I worked at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than a year
Pros
+ Location: San Diego is an amazing place to live. Buzzing restaurant scene, beautiful beaches, easy commute, reasonable cost of living.
+ Work / Life Balance: No crunch, good hours.
Cons
- Leadership: Schizophrenic and completely unorganized. Constantly changing plans that disrupt and demotivate team members. Games are treated like line items on a budget sheet. Zero interest in building a positive brand that gamers love. Complete and total lack of focus.
- Tools: Archaic and limiting. You cannot do your best work at Daybreak because you will always be fighting the tech the games are built on. I’ve worked with less-than-ideal tools before, but the tech that powers our games here is over a decade behind.
- Culture: It barely exists. There’s no rallying cry to unite people. Company “pillars” feel like arbitrary statements made by someone in HR with no understanding of games. Very little camaraderie and passion due to a complete lack of empowerment.
I have been working at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than a year
Pros
Good work life balance, overtime is unusual on the game team I'm on. Visible expectations of what is necessary to be promoted. My supervisor is very good at helping accomplish yearly goals and skill growth. Very pleased with management on this team. I do not know very much about the other teams here. As a whole the company is LGBT friendly, and has an above average ratio of female employees (also in management).
Expectations about work are clear and I don't feel pressured about when/how I finish my work (opposite of being micromanaged). I also can get help easily without irritation from coworkers, and lots of patience. I am surprised by the amount at which my opinion is valued even though I am surrounded by a lot of very experienced, knowledgeable people. We have some fun but generally everyone is there to get work done and doesn't mess around. It feels like a casual work environment, but is not casual in it's professionalism.
Cons
I think a lot of the negative reviews here are honest for whomever wrote them and probably fair. I think part of the problem is the reality of running a business and the game industry. If a company is failing to release successful games over an extended time period (it is very competitive) they will not be able to give good bonuses and they will have to have layoffs, which is true for Daybreak and makes employees unhappy.
I am optimistic for the future. Depending on where you look, this company offers very stable positions in a notoriously unstable industry.
I worked at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
The people who have remained at the company year over year are great and experts in MMOs. Everyone puts so much energy into keeping things positive until there are some real positive changes within the company. Most people really care about the fans that support their titles and want to do right by them and their dedications to the titles.
Cons
After the layoffs over the last several years, many departments have been running extremely lean to the point where it's unsustainable. Lots of favoritism and a culture of fear and yes-people at the top of the org. If you aren't one of the CEOs favorites, good luck getting anything done that actually costs money. The only thing that drives the decision making is money, not ideas or innovation or making things fun. There is no care for the people that put their hearts and souls into the company and it's heartbreaking to witness.
Daybreak Game Company
Employee Review
"Disorganized and dispassionate"
I worked at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than a year
Pros
+ Location: San Diego is an amazing place to live. Buzzing restaurant scene, beautiful beaches, easy commute, reasonable cost of living. + Work / Life Balance: No crunch, good hours.
Cons
- Leadership: Schizophrenic and completely unorganized. Constantly changing plans that disrupt and demotivate team members. Games are treated like line items on a budget sheet. Zero interest in building a positive brand that gamers love. Complete and total lack of focus. - Tools: Archaic and limiting. You cannot do your best work at Daybreak because you will always be fighting the tech the games are built on. I’ve worked with less-than-ideal tools before, but the tech that powers our games here is over a decade behind. - Culture: It barely exists. There’s no rallying cry to unite people. Company “pillars” feel like arbitrary statements made by someone in HR with no understanding of games. Very little camaraderie and passion due to a complete lack of empowerment.
Other Employee Reviews
"There's no job quite like this one"
I have been working at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than a year
Pros
Good work life balance, overtime is unusual on the game team I'm on. Visible expectations of what is necessary to be promoted. My supervisor is very good at helping accomplish yearly goals and skill growth. Very pleased with management on this team. I do not know very much about the other teams here. As a whole the company is LGBT friendly, and has an above average ratio of female employees (also in management). Expectations about work are clear and I don't feel pressured about when/how I finish my work (opposite of being micromanaged). I also can get help easily without irritation from coworkers, and lots of patience. I am surprised by the amount at which my opinion is valued even though I am surrounded by a lot of very experienced, knowledgeable people. We have some fun but generally everyone is there to get work done and doesn't mess around. It feels like a casual work environment, but is not casual in it's professionalism.
Cons
I think a lot of the negative reviews here are honest for whomever wrote them and probably fair. I think part of the problem is the reality of running a business and the game industry. If a company is failing to release successful games over an extended time period (it is very competitive) they will not be able to give good bonuses and they will have to have layoffs, which is true for Daybreak and makes employees unhappy. I am optimistic for the future. Depending on where you look, this company offers very stable positions in a notoriously unstable industry.
"No faith that things will get better"
I worked at Daybreak Game Company full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
The people who have remained at the company year over year are great and experts in MMOs. Everyone puts so much energy into keeping things positive until there are some real positive changes within the company. Most people really care about the fans that support their titles and want to do right by them and their dedications to the titles.
Cons
After the layoffs over the last several years, many departments have been running extremely lean to the point where it's unsustainable. Lots of favoritism and a culture of fear and yes-people at the top of the org. If you aren't one of the CEOs favorites, good luck getting anything done that actually costs money. The only thing that drives the decision making is money, not ideas or innovation or making things fun. There is no care for the people that put their hearts and souls into the company and it's heartbreaking to witness.
Discover more reviews about Daybreak Game Company.