Laid-off programmer details "unlawful" last days at Bodycount studio

By Fred Dutton Published 13 January, 2012

UPDATED: Codemasters responds.

A former Codemasters employee has accused the publisher of imposing unlawful working conditions and threatening laid-off staff with bankruptcy proceedings for not returning wages "mistakenly" paid to them.

Semi Essessi, a programmer who worked on 2011 first-person shooter at the publisher's now defunct Guildford studio, contacted Eurogamer to detail a long list of grievances held against his former employer.

Codemasters has now responded to these allegations.

"The company has been, and continues to be, in open dialogue with Semi regarding the reimbursement of funds paid into his account following an administrative error, as it is entitled to," Codemasters told Eurogamer.

"As the conversation regarding his personal situation is ongoing, the company has not, as alleged, pursued it as a legal matter with him.

"The company's advisers are now aware of the additional comments that Semi has published and these will be addressed with him directly through the appropriate channels as necessary."

In a whistle-blowing post on his personal blog, Essessi claims that he was not compensated for over 400 hours of overtime he put in over an eight-month period in the run up to the game's launch.

He wrote that the work he was tasked with carrying out "exceeded my job description significantly" and that requests for a pay rise or promotion to reflect that had been turned down by management.

Essessi added that his predicament was by no means unusual in the studio, claiming that he "was most certainly not the worst offender when it came to racking up overtime."

"Pretty much everyone had raised the issue of overtime several times over, but never taken the issue right the way to the top," he wrote.

He alleges that he was promised "time off in lieu" for any overtime worked when he first took the job, but none was ever offered.

When the studio's impending closure and staff layoffs were announced, Essessi took his concerns to human resources who then told him he was not entitled to any overtime pay.

"We appreciate that there was a focus across the whole studio to work extra hours, to get the game completed to the final deadline. However, it was made clear and communicated upfront to everyone that [for] those who did work, no TOIL or overtime pay would be made for those extra hours," read the response from Codemasters' management.

In Essessi's original complaint to HR, he noted that even though he may have opted out of the European Working Time Directive at the start of the project, Codemasters still had a duty to uphold certain legal directives - namely that all workers are entitled to at least 11 hours rest in any 24-hour period, and at least a full 24 hours break in a single week.

"I am sick and tired of big businesses being incompetent and getting away with it because of fear and naivete. I don't like bullies, I never have, I never will."

Semi Essessi, programmer, Bodycount

He insisted that the hours he worked frequently infringed those limits and that Codemasters had made no effort to enforce them.

He also claimed that he had never once been issued with a monthly pay slip "on or before" payday while working at Codemasters - "a small and questionable breach of law".

When the studio shut down weeks later, Essessi and many of his colleagues noticed a "substantial extra sum" had been added to their final pay packets.

"Everyone had received a bit extra and after lots of pub discussion the overriding opinion was that they had seen sense and had decided to pay us all a bit extra to keep us quiet about just how illegally the studio had been running," Essessi reasoned.

Not so. A month later he received both a voicemail and email from Codemasters informing him that he had mistakenly been paid an extra month's wages, and he would need to repay the sum in full by 20th December - just five days away.

"I had already spent the money," explained Essessi.

"I had accrued a considerable amount of debt during the year - some of which for the sake of travelling/moving to Guildford for the sake of Codemasters. It made sense to use it to wipe a big chunk of that out.

"I was also in the situation of needing to find a new place to live (expensive) as well as having transitioned between jobs... and it was Christmas.

"I needed legal advice and they were asking me to repay the money faster than I feasibly could get any. In fact they were asking me to pay by bank transfer as well, meaning I would have to make a payment immediately to have any chance of meeting their ridiculous deadline," he added.

When the deadline passed, Codemasters issued a new date by which it expected payment of 3rd January. Essessi replied stating he would do his best to repay the sum providing he was satisfied that he did in fact legally owe Codemasters the money, "despite the fact that I believe they owe me more than twice the sum they are asking from me as reimbursement for overtime."

