch became not only normal but expected. Polygon’s sources described instances of studio leadership berating employees for taking breaks and questioning their commitment to the company. It was common for employees to work 80-100 hours six days per week, according to some sources. Other problems highlighted in the report include a gender wage gap for female employees and the lack of women in leadership or diversity in general. These were the voices of women who spoke. PolygonAlso, employees reported being victim to bullying or harassment. Though some leaders listened to employee feedback regarding these issues over the years, significant change never occurred. 

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was the turning point in these problems. It has been five years in development, according to those involved. PolygonNTT was the new, unstable engine that NTT adopted. It was difficult to learn and lacking certain features that caused it to become a problem for employees. But to avoid paying licensing fees for Unreal Engine (which TT’s employees campaigned to use instead), management stuck with NTT, which became the breaking point for frustrated employees who departed the studio. 

In addition to being the largest Lego Star Wars video game, The Skywalker Saga suffered from feature creep. There were constant revisions that required months of effort and several months of extra work. Many employees were also assigned to new projects which confused those working on The Skywalker Saga. Divisive leadership changes and a questionable vision of the company’s future led to an exodus of over 40 employees from TT’s two studios since the start of 2021. 

Polygon’s report does state that workers have noticed a slow but positive change at the studio in recent months and that they ultimately believe The Skywalker Saga will deliver on fan expectations. It’s worth reading the entire article. This is another example, though disappointingly common, of workplace reform that many game studios need to implement. We hope things improve for TT Games overall and that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga gives players the experience they’ve been dreaming of.

[Source: Polygon]