Metro Last Light had the worst development conditions in all of gaming

I'm gonna post a lot of this article because it needs to be seen. Metro Last Light has had some of the worst working conditions I have ever heard about for a game. Tiny studio space, constant power outtages and having to smuggle dev kits back home. They even had to make the game dressed in parkas because the heating wouldn't work for them at times. 

Jason Rubin is best known as the co-founder of leading game developer Naughty Dog. More recently, however, he had the thankless task of trying to overhaul struggling publisher THQ.

The budget of Last Light is less than some of its competitors spend on cut scenes, a mere 10 percent of the budget of its biggest competitors. Yet it is lauded for its story and atmosphere. It is built on a completely original and proprietary second-generation engine that competes with sequels that have stopped numbering themselves, with more engineers on their tech than 4A has on the entire project. Yet its tech chops are never in question.

And all of this is compounded by the conditions this Ukrainian team works under in Kiev. The entire 4A studio would fit easily in the (underutilized) gym at EA Los Angeles' offices. Yet Last Light's Metacritic score blows away Medal of Honor Warfighter. As undeniably fantastic as competitor BioShock Infinite may be, the team was given whatever resources they needed to make the title. At the same time, 4A's staff sat on folding wedding chairs, literally elbow to elbow at card tables in what looks more like a packed grade school cafeteria than a development studio.

When 4A needed another dev kit, or high-end PC, or whatever, someone from 4A had to fly to the States and sneak it back to the Ukraine in a backpack lest it be "seized" at the border by thieving customs officials. After visiting the team I wanted to buy them Aeron office chairs, considered a fundamental human right in the west. There were no outlets in the Ukraine, and our only option was to pack a truck in Poland and try to find an "expediter" to help bribe its way down to Kiev. We gave up not because this tripled the cost, but because we realized that the wider Aeron chairs would require spreading out people and computers, which would lead to extra desks, and that ultimately would have required bigger offices. Yes, really.

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So the next time somone bashes the game just think a little about what they had to go through to make it, and still pulled off a wonderful experience

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talent > budget

Wow. Sounds rough. Imagine what they could achieve with a bigger budget and better conditions.SexyJazzCat

Really is amazing. Such a fantastic game as well. Makes me want to buy a 2nd copy just to show support.

Immense respect to them.  They made a 9.0 game like that?  Damn, let's move these guys into a cushy heated building and see what they can pull off!

wow, they were really comitted to this project to work like that and turn out a good product

A lot of game devs have to work through rubbish conditions for little recognition, sucks really :(

especially for these guys, who produced possibly my game of the year.

Sounds awful. I wish I could personally hand the developers the money for this directly instead of having the publisher take most of it. 

Immense respect to them.  They made a 9.0 game like that?  Damn, let's move these guys into a cushy heated building and see what they can pull off!

Shewgenja

Makes you think what the hell other devs are doing with all that time and money.

"Their whole game cost less than some game's cutscenes" That's just ridiculous really. 

Sounds awful. I wish I could personally hand the developers the money for this directly instead of having the publisher take most of it. 

Vari3ty

Same. 

God damn power outages have to be the worst things to put up with.

[QUOTE="Vari3ty"]

Sounds awful. I wish I could personally hand the developers the money for this directly instead of having the publisher take most of it. 

seanmcloughlin

Same. 

Same also.

They should kickstart their next game if they can't find a publisher. 

Glad they finished the game, hope they get all the money they spent back and can relax in a good holiday... i'll pick the game up once it gets a major price drop

Damn, that's bad.

