Title: If Developers Aren’t at Fault — Then Who Is? Responsibility Must Exist Either Way
I want to clarify something important after everything I’ve said about the poor state of recent games.
If it turns out that the developers are not the ones responsible for the buggy, rushed, and broken games we keep getting —
If the real blame lies with executives and corporate decision-makers who force fast releases, demand monetization at all costs, and burn out their staff, then they must be held accountable. It’s also likely that some of these executives push their own ideas into the games — ideas that go against the vision of experienced developers or the actual needs of the community — just to gain credit, stay in the spotlight, or climb the corporate ladder. Many of these decisions are, frankly, short-sighted or outright foolish, made by people who don’t understand the game, the genre, or the audience, yet still hold the power to overrule those who do. When bad decisions come from the top, it’s not just frustrating — it’s damaging. In doing so, they often damage the final product while promoting themselves for work that ends up being shallow, misguided, or outright harmful to the game’s quality. Unfortunately, the people making those decisions are often the least qualified, but still the first to get rewarded while the game — and the players — pay the price. —
Then I sincerely apologize to the developers.
Based on several recent sources, I’ve come to understand that not all devs are lazy or careless. In fact, many are underpaid, overworked, and stuck in a system driven by unrealistic deadlines and money-first priorities:
Articles and reports that confirm this:
- EA layoffs: Hundreds of devs lost their jobs during multiple rounds of cuts
→ https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/electronic-arts-layoffs-hundreds-20302979.php
- 1 in 10 devs lost their jobs in 2024 alone due to corporate restructuring and budget cuts
→ https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/22/24349728/gdc-state-of-the-industry-survey-2025-results
Crunch culture in AAA studios like EA, Rockstar, Epic
→ Business Insider – https://www.businessinsider.com/video-game-development-problems-crunch-culture-ea-rockstar-epic-explained-2019-5
→ Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crunch_(video_games)
→ Kotaku – https://kotaku.com/crunch-time-why-game-developers-work-such-insane-hours-1704744577
For more articles or reports related to this issue, feel free to ask ChatGPT or any other AI platform to list recent news, industry data, or community discussions.
So, if developers truly care and are being crushed by deadlines, then the executive leadership must be held accountable.
And in that case, I believe those responsible at the top — those who ignored quality and good teams, overworked their employees, and treated them inhumanely just to meet release targets — should be fired.
Furthermore, if it is proven that developers were forced into unpaid overtime or subjected to unreasonable crunch, they deserve proper financial compensation for the extra hours and stress they endured, as well as improved working conditions going forward.
However, if the opposite is true and the executives have provided reasonable conditions but the developers delivered low-effort or careless work, then it’s on the developers to be held responsible instead.
Either way, someone needs to be held accountable.
We, the players, pay full price and expect a functioning, polished product — not a half-broken mess with missing features and silence from the studio.
No more finger-pointing without transparency. No more excuses. Whoever is responsible — devs or executives — should answer for the current state of things.
