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Full-timePart-timeApprove of CEO
Jeff Hickman
13 Ratings
Pros
"Work/life balance: the leadership of CSR2 always show that the well-being of the team members is highly valued" (in 7 reviews)
"Great people, great perks, awesome culture and many opportunities" (in 6 reviews)
Cons
"Senior management make it a habit to pick on junior people and blame them for their strategic mistakes" (in 7 reviews)
"A lot of good people have left so the company feels like a very different place" (in 3 reviews)
Helpful (6)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Love it!!"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time
Pros
Really enjoy working here. benefits are up to par, can't complain. life and work balance is fair, never feel overworked. Yes, even with deadlines.
It feels like they are still feeling their way through as a startup. All an all they are headed in the right direction.Cons
I hate to be honest and say there is no real cons, at least for me.
Only thing that comes to mind is.. training is lacking but nothing serious. you can read-up on most things and people are always willing to help.NaturalMotion 2014-01-08 16:31 PSTHelpful (6)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"A real shame"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at NaturalMotion full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
When I first started at the company they had big goals, a strong management and leadership team and the ability to follow through. The working environments were great, teams strong and overall feeling was positive and everyone looked up to Torsten and his vision of the company.
Cons
The longer Zynga were involved, the worst things got. The exec team distanced themselves and became passing faves for studio updates and bought very little faith in the future, with all their focus being on the London studio, leaving the people in Oxford feeling left out and disenfranchised. I told they eventually jumped ship entirely, leaving management with terrible people skills and zero ability to inspire. The company then became management heavy with huge trust issues. The talent were no longer trusted and therefore their opinions were ignored, which lead to messy projects and unhappy working environments and work force. Frank Gibeau bought hope, but sadly too late and now news that Oxford is closing when it was once the centre of the whole company. Losing Morpheme is a huge shame and left many people who had been loyal to the company for many, many years without jobs or hope of a future. There is still a great pool of talent there but sadly, management personnel purely out for themselves and not willing to push the ideas that they have and expose that talent.
Advice to Management
You've lost a pool of talent that you'll never get back and I would advise anyone thinking of joining the company to think very very carefully before they do.
NaturalMotion 2017-10-14 15:26 PDTHelpful (8)
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"Figuring out their role in the mobile market"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at NaturalMotion full-time (More than a year)
Pros
*great people; the hiring process is VERY tough- very high standards in the talent they bring on
*use of proprietary technology to use in mobile games
*innovation is encouragedCons
*disorganized
*no sense of company culture in the SF studio
*seem to have a lack of directive in the company's overall mission when it comes to their mobile games in preproduction
*breakdown in communication between Oxford headquarters and SF studio
*very small (game) studio here stateside; projects are not given the manpower or resources they need, and the hiring process/ HR is very understaffed as they are split between UK and US needs.
*minimal benefits (studio is so small, health and dental/vision options are very limited)Advice to Management
Wish upper management had given the SF studio the resources and manpower it deserved and needed to properly make the games we had been assigned to make. Wish they had 1. had better organization and a solid plan moving forward with their games, and 2. had truly given the SF studio a fighting chance to succeed.
NaturalMotion 2013-06-12 14:47 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Exciting place to work"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (More than 5 years)
Pros
- Company has a strong culture of care for employees; and is heavily invested in making sure employees are looked after well
- Excellent group of people with no egos, means everyone gets on well, environment is jovial and happy
- Perks package was lagging behind a few years ago but leadership team have listened and are providing more and more with each passing month, the effort being put into this is impressive
- Innovation and doing incredible things on mobile phones is at the core of the company's DNA, people are proud of what they achieve and employees have plenty of room to innovate and create
- Leadership team very open and transparent in communications with company
- Company is well supported by parent company zynga. Zynga have definitely become less of a strait jacket and more of a large support network under Frank Gibeau, and the support for NM continues to grow.Cons
Sometimes we have too many ideas and execution and process have been a little off point in the past; but these problems are clearly in hand now - ambitious end goals aren't easy to pull off and good progress is being made against these.
