Best Studios.....

HellMark

With all the talk from the EA_Spouse blog and the lawsuit it got me to thinking of what some good studios might be to work for. I'm not looking to start a bash fest. I'm just looking for good consolidated feedback from those have have a good experience with things such as projects worked on, good crunch times, creative freedom, people they worked with (again no bashing just feedback like the team on this project really meshed well and we made a game we are proud of type thing) and good longevity experience. What I mean by that are studios that provide growth and long term potential to grow with the company for many years without always being let go at the end of a project.

Again I'm not looking for bashing or anything negative since there's been some focus on the bad as of late and no need to tempt any bad karma.

Perhaps this could be an aid for those looking such as myself. I know for me in the past hearing good things from some of the guys on these forums has inclined me to apply somewhere and not apply elsewhere.

Thanks in advance for any offerings.

MoP

Ensemble definitely seem to be one of the greatest, from what I've heard. A few polycounters worked/work there, and I think they all said it was the best place they've worked, apparently they really look after their staff. If only every studio was like that!

monster

Ensemble is a great place to work. It's an entirely different class of game studio compared with other places I've worked (and I've been around.)

I think any company owned by Microsoft would be great to work for. If only for the benifits. It is tough to get in though, as you have to interview with every person in the company, and that can take days. Then they ALL have to vote yes.

I can't blame the other studio's I've worked with for not being on the same level, ES was lucky enough to have some successful games.

FatAssasin

Treyarch is a good company to work for. I would still be there if I hadn't had the crazy idea of actually wanting to own a house (they're in L.A.). We had a week here and there of crunches, but they always bought us good dinners. They also actually give bonuses when a game ships, and have good benefits. And since they're owned by Activision and have a good track record with the Spiderman games, they'll likely be around for a while.

Jeff Parrott

From what I hear Ensemble is one of the better ones. The people at Mythic speak highly of it as well. I hear that Insomniac is a great place to be also.

da_milkman

I work at Day 1 Studios (Chicago) and we are shipping a game for the holidays. During the development process we have had busy times but never the crunch or the death marches that other studios may have.

I was expecting the worst, since I have only been here about 18 months, but my worst fears never materialized. They take care of their employees and have benefits that are on par with some of the better studios.

Slayerjerman

Gaspowered Games:

THe CEO and VPs are cool guys that arent "unreachable" they come in, love to sit and hear about whats going on...even from us at the bottom of the barrel.

The work environment is that of a small biz, everyone knows everyone else, everybody loves to hang out at lunch and play games (table top games, board games...ect) We have a company software library of all the hottest games we can borrow.

The hours are great and the projects are fantastic. I couldnt be in a better company even if I tried.

Joshua Stubbles

5000ft Inc (cmon BoBo, help me out here).
Seriously though, I think Ensemble is amazing from what people tell me. Also, Pandemic is said to be pretty nice as well.

FunkaDelicDass

I really dig my job at Crystal Dynamics. Cool people, good management, and a good amount of creative freedom. Oh yeah, and it's close to lots of good restaurants!

It's only my second company and I've only been here for about a year and a half, but compared to my first company (which is, naturally, no longer around), it's like walking into heaven every morning.