Naughty Dog Reviews
40% would recommend to a friend
(85 total reviews)
Evan Wells
59% approve of CEO
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Found 85 of over 138 reviews
Updated Nov 28, 2023
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- 5.0Nov 28, 20233D Character ArtistFormer EmployeeLos Angeles, CA
Pros
Salary, Friends, Work, Place, Food
Cons
None, all really good there
- 3.0Nov 18, 2023Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, more than 3 years
Pros
Some skilled people are still around. A full remote is an option. Not bad benefits. All in all still a good gig for young folks, who are chasing their first 90+ or breaking into the industry.
Cons
No serious career path. Neil + extremely tiny circle decides 99% of everything. Including things he has no expertise in. The majority of department leads\directors are just talking heads without real pull to change or influence anything. Extremely junior design department. They make already hard-as-is work borderline intolerable. Money isn't good. Not for Santa Monica in 2023. And not for the quality and quantity of work that they expect you to do. Any other studio in the area will be 30% of the intensity and pay the same or more. Not worth it by any means. Massive amounts of reworks and throwaways due to the inexperience of the design department and in general poor planning. Expect to redo everything at least 5 times for no good reason. Without time allocated for it, obviously. That's how ND sees perfectionism - purposeless semi-random sweatshopping people. It does work though. Until it doesn't.
- 5.0Nov 22, 2023Dough ManCurrent Employee
Pros
Great god people too written for
Cons
None almost all is good
- 1.0Sep 29, 2023Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, less than 1 yearSanta Monica, CA
Pros
It was a job, I had to take it.
Cons
I only told a few people there that I was trans, and was working on telling others, but everyone there is very secretive and gossipy. Had a coworker laugh directly in my face as we, and HR was incredibly mean, didn't give me a chance to respond to anything, and said a bunch of stuff that didn't make sense, on top of saying some other things about my trans status. They can say what they want, but the way that lady spoke to me left me with the impression that they ultimately fired me for being trans.
2 - 1.0Oct 31, 2023Senior ManagerFormer Employee, more than 8 yearsSanta Monica, CA
Pros
Great people Ambition Sony support Qa
Cons
Development hell Burnout Management issues
1 - 3.0Apr 14, 2023Associate TesterCurrent EmployeeSanta Monica, CA
Pros
Great team and people to work with
Cons
Low pay, little transparency with leadership
- 4.0Nov 19, 2022Senior Lighting ArtistFormer Employee, more than 5 yearsSanta Monica, CA
Pros
Stability and security as well as the chance to work with the best in the industry are major perks. Every game you work on will likely be award winning. Industry respect and credit is highest. It's the Harvard of games, you'll learn a lot. Despite shortcomings they do try their best to improve even if it may not please everyone.
Cons
Leaders have a tendency to choose favorites and the best person for a task may not always be chosen on the merit of their work. It's not a warm, friendly, or inviting work environment if you're not part of the inner social circle but if you make a friend or two, it balances out. You may not always get the credit you deserve but to be fair, it's too common in the video game industry as a whole to blame the company. I think it's really a wider problem overall. There are too few places where you get more benefits than cons and many people who leave disgruntled end up wishing they could come back. If you happen to be part of the cool kids you've got it made, if you're not, try to enjoy the perks of being in a top tier company. If you don't know what you're doing or if it's your first job, it's going to be brutal. I highly recommend this company be your second or third opportunity so you understand how the industry works as a whole to appreciate the cons and pros as well as properly navigate high end complex issues without fear of losing your position and not understand why. It's a place full of giants and veterans, not for the faint of heart. The myriad of awards and accolades are no accident.
2 - 5.0Jan 19, 2023Environment ArtistFormer Employee, more than 5 years
Pros
All of the teams in the studio are incredibly talented and dedicated to making state of the art games. The quality level is very high but the results are worth it.
Cons
Long hours during crunch time.
1 - 5.0Feb 16, 2023Tech ArtistFormer Employee, more than 5 years
Pros
Top Game Company in the industry
Cons
Lots of work, at the time little work to life balance
1 - 3.0Jan 11, 2023LighterFormer Employee
Pros
Great and experienced people and the best projects
Cons
Too much crunch, Slow tech improvements, PlayStation only experience, proprietary engine
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Naughty Dog Reviews FAQs
Naughty Dog has an overall rating of 3.6 out of 5, based on over 138 reviews left anonymously by employees. 40% of employees would recommend working at Naughty Dog to a friend and 59% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -6% over the last 12 months.
40% of Naughty Dog employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Naughty Dog 2.7 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.5 for culture and values and 3.3 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Naughty Dog to be career development, culture, benefits and the cons to be management, work life balance.
