In the same statement from Guerrilla Games that confirmed a third Horizon entry is in development, it was announced that Guerrilla’s studio director and executive producer Angie Smets was starting a new role as head of development strategy at PlayStation Studios. In this position, Smets will be overseeing all of Sony’s first-party developers. Sony owns Guerilla, and the Horizon series is considered a system seller for PlayStation – its games are commonly bundled with the console and sell millions of copies. The open-world blockbuster is known for being technically and graphically impressive, and is often used to showcase PlayStation’s hardware and capabilities at major events and showcases, even if it keeps being overshadowed by Zelda and Elden Ring. Related: More Video Games Should Get Delayed, ActuallySmets isn’t the only Guerrilla alumni to join Sony’s higher ranks either – Hermen Hulst, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, was formerly managing director of Guerrilla Games, which he co-founded. It seems Sony likes the way Guerrilla is run, which I find encouraging, as the studio has explicitly anti-crunch policies.
Last year, Horizon Forbidden West was reportedly delayed to avoid crunch, and the studio said it was against the sacrifice of its employees' personal lives in service of making a game. Speaking about crunch and overtime, game director Mathis de Jonge said, “​​That happens very rarely with us. We are aware of the disadvantages of crunching, so we take this into account a lot in our planning.”
"Forbidden West might have been released at the end of last year, but then we might have had to work overtime. People should also be able to relax and take a vacation, [and] to be with family and friends. That also played a part in the decision to release the game now.”
Among Sony’s first-party studios, Guerrilla isn’t the only studio to take active steps towards avoiding crunch, but it’s still a huge problem in the games industry. Every time a game is delayed, people will complain about it, even if the delay is preventing the burnout of the people creating the game and will result in a better, less rushed product. The crunch cycle of game development is incredibly damaging to working environments, overworks employees, and destroys morale.
Yet, it’s still widely implemented especially in the creation of triple-A games, and is considered an industry norm, though employees are pushing back – just this week, Sega America employees announced they are unionising, and are calling on Sega to voluntarily recognise the union. It might be particularly important that Naughty Dog, Sony’s biggest flagship, has long advocated for crunch. Maybe the winds are changing.
I’m hoping that Smets’ hiring, and specifically her position overlooking PlayStation’s developers, means that Sony is open to embracing anti-crunch policies. After all, if it’s looking to perpetuate what has been a very successful model for Guerrilla, it will have to take the best of its strategy, and not giving in to crunch culture is a huge factor in consistently producing excellent, critically lauded games. Art takes time and money, and beating down the developers working on a game in order to meet what is ultimately an arbitrary deadline serves nobody.
If a huge publisher like Sony takes an explicit stand against crunch as Embracer Group did, it could shake up an industry where working yourself to the bone is the norm. It’s just as likely that this will stay ambiguous, studios will continue to crunch, and revenue will be held over all other benchmarks for success. Can Guerrilla’s influence touch the rest of the industry? I sure hope so.
Next: Put Aloy's Queerness Front And Centre In The Next Horizon Game
