Patch 5.3 will allow Flying Mounts in ARR areas!!!!

[frostmagemari]

I am somewhat aware of what the japanese business culture is like. I've read about it but I have to admit I haven't experienced it (i would guess i have experienced something akin to it. employers try really really hard to go around laws. you need to look out for yourself. Unfortunatly i'm in a "business" where i can't just up and leave because that will hurt a third party who is not to blame. Of course your employer knows that so they really like to push the envelope)

But from the surface glimpses I have got it seems that Yoshi P at least tries to not be that type of boss. He has admitted to crunch but he has also delayed patches so the team would get some rest. I understand he's really good at PR speak but i don't think someone who has admitted to crunch would now try and make it sound like its "free time". I could be wrong but so far the signals i pick up on are that he tries to not do that. Granted there is a difference between intent and reality so I could totally be wrong.

I don't know Yoshida, nor do i ever think i'd get the chance to.. but if he says he doesn't try to be that kind of boss, i'll believe it at face value. The thing i'm talking about though is more of a national issue in Japan in regards to businesses rather than crunch culture that happens in game studios.

It's hard to put into words for me since i don't have first hand experience; From my understanding of it, its not that the boss is hovering over your shoulder telling you to stay late but instead its a toxic mishmash of loyalty/respect/peer pressure. The work you do impacts the company and your coworkers, and even if not verbally mandated, it is your responsibility as an employee to make sure the business thrives and your coworkers aren't punished by your poor/unfinished work; and if higher ups think that you're not meeting those two criteria, you won't be selected for upward movement. You probably won't be fired either, you'll get shuffled off to some corner of the company where people forget about you until you quit, which isn't really a thing in wider Japanese business culture or you succumb to working yourself to death/commit suicide (It's such a large problem that the government had to get involved to try and curb it).

So even though Yoshida probably doesn't advocate them staying late to do things, it's such a normal practice in Japanese business culture that you put in extra time to finish your work that it's just something that people do because the business structure expects it of them.