Why to not work at a video game company:<p>0) Abuse.<p>1) Executives cut projects: a lot. The budgets are so insane for games executives need to constantly trim budgets and shift things around. It is common to walk over to an artists desk and inform them the art they have worked on for 2 years wont be used.  I am convinced telling a wife her husband has passed is the same feeling.<p>2) The budgets have exploded. My last project for an iPhone 
game was well over 4million dollars.<p>3) Complexity is compounding. My last team (for a prototype) consisted of: AI guy, graphics&#x2F;C++ guy(s), gameplay guy, Art TEAM (vector and raster) and project managers.  The art pipelines alone will suck the budget dry.<p>4) Pay is low. Since you are starting fresh each project (see 5), your working knowledge of the system is similar to someone new. Promotions, salary increases, etc don&#x27;t make any financial sense (see 1) unless you are a rockstar.  The new kids walking in usually burn out and quit because they don&#x27;t understand the massive shit show the industry is.  EA&#x27;s managers just grind people until they can&#x27;t walk. Disney is a sweatshop.<p>5) NOTHING is reused. After your second project, you quickly realize the AI you created for fish has nothing todo with with your AI for a 3d shooter. The asset pipeline you created for a soccer game doesn&#x27;t translate over to a racing game.  Game companies are full of dead code repros. People try to create&#x2F;use repeatable platforms, but then the game designer guy will walk by and say &quot;Hey is that the newest unreal engine?&quot;.  In games: Anything reused is quickly spotted as reused. This is why games that have a good series going do really well financially.  GTA what like 15?<p>6) Success is low. After a few years into a project, someone will say: &quot;But its not... fun&quot;.  Welp, good luck fixing that.  Or plan on having it rot in some terrible online store.<p>7) Rockstars. Executive: &quot;OMG you wrote the AI for GTA2 in 1998??&quot;.  Welp, this guy is now your boss. AND, because games are almost always a luck play - this &quot;Rockstar&quot; will teach you absolutely nothing.<p>My takeaway:<p>I have talked with guys in the game industry that have been in it 20+ years and asked WTF.  Basically, lifers are like high school teachers.  They are abused and underpaid: but they <i>love</i> what they do.