2020 has been a challenging year for game developers across the industry and due to issues surrounding theCovid-19pandemic, game developers have been forced to find new ways to adapt and make games on a timely schedule while they work from home. After adjusting to the work from home lifestyle, Square Enix has announced that it will offer employees a new program.
Square Enix published a press release today that stated it would begin a permanent work from home program that is open to all executive officers and employees. This move will keep Square Enix on the long list of developers who are currently working from home along withRockstar Games, Bungie, and plenty more. The new work from home program will go into effect for employees on December 1 and the company expects around 80% of employees to be home-based through the month.
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Square Enixwill designate each employee as either “home-based,” which would have employees working an average of three days per week from home, or “office-based,” who will work an average of at least three days per week from the office. All eligible employees will be designated as “home-based” while division heads will designate some employees and positions as “office-based” depending on the nature of the work.
Square Enix notes in the press release that this new work style will “enable employees to unleash even greater creativity as it continues to provide its customers around the world with content and services that fulfill their expectations.” Square Enix also believes that this new initiative will help to “further bolster productivity and help employees achieve the optimal work-life balance.” Hopefully, this means that developers can avoid thedaunting periods of crunch while working on games, or at least make crunch more bearable.
Covid-19 has shifted and delayed a huge list of games, movies, and other entertainment throughout 2020 as well as forcing many workers around the world to work from their homes. Square Enix implemented a lot of its work-from-home measures back in February and an internal survey showed that 80% of employees had a positive experience working from home.
Currently, Square Enix has a few highly anticipated games in the works that are known by the public. BothFinal Fantasy VII Remake Part 2andFinal Fantasy XVIare fully into development and Square Enix just announced after a seven-day countdown that it would be developingNEO: The World Ends with You, a sequel to the decade-old, cult classicThe World Ends with You. Hopefully, the new work from home program won’t cause these games any delays or slow down each game’s development.
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