When the second deadline passed, he then received a letter from Codemasters' lawyers stating that unless he pays by 20th January, Codemasters will "take your failure to pay as evidence of your insolvency, in which circumstances it will be entitled to petition for your bankruptcy."

"I can't help but feel that Codemasters are being wholly unreasonable about this," continued Essessi.

"They are coming in heavy-handed at a bunch of people - 70 or so - who all received extra money and didn't query it because they all had plenty of good reason to expect it to be a genuine payment.

"After laying us off, after horribly mistreating us, after cocking up the redundancy procedure and best of all, just before Christmas, they are coming at us aggressively because they made yet another mistake.

"I have a general feeling of anger that the redundancy is ultimately down to the people at the senior level... having left a studio to burn through £20 million of expenses without any checks or balances to safeguard the investment, and yet we were blamed for this," concluded his blog post.

"So here I am. I have gone public. You know my name, who I am and what I do. I have nothing to fear from Codemasters or anyone else in the industry - I am in the right - I have been reasonable and approachable and done nothing wrong.

"I write this article now not because I am bitter about redundancy - I've been there before - not because I want to weasel out of paying money - because I am willing to pay it back provided they make it reasonable for me to do so.

"I do it because it is the right thing to do - because I am sick and tired of big businesses being incompetent and getting away with it because of fear and naivete. I don't like bullies, I never have, I never will."

Essessi told Eurogamer that "negotiations are ongoing" and that "the idea of bankruptcy is a laughable threat".

Bodycount on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (81) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • local_celebrity #1 4 months ago

    All that blood, sweat and tears for a 4/10.

    It's a shit business.

  • el_pollo_diablo #2 4 months ago

    Your link to his blog is missing.

  • Stevonymo #3 4 months ago

    Typical of any company these days! They are all treating staff like dog poop. I work for a multi national phone company and they are appallingly bad at bullying staff with constant assessments of whether you can keep your job.
    The games industry seams even worse...Hope he wins his case!

  • INSOMANiAC #4 4 months ago

    To be fair, it doesn't look like 400 hours in total got pumped in to Bodycount, what a mountain of shit. Maybe if they got some developers with talent and gave them a bigger budget they wouldn't be in this mess

  • gooner77 #5 4 months ago

    I almost feel guilty for ignoring Bodycount now

  • Helenasia #6 4 months ago

    http://jheriko-rtw.blogspot.com/

  • Helenasia #7 4 months ago

    Is the blog /\

  • DaftFunker #8 4 months ago

    @EddieMink Made my day!!! lol

  • RealoFoxtrot #9 4 months ago

    This is why i HATE Corporations.... they Screw the Devs, they Screw the customers, all in the name of greed...

  • cam_guin #10 4 months ago

    Poor old Codemasters Guildford. I bought and actually rather enjoyed bits of Bodycount. bits of it, mind you.

  • Inmediasress #11 4 months ago

    @Stevonymo
    And then they say that Capitalism is better than Socialism.
    When in reality non of them work.

    Certainly not when people the ones contorlling multi national giant corporations can bring more pressure on the world then governmmnets can do.

  • Pinky_Floyd #12 4 months ago

    Silly boy for just spending the extra money. If he didn't know why he got it, he should have raised it and not spent it until he found out.

    In my view these chaps discussed it in the pub, knew it was dodgy but decided to say nothing and spend it anyway.

    No point yapping about it after the bill arrives.

  • Helenasia #13 4 months ago

    @Pinky_Floyd
    So all the hours of unpaid overtime mean nothing?

  • orpheus #14 4 months ago

    Codemasters turn out to be shits non shocker.

    Seriously Codies have been terrible for ages. Bad news for the dudes who lost out, hope they get their money!

  • BonzoBanana #15 4 months ago

    It was competently programmed but the idea and story of the game was not inspired at all. Like Haze it was the wrong project from the start. It needed to have its own identity and do something different to get gamers interested. Its like making a film with the best director and actors in the world but baseing it on a story no one is interested in. I enjoyed the demo and have bought the full game but haven't started playing it yet.

