Big Fish Games Reviews

Pros

Great culture, collaborative environment, great people

Cons

Not the best management. Lackluster comprehension with being able to keep good people wanting to stay there.

Pros

Originally one of the nicer places I worked, generally the people who work in office did their damndest for you and were kind, decent benefits and productivity incentives

Cons

After a buyout in 2018, things went downhill fast, and I have reason to believe that continued. Lots of Layoffs and shifts since then that were very hard to deal with on all fronts.

Pros

I'm only giving Big Fish two stars because it used to be great for growth in the game industry. People in QA and CS were promoted out into other departments, shadowing was common and encouraged. I managed to get to a place where I had a launchpad to jump ship into a bigger role at another game company. The people I worked with, on the frontlines, were great as well. I've made many great friends that I still talk with today.

Cons

It's laughable how much this company pretends to care about their employees. Management wants to be seen so badly as 'the cool place to work', when none of the 'perks' (like a pinball arcade) even matter if you're feeling exhausted and overworked. Layoffs have been handled poorly. The first massive wave was hastily thrown together, where you either went to a hotel and survived the cut, or were told to leave the office immediately. Second wave wasn't much better. Claim to want more diversity, but most of the diversity I've worked with was cut in the second wave? Practice what you preach. There is no room for growth anymore. If you're not at executive level, you're not moving up. My position was considered 'essential' enough to survive both waves of layoffs, but not enough to ever be backfilled (per my old coworkers). Post-layoff mantra was literally "some work just isn't going to get done" and then expect the remaining employees to pick up the slack. Barely any COVID support. Only recently has started a low 'subsidy' for internet, ect. It ends in June. What's the point? More interested in sending branded swag to employees than actually helping with what they need: time off and monetary support. Multiple people, as well as myself, have been told to keep quiet about wages. I am aware of pay discrepancies in my department which are not addressed, specifically for those with the same level of seniority getting 2x the pay of others, and we are told to 'not rock the boat' by speaking about it. They are toeing a very thin line with these comments. It's obvious from these comments that they do not support the unionization of the game industry, and rather exploit the FOMO from those trying to get into it.

Pros

Big Fish supports career growth for their employees. I started as a Sr. Motion Graphics Artist and wanted to move into Project Management. I was recently promoted to Project Manager, Mgr. It's a challenging and fun new role for me. BFG encourages and welcomes people that take risk, challenge theirselves, and push the boundaries.

Cons

Need to communicate between teams throughout the company more effectively.

Pros

A lot of coworkers will share your interests if you're into gaming, or geek culture. Most teams have morale events a few times a year.

Cons

Lots of people at Big Fish have been employed there for nearly a decade, which means there's a lot of complacency. People who try to make improvements or changes often leave because it's like trying to push an immovable object. Pay is quite low, you will be guilt tripped if you ask for a raise or promotion. Managers also joke about how bad we're paid, that's just not funny. I was told on more than one occasion that the average employee only gets a 2% raise each year. If that's true it means most employees are losing money to inflation each year, if its false it means my manager lied to me to make my raise seem amazing. There is an incredible amount of resentment towards people who chose to leave the company. When a coworker quit my manager talked about how we were so lucky to work here, and they would regret their decision. Many essential teams are understaffed, so when someone quits managers will blame the person who left for internal slow downs or problems with projects. No one will be hired to fill their place, which leads to increased pressure on the rest of the team to not quit or take PTO.

Pros

Work/Life balance s great. Pay is slightly above average. Talent is strong. The culture is good.

Cons

They have been bought out by other companies several times and are now own by Aristocrat Games, which has forced them to become more risk adverse. When new leadership comes in, they fire a chunk of people and try to change everything. It happens too much.