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

Glad they finished the game, hope they get all the money they spent back and can relax in a good holiday... i'll pick the game up once it gets a major price drop

finalstar2007

You want them to recoup their money and yet you won't even buy the game until it drops drastically? :? that's some weird POV you got there

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

Zurrur

riiiight, just because they made one part of the game as extra paid or preorder dlc? pretty tame compared to a lot of games.

sounds like they need to move to another country. i'd love to see what they could do in a real office with a real budget. those guys are pretty talented. mems_1224

I wonder if the conditions actually helped though. I mean when you think about it, living in a dank miserable place must have been one hell of a source for inspiration

[QUOTE="Zurrur"]

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

_Matt_

riiiight, just because they made one part of the game as extra paid or preorder dlc? pretty tame compared to a lot of games.

This story makes me forgive them for the ranger mode thing now. Puts a lot of things into perspective

[QUOTE="_Matt_"]

[QUOTE="Zurrur"]

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

seanmcloughlin

riiiight, just because they made one part of the game as extra paid or preorder dlc? pretty tame compared to a lot of games.

This story makes me forgive them for the ranger mode thing now. Puts a lot of things into perspective

agreed.

Seems they used their situation as inspiration.

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

Zurrur

Is that DLC crucial to the game?

There are women in Asia who have to strain their eyes looking through microscopes for 12 hours a day and lose their site in just a matter of a couple years. Boo f*ckin hoo. senses_fail_06

Last I checked the developers weren't really complaining. They where mearly describing the situation and user here were giving them praise for still making a good product regardless (keep your kiddie rants to yourself).

talent > budget

R4gn4r0k

[QUOTE="Vari3ty"]

Sounds awful. I wish I could personally hand the developers the money for this directly instead of having the publisher take most of it. 

seanmcloughlin

Same. 

Really ? If this game wasn't picked up by a publisher after THQ bankruptcy than they would surely be in even worse conditions right now. I think the publisher deserves a cut.

There are women in Asia who have to strain their eyes looking through microscopes for 12 hours a day and lose their site in just a matter of a couple years. Boo f*ckin hoo. senses_fail_06

And there are children in Africa being forced to become child soldiers so they can rape and kill their own neighbors.  boo hoo

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Glad they finished the game, hope they get all the money they spent back and can relax in a good holiday... i'll pick the game up once it gets a major price drop

seanmcloughlin

You want them to recoup their money and yet you won't even buy the game until it drops drastically? :? that's some weird POV you got there

Yup, there are other games that are worth full price than this.. not saying its bad by not buying it day 1 but i dont want to play another FPS.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Glad they finished the game, hope they get all the money they spent back and can relax in a good holiday... i'll pick the game up once it gets a major price drop

finalstar2007

You want them to recoup their money and yet you won't even buy the game until it drops drastically? :? that's some weird POV you got there

Yup, there are other games that are worth full price than this.. not saying its bad by not buying it day 1 but i dont want to play another FPS.

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

You want them to recoup their money and yet you won't even buy the game until it drops drastically? :? that's some weird POV you got there

R4gn4r0k

Yup, there are other games that are worth full price than this.. not saying its bad by not buying it day 1 but i dont want to play another FPS.

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

Lol.

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

You want them to recoup their money and yet you won't even buy the game until it drops drastically? :? that's some weird POV you got there

R4gn4r0k

Yup, there are other games that are worth full price than this.. not saying its bad by not buying it day 1 but i dont want to play another FPS.

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

Leave CoD alone!! :cry:

its the only enjoyable FPS out there ( to me ) and besides i play it only for the multiplayer and its usually the only FPS i buy every year.. one FPS is enough and dont want another FPS.. you guys will make me decide to not buy this at all :P.. relax thats why we have you guys to support games like this :P.. buy two copies plz! 

Yeah, I'm never moving to Kiev. 

They had to fly to US to buy a PC !? Sorry for being sceptical, but this smells like b*llshit to me. They could easily travel to Moscow to buy it. They can travel by train there. And Moscow has as big electronic stores as in US, directly imported from China, priced the same as in US.

[QUOTE="R4gn4r0k"]

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Yup, there are other games that are worth full price than this.. not saying its bad by not buying it day 1 but i dont want to play another FPS.

Michael0134567

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

Lol.

