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Naughty Dog

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Naughty Dog

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Naughty Dog Reviews

3.6

40% would recommend to a friend

(85 total reviews)

Co-President Evan Wells

Evan Wells

59% approve of CEO

Ratings by category

3.5

Culture & Values

3.5

Diversity & Inclusion

3.3

Career Opportunities

3.2

Compensation and Benefits

3.0

Senior Management

2.7

Work/Life Balance

Ratings distribution

5 stars

55%

4 stars

28%

3 stars

12%

2 stars

0%

1 star

4%

Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor

Pros
  • "Great people Ambition Sony support Qa(in 18 reviews)
  • "Good pay and benefits(in 5 reviews)
  • "Everyone is friendly and fair(in 3 reviews)
  • "Workers, Benfits/Perks and Salaries.(in 3 reviews)
  • "Amazing Benefits(in 3 reviews)
Cons

Ratings by Demographics

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Found 85 of over 138 reviews

Updated Nov 28, 2023

    1. 5.0
      Nov 28, 2023
      3D Character Artist
      Former Employee
      Los Angeles, CA
      Recommend
      CEO Approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Salary, Friends, Work, Place, Food

      Cons

      None, all really good there

      1. 3.0
        Nov 18, 2023
        Anonymous Employee
        Former Employee, more than 3 years
        Recommend
        CEO Approval
        Business Outlook

        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.

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        1. 5.0
          Nov 22, 2023
          Dough Man
          Current Employee
          Recommend
          CEO Approval
          Business Outlook

          Pros

          Great god people too written for

          Cons

          None almost all is good

          1. 1.0
            Sep 29, 2023
            Anonymous Employee
            Former Employee, less than 1 year
            Santa Monica, CA
            Recommend
            CEO Approval
            Business Outlook

            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. 1.0
              Oct 31, 2023
              Senior Manager
              Former Employee, more than 8 years
              Santa Monica, CA
              Recommend
              CEO Approval
              Business Outlook

              Pros

              Great people Ambition Sony support Qa

              Cons

              Development hell Burnout Management issues

              1
              1. 3.0
                Apr 14, 2023
                Associate Tester
                Current Employee
                Santa Monica, CA
                Recommend
                CEO Approval
                Business Outlook

                Pros

                Great team and people to work with

                Cons

                Low pay, little transparency with leadership

                1. 4.0
                  Nov 19, 2022
                  Senior Lighting Artist
                  Former Employee, more than 5 years
                  Santa Monica, CA
                  Recommend
                  CEO Approval
                  Business Outlook

                  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
                  1. 5.0
                    Jan 19, 2023
                    Environment Artist
                    Former Employee, more than 5 years
                    Recommend
                    CEO Approval
                    Business Outlook

                    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
                    1. 5.0
                      Feb 16, 2023
                      Tech Artist
                      Former Employee, more than 5 years
                      Recommend
                      CEO Approval
                      Business Outlook

                      Pros

                      Top Game Company in the industry

                      Cons

                      Lots of work, at the time little work to life balance

                      1
                      1. 3.0
                        Jan 11, 2023
                        Lighter
                        Former Employee
                        Recommend
                        CEO Approval
                        Business Outlook

                        Pros

                        Great and experienced people and the best projects

                        Cons

                        Too much crunch, Slow tech improvements, PlayStation only experience, proprietary engine

                        1
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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.

                      According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Naughty Dog employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Naughty Dog. This rating has decreased by -19% 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.

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