  • weebl #16 4 months ago

    As someone who is interested in the games industry and with everything I've heard about it, I can't say I'm surprised nor should he be surprised by this. You either love your job and want to spend every waking hour in it, or you leave the industry.
    Edited by weebl at 13/01/12 @ 13:48

  • Subdominator #17 4 months ago

    Hmm, if your contract doesn't state that you're reimbursed for overtime they can tell you pretty much anything. If you don't have it in your contract you don't get it. If you work overtime nevertheless (and boo hoo, who doesn't, with the way the economy is we all work overtime for free because we don't want to lose out jobs) you shouldn't complain afterwards. Same with the additional salary. I mean ... WOW. If your bank mistakenly sends you some money and you spend it it's just theft. You're not allowed to have it so you're not allowed to spend it. To complain about this thing shows that he is either very stupid or just wants to bash his former employer.

    And having worked in the industry for almost ten years I can tell you one thing: If you take a job there you know about crunch time and you know you won't be paid well and you know it's gonna be tough. If you're a programmer the best idea is to go to a nice big company and write databases or something. You're in the gaming industry because a) you're too bad for important stuff (hard but the truth) or b) you chose so on purpose because you want to work creatively. But noone is there because the working conditions are so great.

  • rudedudejude #18 4 months ago

    Can't really blame him if he had never had a payslip, which I imagine will be his legal standing.

    If everyone got the payment too, of course you would expect it to be an end of project bonus or something.

  • jetsetwillie #19 4 months ago

    @RealoFoxtrot lol... greed. business is for grown ups kid. it would be so nice if games were made for rainbows and smiles but there not

  • WangFu #20 4 months ago

    @Subdominator Well if you're verbally told that your will get compensated, by either TOIL or payment for overtime worked, but it isn't written into your contract (which is not normally the case for projects like these) then it is still binding to the company. Unfortunately this just turns into a 'he-said, she-said' situation.

    If he can get other people who worked on the project to also vouch for the fact that they were 'promised TOIL' (as is mentioned in the article), which they never got the chance to use due to the studio closing, then Codemasters owes compensation for this.

  • persus-9 #21 4 months ago

    I have to say the law is rubbish regarding accidental payments. If you or I accidentally pay money to the wrong bank account then the bank will refuse to disclose who you paid and the money is basically lost unless the recipient reports it. Yet if a corporation or the government accidentally gives you extra money they can come right back at you demanding it back even years later. Personally I think it should always been the person or organization making the payment who has liability and should only be able to ask for it back unless they can show the mistake originated elsewhere in which case they can seek reimbursement from whoever caused them to make the mistake. That won't happen though because then the government would lose trillions of pounds every time they screw up and overpay on tax credits or whatever.

  • FanBoysSuck #22 4 months ago

    @Subdominator : Just because it happens doesn't mean it's ok.

    All my mates who work in the industry are either payed for every hour they log or have some kind of bonus/holiday scheme for the extra time they work. Maybe they're just lucky though.

    If you're attitude is "tought shit" I think you're part of the problem TBH.
    Edited by FanBoysSuck at 13/01/12 @ 14:14

  • FogHeart #23 4 months ago

    Opt out of the European Working Time Directive, do work that you were not employed to do, have so little time off that it's illegal, and not be reimbursed for either. Serious question, and not rhetorical: Is the competition for jobs like this so fierce that you have to forego rest and money in order to be secure in it? Sure, there's always a crunch before release, but are you risking your job if you try to negotiate terms before it begins?

  • Subdominator #24 4 months ago

    @JAGUARCD32x I can tell you from experience that most of the times release dates are realistic. The problem is lack of leadership and a general laisser-faire approach in the industry as a whole. You basically have six hour days for the first year of development (depends on your position, the reason is most times the graphics department has to wait for the level designers, audio as well ...) and it's all nice. And then in the second year things suddenly need to move forward and your up at 10 hours a day. And shortly before launch that can easily reach forteen hours a day.

