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Unexpected closures, layoffs even as companies report record profit, crunch, sexism, racism, online harassment: the games industry doesn't lack reasons for its members to experience mental health issues.
In the US, one out of five people are diagnosed with some mental health condition every year. And one in two people will be diagnosed with a mental health issue at some point in their life.
"One common theme that is concerning to [all developers] is the issue of mental health"
"In the time that I've been in the industry -- and I've spent a lot of time in this industry -- I've had the opportunity to travel all around the world, talk to developers of all kinds from solo indies in a garage, to large AAA companies with tons of developers," Edwards said. "And one thing that has constantly come through as a common theme that is concerning to them is the issue of mental health.
"It comes up time and time again. Issues of crunch, sexism, work-life balance. Even the stories [about these issues] cause a certain level of stress when we're working in an industry like this, which is under a lot of dynamic change. There is a cost to this. And that cost is the mental health of the people doing the work, which is all of us. And so that's why I want to talk about mental health and how it affects game creation."
Issue no.1: Lack of job stability and longevity
The games industry is known for its constant shifts, with companies regularly changing hands for instance, which can be extremely disruptive. In the past couple of months only, Take-Two acquired mobile developer Playdots, TinyBuild purchased Hello Neighbor devs Dynamic Pixels, and Embracer Group bought multiple studios, including 4A Games.
But the games industry also suffers from regular, sudden studio closures. This year, DayZ creator Bohemia Interactive closed its development studio in Bratislava, Ultimatum Games shut down, HQ Trivia ended, and Nexon OC closed. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"24% of people in the industry reported that they've worked for three to five employers in the last five years"
The lack of job stability and longevity has been a known issue in the games industry for almost as long as it has existed. Interestingly though, in the IGDA's Developer Satisfaction Survey from 2014 that Edwards quoted in her talk, 61% of the respondents saw themselves staying in the industry "indefinitely," showing the dedication and passion of game creators despite working in a volatile environment.
The common stress points related to working conditions:
The games industry is notoriously lacking diversity and inclusion, and there are stories every single day highlighting cases of racism or sexism. While things are improving, this process is painfully slow, and the recent UKIE census pointed to a UK industry that is still overwhelmingly young, white, and male.
"Some people might wonder: why would this affect people's mental health?," Edwards said. "[But] if you are in a company [and] you're not seeing people like you, that can cause stress. Or if you're not seeing games being created for a more diverse audience, that can also cause a certain amount of stress.
"So when we ask in the [2014 IGDA] survey, 'Do you feel there's equal opportunity and treatment for all in the game industry', the resounding answer [is] no. And that should be concerning to all of us."
Roughly 22% of people working in games worldwide are women. In terms of ethnic diversity, the 2019 IGDA survey showed that only 2% of the respondents identified as Black/African-American/African/Afro-Caribbean, and 7% as Hispanic/Latinx.
"What's interesting though is when we asked developers 'How important do you think diversity is', 75% of the respondents think it's very important or somewhat important.
"So there's obviously an interest in having more diversity, yet we're not at that state yet. In the United States, for example, 41% of game players are women according to the latest stats from the ESA, whereas only around 24% of game developers are women. So we basically need to do a better job of making games for everybody who plays games, not just who we think plays games."
The wage gap between men and women also still very much exists -- and it even widened in te UK in 2019.
"Unfairness costs a lot of money, because you're losing talent, you're having people who leave jobs and going elsewhere," she said. "Diversity and inclusion initiatives can really improve culture and reduce turnover, but only if they're done well."
Issue no.3: The public perception of games
"We hear these stories all the time -- the current government in the US has been very open about complaining about video games. And when I see things like this, what I see is a failure of the industry to step up and do its job, which is basically to defend itself as a creative medium.
"Within another ten or 15 years, every single politician on earth will have grown up with video games, and so I do think there's going to be a perceptual shift that's going to be really healthy for the industry. Some punctuated events like the pandemic have actually been a factor in helping the broader public understand that games can play a really healthy role as a form of entertainment, and you don't have to fear them as a medium."
"But getting people to listen to a rational empirical argument is not easy,". The point is that as games creators, this adds stress to our lives, having our profession judged in this way on a constant basis."
The public perception of games can wear staff down, especially those in community-facing roles. And that also includes issues other than violence, such as the idea that games are played only by kids, that they're a waste of time, or that game developers are lazy or only motivated by money.
"These are misperceptions, but they are still persistent out there in the public, even though in the United States in 2011, we had the supreme court rule that there's no link between violent games and its effects on children.
"Just a few years later the Pew Research Center did a study and found that 40% of adults still believe that there's a relationship between games and violence. 26% think that games are a waste of time, 60% believe that games are played mostly by men, and that 23% think that games don't promote teamwork and communication. So that perception lingers and it's really stressful and troubling."
Unexpected closures, layoffs even as companies report record profit, crunch, sexism, racism, online harassment: the games industry doesn't lack reasons for its members to experience mental health issues.
