Conclusion

The sweatshop style of studio management should be long gone, but it is still very popular—and still very expensive in the long run. If you squeeze employees until they have nothing left to give, they'll leave at the first available opportunity. Recruiters have actually had programmers call in tears begging to get them out of these sweatshop studio scenarios. Initially, it might seem as if you are getting your money's worth out of that overworked and under appreciated game developer, but remember that you will later be hit with downtime to search for a replacement, downtime while the replacement acclimates to the new environment, a recruiter's fee, a relocation allowance, and several other unforeseen costs. As in so many other areas of game development, when forming and managing a game development team, it is imperative to see the big picture. And when looking at that big picture, you should see one happy, smiling team.