  • jstar #25 4 months ago

    @INSOMANiAC

    PRICK

  • tursachan #26 4 months ago

    Worth noting that crunch impacts negatively on the company itself, not just on the individuals working there. They may get a few extra tasks ticked off on the current project but in the long run they will pay. They'll lose experienced staff as they grow tired of the situation. The next project will start slowly as staff recover from the last one, leading them to miss their "target velocity" immediately (don't worry though, a few extra hours will fix that). Creativity and quality will suffer as people look for the easy solution, the safe option.

    The old school "crunch or leave the industry" mentality is asinine in the extreme. No matter how dedicated you are to your career in games, your priorities can change. Some developers even find time to start a family. Should we just push those guys aside so we can cling onto the failing long hour culture? You see companies make the same mistakes over and over again. As an industry we don't value experience, we value free pizza.

    As a final quick point, one thing I want from my designers is that they bring life experiences to the table. They bring ideas they get from outside games into the creative melting pot and new concepts emerge. If they're stuck working seven day weeks, getting home knackered, what is stimulating them?

  • Jetglo330 #27 4 months ago

    @JAGUARCD32x There is the International Game Developers Association, which they should be joining up with for representation.

  • kar #28 4 months ago

    This is why game companies are struggling to attract and retain talent. While there will always be a pool of willing graduates, able and happy (for a time) to work excessively exploitative hours for low compensation, it isn't sustainable in the long-term.

    Companies are exploiting human nature. People, especially young people, have this naive view that things will get better. That somehow they will be rewarded for their hard work at a latter date.

    Sadly, by your late twenties, you've learned this rarely happens. For the companies that exploit this though, the result is increasingly generic and crap software.

    Is there any wonder the games industry is facing such a pronounced downturn in the sales of games when they cost so much, yet are the product of first-world sweatshops?

  • FortysixterUK #29 4 months ago

    The issue this guy will have is if it comes to legal "blows", anything not written down in an agreement will be very hard to prove. For example, his time of in lieu claim.

    The law seems to fall more on the side of the Employer that the employee in the private sector. As always, private business is there to do one thing. Make money for the shareholders and bosses, and screw the little people.It seems a little more balanced in the public sector. A little.

  • spatuluk #30 4 months ago

    Bankruptcy? Seriously? I've had many unreasonable demands for money in my life, and the worst I've ever been threatened with is a County Court Judgement (which would force me to pay the money back, but at a rate I can afford), and they didn't even go through with that because it costs them time and money to arrange.

    The UK has a few laws that protect the citizens from unreasonable demands for money. Instead of whining on a blog, Essessi should get down to the Citizens Advice Bureau, get some info, and tell Codemasters what they can do with their demands.

  • Kafeen #31 4 months ago

    Sounds like where I worked.

    Except they didn't give us the money then ask for it back, we just never got it.

  • FogHeart #32 4 months ago

    After Codemaster's response:

    "The company's advisers are now aware of the additional comments that Semi has published and these will be addressed with him directly through the appropriate channels as necessary."

    Does anyone else think this is a veiled threat?

  • BillPoon #33 4 months ago

    @Subdominator What utter nonsense.

  • d3v1g0d #34 4 months ago

    @subdominator, agreed. If they didn't to pay him for the first month of overtime, why did he think he was going to get paid for the whole 400.I think he should of resigned. These practices happen all around the world and unless you have a net around your office I don't think he has anything to complain about.

  • tiddles #35 4 months ago

    He has all the time off in lieu that he wants now.

  • slippysloppy #36 4 months ago

    Reading this article and some of the comments, it’s clear that people are confusing employment law with what they think is fair and justified. Unfortunately the two aren’t always the same.