In the US, one out of five people are diagnosed with some mental health condition every year. And one in two people will be diagnosed with a mental health issue at some point in their life.
"One common theme that is concerning to [all developers] is the issue of mental health"
"In the time that I've been in the industry -- and I've spent a lot of time in this industry -- I've had the opportunity to travel all around the world, talk to developers of all kinds from solo indies in a garage, to large AAA companies with tons of developers," Edwards said. "And one thing that has constantly come through as a common theme that is concerning to them is the issue of mental health.
"It comes up time and time again. Issues of crunch, sexism, work-life balance. Even the stories [about these issues] cause a certain level of stress when we're working in an industry like this, which is under a lot of dynamic change. There is a cost to this. And that cost is the mental health of the people doing the work, which is all of us. And so that's why I want to talk about mental health and how it affects game creation."
Issue no.1: Lack of job stability and longevity
The games industry is known for its constant shifts, with companies regularly changing hands for instance, which can be extremely disruptive. In the past couple of months only, Take-Two acquired mobile developer Playdots, TinyBuild purchased Hello Neighbor devs Dynamic Pixels, and Embracer Group bought multiple studios, including 4A Games.
But the games industry also suffers from regular, sudden studio closures. This year, DayZ creator Bohemia Interactive closed its development studio in Bratislava, Ultimatum Games shut down, HQ Trivia ended, and Nexon OC closed. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"24% of people in the industry reported that they've worked for three to five employers in the last five years"
The lack of job stability and longevity has been a known issue in the games industry for almost as long as it has existed. Interestingly though, in the IGDA's Developer Satisfaction Survey from 2014 that Edwards quoted in her talk, 61% of the respondents saw themselves staying in the industry "indefinitely," showing the dedication and passion of game creators despite working in a volatile environment.
The common stress points related to working conditions:
- Having to crunch, or suffering from time pressures even if your company doesn't crunch
- Uncertainty around job stability, which worsens if you're in a competitive workplace
- Frequent job location changes
The games industry is notoriously lacking diversity and inclusion, and there are stories every single day highlighting cases of racism or sexism. While things are improving, this process is painfully slow, and the recent UKIE census pointed to a UK industry that is still overwhelmingly young, white, and male.
"Some people might wonder: why would this affect people's mental health?," Edwards said. "[But] if you are in a company [and] you're not seeing people like you, that can cause stress. Or if you're not seeing games being created for a more diverse audience, that can also cause a certain amount of stress.
"So when we ask in the [2014 IGDA] survey, 'Do you feel there's equal opportunity and treatment for all in the game industry', the resounding answer [is] no. And that should be concerning to all of us."
Roughly 22% of people working in games worldwide are women. In terms of ethnic diversity, the 2019 IGDA survey showed that only 2% of the respondents identified as Black/African-American/African/Afro-Caribbean, and 7% as Hispanic/Latinx.
"What's interesting though is when we asked developers 'How important do you think diversity is', 75% of the respondents think it's very important or somewhat important.
"So there's obviously an interest in having more diversity, yet we're not at that state yet. In the United States, for example, 41% of game players are women according to the latest stats from the ESA, whereas only around 24% of game developers are women. So we basically need to do a better job of making games for everybody who plays games, not just who we think plays games."
The wage gap between men and women also still very much exists -- and it even widened in te UK in 2019.
"Unfairness costs a lot of money, because you're losing talent, you're having people who leave jobs and going elsewhere," she said. "Diversity and inclusion initiatives can really improve culture and reduce turnover, but only if they're done well."
Issue no.3: The public perception of games
"We hear these stories all the time -- the current government in the US has been very open about complaining about video games. And when I see things like this, what I see is a failure of the industry to step up and do its job, which is basically to defend itself as a creative medium.
"Within another ten or 15 years, every single politician on earth will have grown up with video games, and so I do think there's going to be a perceptual shift that's going to be really healthy for the industry. Some punctuated events like the pandemic have actually been a factor in helping the broader public understand that games can play a really healthy role as a form of entertainment, and you don't have to fear them as a medium."
"But getting people to listen to a rational empirical argument is not easy,". The point is that as games creators, this adds stress to our lives, having our profession judged in this way on a constant basis."
The public perception of games can wear staff down, especially those in community-facing roles. And that also includes issues other than violence, such as the idea that games are played only by kids, that they're a waste of time, or that game developers are lazy or only motivated by money.
"These are misperceptions, but they are still persistent out there in the public, even though in the United States in 2011, we had the supreme court rule that there's no link between violent games and its effects on children.
"Just a few years later the Pew Research Center did a study and found that 40% of adults still believe that there's a relationship between games and violence. 26% think that games are a waste of time, 60% believe that games are played mostly by men, and that 23% think that games don't promote teamwork and communication. So that perception lingers and it's really stressful and troubling."