Advice to Management
Keep on the trajectory we're on at the moment, the company's never been in a better place
NaturalMotion 2018-07-02 07:46 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Challenging and respectful place to work"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
Working with very talented people, coming from diverse backgrounds.
The games are interesting and of high quality.
The team is professional, respectful, and always aiming for the best result - for our players, for the game, for the job environment.
No crunch time, the company is very respectful and supportive of employees' personal life.
Juniors can easily progress in their career and switching job is supported, as I've seen multiple QA employees move onto design or art.Cons
The career progression can be a bit slow for senior dev positions, as a lot of employees are seniors.
As it's a "small" company, there isn't that many projects that one can switch to. But this focus can also be considered as a pro.Advice to Management
Keep working on making NM a great place to work.
The changes that have been happening over the last year are in the right direction.NaturalMotion 2018-05-18 04:04 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"A company that values its employees"
StarStarStarStarStarRecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (More than 3 years)
Pros
- Multi-cultural team: People from CSR2 come from different backgrounds and nationalities. I'm an immigrant from an African country, never had any issue with discrimination and never felt that my origin or nationality is holding me back.
- Work/life balance: the leadership of CSR2 always show that the well-being of the team members is highly valued.
- Creative freedom: Thinking out of the box is encouraged.
- Self directed Fridays: every two weeks you are free to use a Friday as you like. You can add a new feature to the project, do some R&D or learn new skills.
- Free lunch on Fridays.
- Studio location: the studio is in the heart of London.
- Many social activities: Yoga, Cinema...Cons
I have no major concerns for now.
NaturalMotion 2018-05-16 14:18 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Very positive"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Great work/life balance
Everyday throws up new and interesting challenges
Lovely office environmentCons
Training opportunities not always clear
Advice to Management
Regularly update workers on what training opportunities are available
Put something in place to help new starters settle in and meet colleagues, especially those new to LondonNaturalMotion 2018-04-23 04:11 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Best games studio I've ever worked for"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time
Pros
CSR2 is an amazing game, and once you meet the team working on it you understand the reasons. The team are not scared of pushing the boundaries and always aim for their best.
The company has been going through lots of changes in the past few months, but overall I consider these to be positive; there is more transparency and better communication, better perks...
The team culture is excellent, and management really cares about team happiness and feedback.Cons
Training opportunities and career progression are not always clear, but I know the leadership team is actively working on this.
NaturalMotion 2018-04-23 04:28 PDT![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"A fun, engaging and forward thinking business"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Great people, great perks, awesome culture and many opportunities. I look forward to coming into work each day. The talent here at NM sometimes blows me away. Everyone here works very hard, but we also have a lot of fun too. Its a great social office. We all work hard towards the same common goals and vision. Leadership update us and are visible always. There are lots of opportunities for us to work on our own projects. Its a great place to be!
Cons
Hard to think of one - the only thing i can think of is we need a new website. It does not reflect who we are at all. Don't be put off by it!
Advice to Management
Thank you for being so open and transparent.
NaturalMotion 2018-04-24 03:07 PDTHelpful (2)
![NaturalMotion Logo]()
"Focused on doing this well with a plan"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at NaturalMotion full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Culture - focused , rewarding , talented
Products - live success / future innovation
Leadership - momentum in various areas that are key : Product, Culture and Player experience. Very open to feedback, listen and care that people enjoycoming to work
Location and office space
Zynga - as part of a wider org NM benefits from support , systems and bigger peer group learnings/collaboration but also independenceCons
Org Change - some impact to morale in past around major changes , but a positive focus to grow through change is working well now. Most companies have change at some point it’s how change is communicated and managed that’s key - we can’t avoid change - we live in world of change .
Advice to Management
-Keep up focus on results and innovation
-Keep momentum for projects/initiatives - Keep caring that your people /teams feel rewarded by their roles , salaries and benefits - with growth in learning and career development a key focus
- Keep aiming to stand out in the gaming market , in areas like : technology , creativity, fair pay and benefits , opportunities and diversity in workplaceNaturalMotion 2018-04-12 04:43 PDT
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