Well he did admit that CoD was nothing special. And then CoD:Ghosts was announced...

[QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

[QUOTE="R4gn4r0k"]

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

lostrib

Lol.

Well he did admit that CoD was nothing special. And then CoD:Ghosts was announced...

Shame on him.

They should move the studio to poland.

Enjoyed Metro 2033 but i won't buy the game since they made hard mode DLC

for all i care, i hope they go bankruptcy

Zurrur

An interesting insight into the future. Maybe they can send all game production overseas to bring a halt to costs.

[QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

[QUOTE="R4gn4r0k"]

Yet you get the lastest COD every year. You even got COD: Black Ops declassified yet this is 'another shooter' ? :roll:

:lol: lmao

lostrib

Lol.

Well he did admit that CoD was nothing special. And then CoD:Ghosts was announced...

It still stands the series is NOT special anymore ( maybe it will change with the next gen CoD? ).. i just get it to play with friends and have fun :oops:, i dont even touch CoD's story because of how bad it is.

They had to fly to US to buy a PC !? Sorry for being sceptical, but this smells like b*llshit to me. They could easily travel to Moscow to buy it. They can travel by train there. And Moscow has as big electronic stores as in US, directly imported from China, priced the same as in US.

jhonMalcovich

It wasn't a price issue.  Sounds like crossing the border was an issue, apparently not so with flying

Leave CoD alone!! :cry:

its the only enjoyable FPS out there ( to me ) and besides i play it only for the multiplayer and its usually the only FPS i buy every year.. one FPS is enough and dont want another FPS.. you guys will make me decide to not buy this at all :P.. relax thats why we have you guys to support games like this :P.. buy two copies plz! 

finalstar2007

It's your money, you are free to buy what you want. If you want to play the newest COD every year go ahead.

But Declassified ? C'mon man :P At least trade it in if you haven't done so already, hehe.

Well he did admit that CoD was nothing special. And then CoD:Ghosts was announced...

lostrib

I'm actually interested to see Ghosts as well. Or at least to see what they mean with next gen engine.

[QUOTE="senses_fail_06"]There are women in Asia who have to strain their eyes looking through microscopes for 12 hours a day and lose their site in just a matter of a couple years. Boo f*ckin hoo. mastershake575

Last I checked the developers weren't really complaining. They where mearly describing the situation and user here were giving them praise for still making a good product regardless (keep your kiddie rants to yourself).

I never called out the developers. Feel free to point out where I did. The "conditions" posted in the OP were insignificant and I doubt the people working on this game are being paid peanuts. No ones health was in danger and these people (would appear to) have other opportunities for jobs. People who don't in other countries are forced into dangerous labor to survive. What's happening here is really a non issue. 

(Keep your irrelevant comments to yourself)

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Leave CoD alone!! :cry:

its the only enjoyable FPS out there ( to me ) and besides i play it only for the multiplayer and its usually the only FPS i buy every year.. one FPS is enough and dont want another FPS.. you guys will make me decide to not buy this at all :P.. relax thats why we have you guys to support games like this :P.. buy two copies plz! 

R4gn4r0k

It's your money, you are free to buy what you want. If you want to play the newest COD every year go ahead.

But Declassified ? C'mon man :P At least trade it in if you haven't done so already, hehe.

Well he did admit that CoD was nothing special. And then CoD:Ghosts was announced...

lostrib

I'm actually interested to see Ghosts as well. Or at least to see what they mean with next gen engine.

Declassified was the worst purchase ever... but i got my money back, some stores if you buy a game and return within 24 hours you get yo money back so thats what i did lol.

[QUOTE="senses_fail_06"]There are women in Asia who have to strain their eyes looking through microscopes for 12 hours a day and lose their site in just a matter of a couple years. Boo f*ckin hoo. lostrib

And there are children in Africa being forced to become child soldiers so they can rape and kill their own neighbors.  boo hoo