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Big Fish Games Reviews
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Full-timePart-timeApprove of CEO
Jeff Karp
6 Ratings
Pros
"Excellent work-life balance (haven't crunched once)" (in 28 reviews)
"Good advancement opportunity, relaxed work environment, management has a vision for growth" (in 22 reviews)
Cons
"Customer Service department is terribly run" (in 6 reviews)
"There are a lot of people in upper management that were good for a small scrappy business like Big Fish was 6-8 years ago" (in 5 reviews)
Helpful (2)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Opportunities Abound"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookNo opinion of CEOI have been working at Big Fish Games full-time (More than 5 years)
Pros
- Major growth opportunities
- Excellent work-life balance (haven't crunched once)
- Transparent leadership
- Fun, nice, passionate coworkers
- Stable product gives job securityCons
- Pay is a little less than competitive
- Social casino isn't the most exciting genre to work inAdvice to Management
You've got a lot of talented, creative folks; remember to give them outlets to express it.
Big Fish Games 2018-08-29 15:20 PDTHelpful (2)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Decent perks, poor upper management."
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Great for learning new tech
Reasonable compensationCons
Upper management is quick to fire employees with little or no coaching
Upper management does not listen to direct managers
Company gets bought and resold every 3-5 years
Currently owned by an Australian Slot Machine Manufacturer
Original Company founder Paul Thelen has left the companyAdvice to Management
Consider coaching your employees before terminating them. You've lost talented techs due to missed coaching opportunities.
Big Fish Games 2018-10-24 11:02 PDTHelpful (1)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"BFG Product Manager"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
I worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Good Work Life Balance. Nice people.
Cons
There were many times that I wished we were more decisive.
Big Fish Games 2018-10-22 11:35 PDT![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Big Fishy Politics"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time
Pros
- Super chill, laid-back work environment; easy to coast by
- Good work/life balance
- Great new location in downtown SeattleCons
- Clear favoritism; like some other reviewer had mentioned, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know
- Lack of work ethic and skill by individuals who bank on flattery instead of actual work
- Frat/sorority house mentalityAdvice to Management
Be more self aware. Have some ethics.
Big Fish Games 2018-10-20 15:31 PDT![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Changing times"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsNeutral OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time
Pros
+ Excellent work/life balance, good benefits, and nice facilities
+ Recent pipeline adjustments have made the production goals much more clear.Cons
Depending on department, VPs can be intrusive and redirect so often it is hard to get things done.
Advice to Management
Trust your teams to do their jobs. Tell them what you want to see, then let them figure out how to do it best for their product. Stop bundling the solution with the request.
Just because a competitor implements 'feature X' in their game doesn't mean that the same feature will slot directly into our products.
Lastly, if you do offer direction on something, stop "chasing the shiny" and let the teams implement that feature rather than redirecting to the "new thing" 2 weeks later.Big Fish Games 2018-10-04 17:44 PDTHelpful (2)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Software Engineer"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Great work/life balance in engineering. Personal issues always came first on my team.
Cons
The company has changed hands multiple times in the last few years, and it shows in the disorganized management, and lack of direction.
The recent lay-offs were very poorly handled. They gave us about zero minutes of warning and some people were mistakenly sent to the wrong meetings. Also, the list of people was clearly put together by someone who was disconnected from the teams.Advice to Management
Listen more to the lower level managers who have been around a while. They know the people and the core values. High expectations are fine, but they're much more likely to be met if they align with your teams' strengths.
Big Fish Games 2018-10-09 08:59 PDTHelpful (2)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Fun but can be a shark tank"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than 5 years)
Pros
Fun-centric environment. Didn’t need to work overtime very often. Most people go home at 5pm or earlier. Brand new building located downtown.
Cons
Depending the department you work in, environment can differ drastically. Not much education or training provided. Career growth will be determined more by who can make the most friends so if you are the type who likes to let hard work speak for itself you probably won’t do well here. Demographic skews younger. And politics, ambitious workers and competitiveness can make the environment a bit like a shark tank.
Advice to Management
Make sure you foster an environment of inclusion rather than competition. Make sure that training is provided for managers. Make sure that you respond to your employees when they ask for help, leadership and guidance.
Big Fish Games 2018-09-23 11:51 PDTHelpful (1)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Such a sham"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time
Pros
Lots of travel. Free goldfish crackers in the kitchen.
Cons
Management is terrible. Senior Management in 3rd party is a boys club who believe they hold the key to making games. They don't listen to people who have been in the games industry for years and they don't trust their judgment.
Advice to Management
To the parent company, you are paying for a lot of travel and I can tell you it's not necessary. Those that travel will give exhaustive excuses about why they absolutely neeeed to go to Paris or Korea to meet the developers every quarter, but they know it's not true. Everything they accomplish there can be done over Skype and email. Meeting in person is nice, but it's an excuse to party and vacation. You are paying for your employees vacations 4 times per year if not more.
Big Fish Games 2018-10-09 07:21 PDTHelpful (5)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Worst company ever!"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than a year)
Pros
There are a few good people who make the environment more tolerable
Cons
I would highly discourage anyone from working at Big Fish. The biggest reason is the awful management- there is no communication, they don't listen to the needs of their team, they have superior attitudes and provide absolutely no guidance or mentorship. The executives take credit for any wins, and never show any appreciation for individual achievements. They also demand 80 hour work weeks with no reprieve. For these reasons, they have had very high turnover, hence why they are always hiring. The constant re-pivoting with all the acquisitions and team changes only further complicates the work environment.
Advice to Management
Stop hiring jerks in management and focus on your strengths, rather than trying to do everything at once.
Big Fish Games 2018-08-26 09:49 PDTHelpful (2)
![Big Fish Games Logo]()
"Great work environment, not-so-great manger level"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI worked at Big Fish Games full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Great work environment. Lots of fun event and food around that seem they tries to make the employees keep happy.
Cons
Translators and Language editors' hourly payment seems lower than other tech companies around Seattle. Translators $17- $21.40 per hour for Level II. Language Editor $17.00 -$20.80 for Level II.
Manager level people don't have much enough skill and mind to manage their team. Some are great, the others are so bad. Once you have to work under the bad type of manager, that's the trigger you decide to leave the company.Advice to Management
The company should give more decent trainings to manager level.
Big Fish Games 2018-07-31 11:39 PDT
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