  • Burnt-Kona Verified Senior Artist, Full Fat Productions #37 4 months ago

    @d3v1g0d "If they didn't to pay him for the first month of overtime, why did he think he was going to get paid for the whole 400.I think he should of resigned"

    Yep, it's so easy to resign when you've just put yourself into debt getting yourself moved and set-up in a new town for a job...

    Although I've not worked with Codies directly, their lax attitude to contracts and payments resulted in some tough times at my past studio, resulting in debts I'm still paying off.

  • Obli #38 4 months ago

    F**k the games industry! I have a Computer Science degree in games dev and I'm glad I decided not to persue a career in the games industry. Stories like this are all too common... bad conditions, seriously unhealthy crunch-time, redundancies. People are being sh*t on these days, and it's all over money.
    Edited by Obli at 13/01/12 @ 15:18

  • super_monty #39 4 months ago

    @Obli this seems like most companies tbh. The bottom rung of the ladder is treated like shit while the shareholders and CEOs run the company into ground yet seem to make a small personal fortune for failure. BT, RBS, northern rock, BA

  • philreeduk #40 4 months ago

    Well sadly this is this guys chance's of getting back into the industry gone :(

  • betonos #41 4 months ago

    @weebl Unless you actually have a life.

  • Weebleboy #42 4 months ago

    I'm afraid he comes across as pretty naive in his blog post. If his contract didn't state that he was getting paid over-time, and he worked 8 months without receiving any cash or TOIL then bringing it up during the redundancy period is WAY too late.

    "I had been grumbling about these things before the redundancy was announced and pretty much everyone had raised the issue of overtime several times over, but never taken the issue right the way to the top in a serious way." Why not? Grumbling doesn't get anything done, if they were that concerned then they should have raised it immediately and got answers. If the answer had been "Don't worry we'll pay" or "You'll definitely get TOIL" then his case would be a long stronger.

    And spending the overpay was a mistake too, he should have clarified if the payment was correct with the company rather than deciding with his co-workers 'after lots of pub discussion' what it was for.

    His EWT points are all very fair though.

    NB I think excessive unpaid overtime is completely out of order, and one of the worst things about this industry. And Codemasters don't come out of this story sounding great either.

  • simplerotation #43 4 months ago

    Codemasters are in huge financial difficulties, and looking at this, you can see why, the last thing they can afford to do is make wage mistakes, to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if they were having trouble making payroll all together...

  • Doctor_What #44 4 months ago

    I've met Semi a few times, nice chap. I hope he gets a result on his side in this one.

    We seriously need a union.

  • Whitster #45 4 months ago

    @Subdominator Maybe mugs like you do unpaid overtime for fear of their jobs, those of us with sense make sure we are compensated for any extra. Since employment law means there's nothing your employer can do if you don't.

  • kangarootoo #46 4 months ago

    @weebl

    "As someone who is interested in the games industry and with everything I've heard about it"... but not worked in it, which explains a thing or two.

    As in most parts of life, bad news flies further than good news. The majority of the games business is a perfectly nice place to work, and to suggest that anybody who comes across bad practice shouldn't be surprised because "its all like that" and "You either love your job and want to spend every waking hour in it, or you leave the industry" is just plain naive.

  • Captain_JMac #47 4 months ago

    As a fellow game developer who once worked with Semi, I want to thank him for having the balls to raise these issues in public. This kind of thing happens all too often in the games industry. I don't think this industry can survive by exploiting the enthusiasm that most people have when starting their careers.

    Thanks also to Eurogamer for bringing this story to public attention.

  • callum9999 #48 4 months ago

    While I do feel sorry for him, only a moron would accept the verbal agreement that they will be given FOUR HUNDRED hours off in-lieu of overtime.

    Even at minimum wage, which I'm sure their pay exceeds significantly, that is almost £3000 he just took a random persons word for. Get it in writing!

  • kangarootoo #49 4 months ago

    I have to say, it feels like there is a fair dose of Just World Fallacy taking place on this thread. Summary - the world is just, so if bad stuff happens you probably did something wrong. Google it for more.

    Its all very well laying down advice with hindsight. All this talk of "he was a moron - he should have got it in writing" etc is easy to throw out when everything is laid before you for consideration, without any of the actual issues or barriers to face (such as getting ballsy with your employer and drawing lines in the sand).


    So he had a verbal agreement that overtime would be paid in cash or time. Maybe he would have hoped for that in writing, but what are people actually suggesting? That he demand it in writing, or walk out the door? With rent to pay? With a debt to clear? With the perfectly reasonable hope that things will actually work out ok?

    That last one seems to be the one that people dismiss far too easily in my book. "Better the devil you know" exists as a cliche because it is a common sitation. If you have worked at a company for a while, you have no direct comparison to make so you can lose track of what is good, bad and acceptable. You also don't want to go through the enormous hassle of finding another job (anyone who suggests it is easy is almost certainly still living with their parents), so you kind of hope it gets better soon or works out well in the end. It happens all the time, and its perfectly normal and human, and it doesn't mean the people involved are morons or spineless.

    Being an armchair critic is easy, as is handing out advice after the fact which you never had to back up with your own action.

  • natureboy #50 4 months ago

    As sad as it may seem, perhaps if the staff had worked hard enough then the game might not have failed and everybody would have been happy? 4/10 average score is poor for any game these days

  • 00.00.01 #51 4 months ago

    When you're asked to opt out of the European Working Time Directive you know what time it is. Though Codies can't get away with this if it goes to a (European) court, simply for the fact that the law is the law and companies cannot alter the law to their liking just by having employees agreeing in a formal document.
    Having worked in the industry for a good few years I can assure you that one of the reasons why there so many devs in the UK is the countries' flexible, pro-employer laws (very low wages compared to other countries is another one). Only in the UK I was asked to opt-out of several 'rights' and to agree to lenient rules. Not in other European countries.

  • Stagga #52 4 months ago

    @weebl
    As someone who is interested in the games industry and with everything I've heard about it, I can't say I'm surprised nor should he be surprised by this. You either love your job and want to spend every waking hour in it, or you leave the industry.
    And do what? If you've spent the last 12 years training for and then working in the games industry what is it you do instead? And it doesn't matter how much you enjoy making games when you're forced to follow the directions of people who aren't sure what they're doing, having to fix work of people who haven't the slightest clue what they're doing and having to work evenings and weekends to make up the time. Game devs are just like everyone else, they shouldn't be forced to stop seeing their families and friends for a job.

  • Daeltaja #53 4 months ago

    Well this is pretty common place in corporately owned game studios. It may soon change however, as more and more developers opt to work for smaller studios or start there own, given how viable it's becoming.

  • callum9999 #54 4 months ago

    @kangarootoo Yes, I'd suggest he demanded it in writing. And I know it's easy to say in hindsight, but it's basic common sense (and I did say (and do) I still feel sorry for him).

    What exactly are the employers going to do? "Right, so we've verbally agreed that you'll give me over £3k in time off and some non-specific point in the future - could you make a quick note to that effect, which will take 2 minutes of your time?"

    While not wanting to push the point after them refusing to put it in writing is understandable - them refusing such a quick, basic task would imply they had no intention of honouring it. People lie - a grown man really should have figured that out by now.

  • KDR_11k #55 4 months ago

    Too many bad gaming businesses operate on the principle that workers are replaceable (that usually shows in the quality of the product). Oddly enough there's a shortage of tech workers in other industries.

  • kangarootoo #56 4 months ago

    @callum9999

    Now all of your last post makes perfect sense, up until the bit where you replace "moron" with "a grown man". Is it so hard to just accept that perfectly sensible people make mistakes in pressured situations?

    THAT is what I am on about with referring to the Just World Fallacy (and that bollox natureboy wrote earlier about it not happening if everyone had just worked harder). Contrary to popular belief, smart people get conned, or make daft mistakes, or do without thinking, or make decisions they quickly regret EVERY DAY.

    And as Stagga asked earlier, if their refusal to put it in writing rang alarm bells, what should his next action have been in your book? Just leave? He probably did worry they wouldn't honour the agreement, but his options were limited. That is life - not always fair, or easy, and sometimes without a perfect solution available.

  • callum9999 #57 4 months ago

    @kangarootoo No it's not hard to accept that. If I thought that he was in the wrong then I wouldn't feel sorry for him in the slightest. I'm just personally saying I don't see this as "just a mistake" - but sheer stupidity. To go on about how awful your bosses are and how they are trying to rip you off, and then just verbally agree with someone that you will get thousands of pounds of overtime in the unspecified future is more than "just an everyday mistake" in my book. When I had an awful job/manager in my teens, I wouldn't do 2 hours of overtime without making sure it is documented I will get paid for it.

    And yes, smart people do make mistakes. Perhaps it would have been more apt for me to call his actions moronic - I didn't actually meant to imply he was a moron himself (despite it reading like that). Obviously he isn't to get to such a position.

  • natureboy #58 4 months ago

    @Daeltaja working for yourself is even more risky than it was in say the 90's (when we still had carts) you need a hit to get the ball rolling probably explains why everybody self starter wants to be like Rovio

  • Ironic_War_Criminal #59 4 months ago

    @Doctor_What

    We seriously need a union.

    Did BECTU ever follow up with the industry? They said they were planning to represent people in the games industry a while back but I never heard anything more from them

    But then theres a significant amount of randian douchebags in the industry (Never buy a Freeverse game, kids) that means it's probably going to be a pain in the ass for to get one properly off the ground.

  • Hadhan #60 4 months ago

    @Jetglo330
    The same IDGA that had Tim Langdell on the board? A corrupt little troll for over 20 years. No wonder IGDA is quiet on the issues of crunch time, WTD, etc

  • Eighthours #61 4 months ago

    From the Codies response: "As the conversation regarding his personal situation is ongoing, the company has not, as alleged, pursued it as a legal matter with him."

    Except on his blog there's an actual scan of the legal letter he received, the lying shitbags. If you're going to bullshit, don't do it when there's evidence!
    Edited by Eighthours at 13/01/12 @ 17:36

  • Hadhan #62 4 months ago

    @00.00.01
    opting out of the European Working time directive, doesn't mean that the company can force you to work more than 48 hours. You still have a choice on wether you want to or not, but if you do it isn't illegal.
    Company asking you to do more than the 48 hours is fine. Company telling you that you will work over 48 hours is illegal, no matter how they try to put it

  • rawtheory #63 4 months ago

    @Inmediasress America is only Capitalist in certain sectors. Its primary Corporatism over here. Thats another word for Fascism.

  • HeNiCiDe1988 #64 4 months ago

    Damn that sucks for him but if he hasnt signed a european contracted thingy that it mentions and he from outside the EU might be a problem if its some legal thing that allows them not to pay him overtime legally or loop or something.

    But man that does suck all these people losing jobs because of a shit game director/producer and then gettin burnt by the company.

  • smelly #65 4 months ago

    >All that blood, sweat and tears for a 4/10.

    That could just mean that the publisher didnt pay for a load of full page adverts on the site.

  • cowell #66 4 months ago

    Codemasters had a Semi

    Huh huh, huh huh

  • Emth #67 4 months ago

    As a dev myself, I have no desire to work for a games company. It sounds horrific.

  • sb319 #68 4 months ago

    Hold on. He noticed he'd been overpaid, and rather than do the honest thing and confirm with his employer that it wasn't a mistake, he just went and spent it right away? And he now chooses to harp on about not being paid for overtime, when presumably he was happy enough to enter into an employment contract states clearly that overtime is unpaid? Honestly, my sympathy here is with Codemasters. Perhaps more senior members of staff can shed more light on the story?

    Bottom line: his complaint about overtime and the rest might get a more sympathetic response if he'd reacted in a more honest way about the overpaid wages.

  • bionic_v2 #69 4 months ago

    The reality is, if games were made by those simply working 9 to 5 and no extra hours, they would never make a profit. Even more devs would be going tits up.

  • Dreadaxe #70 4 months ago

    I would assume that accidents like this are not unheard of and that in some cases legal action would have been taken and this provides precedent, in fairness i would have been surprised but probably would not have check on the money and would have paid any debts with it.

    He should be more proactive with trying to get his overtime he thinks he's owed just the same as they are for money they think they're owed.

  • mr2ange #71 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 22:51:59 13-01-2012

  • Obli #72 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:05:14 13-01-2012

  • SheffAl #73 4 months ago

    Most games companies are cunts, Codemasters are no exception. Thats why there is a high turnover of people who quit games for good and work in other industries, and only the tossers are left behind...

  • bionic_v2 #74 4 months ago

    Here's an idea. Could he have worked out what he was owned in over time and of set that against the overpayment ?
    that way one or the other would have presumably own a small amount of money.

  • swisstony #75 4 months ago

    There's a lot of demand for programmers in other sectors. You're not making games but you are doubling your salary in some cases and you won't be working any harder or getting sacked anywhere near as often.

    But the entertainment industry itself has always relied on the desperation of its creators along with the piracy. Music, film, games, theatre, art, all of it pays like crap until you get to the top, you'll also get ripped off along the way, you won't always get to the top either.

  • Zerobob #76 4 months ago

    About 6 years ago my salary was accidentally paid to me, twice, for a job I had left. I informed the council of their mistake, because I couldn't just keep accepting salary payments month after month, and they let me pay it back in whatever installments I wanted.

    Friends told me I should have just kept it, as they have in similar situations. Maybe I'm too honest.

    I am 100% behind Essessi on this one though. I feel his frustration, anger, anxiety and sense of complete injustice. Last time I buy a Codemasters game I think.

    This is exactly what's wrong with the world. People who want to work hard for a living are trodden on by companys running wild in a non-policed capitalist world. It's just easier to have kids and live off the state and I'm starting to find it hard to blame people for taking this path.
    Edited by Zerobob at 14/01/12 @ 13:41

  • Uncompetative #77 4 months ago

    Creativity should be its own reward.

    Be a hobbyist independent developer.

  • Lord_Gremlin #78 4 months ago

    It is all very sad. Making videogames is similar to painting pictures, writing books, novels, poems. Although it's that much more difficult as it requires combined efforts of several/many people. When it is a joyless labor... Well, that's 4/10 and no sales to you. You cannot take a stick and force people to make art or anything based on art.

  • Rajin #79 4 months ago

    @callum9999

    Vocal agreements are WAY more common then you probaly ever imagine(and yes this does include smart people and morons to put it in your words)

    During your job interview you might be given nods when you ask about payment for overtime and such. When they offer you a contract it's possible you think they included these nods but they didn't.

    This is just one of the many examples. And you say you documented all your overtime. What if your employer just told you: ''Sorry jack, we only promised you x money for x hours and not a full payment for all your x overtime(could be written in your contract which you overlooked or another vocal agreement)? You can say all you want regarding your ''documents'' but it alone won't help you in some cases.
    Edited by Rajin at 15/01/12 @ 10:41

  • zegerman1942 #80 4 months ago

    Well done Semi for going public. There essentially are 2 options for codies:

    - Try to take the high road, say that even though they are legally right, they will let people keep the money, for their hard work and commitment
    - Continue to be douches and try to scrounge back maybe 100k GBP and antagonize a fuckton of gamers and potential employees or customers

    If i was codies, i'd try to rescue the situation as best as i could, cause god knows i'd be wanting customers.

  • wizbob #81 4 months ago

    @weebl In that case I have an interesting project for you. The hours are long and remuneration is unlikely but I have a wonderful idea. So, can you handle both coding and art duties? You can start tomorrow.