LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks as though it's going to be the biggest game in TT Games' LEGO series' yet, but allegations of crunch during its development means it shares an unfortunate trait with Red Dead Redemption 2. The gameplay overview trailer for the upcoming LEGO game showcased new gameplay mechanics, features, and graphical improvements. Some of these new additions are skill trees, a world map players can use to travel, and character classes.
Compared to the last LEGO Star Wars games in the series, The Skywalker Saga is the biggest in the franchise. Along with the new additions, LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga fixes a 10-year series problem by introducing a "Mumble Mode", enabling players to swap out voiced characters for the classic mumbled dialogue of the original games. Unfortunately, all of these improvements to the game seem to have come at a human cost, with allegations of crunch hitting TT Games on the same day the studio showed off Skywalker Saga's new gameplay trailer.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been delayed multiple times past its initial release date of 2020. According to a recent article from Polygon, the game's setbacks occurred due to situations such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, troubles and technical difficulties with the NTT game engine, and new additions constantly being added to the title during the development process. With the way that LEGO Skywalker Saga has turned out - and with toxic development practices coming to light more frequently in recent years - it’s not surprising that many employees at TT Games felt unsupported and overwhelmed while working on the project. Similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, developers worked excessive hours a week in order to meet the release deadline.
TT Games Allegedly Crunched During LEGO Star Wars' Development
Polygon's report featured anonymous testimonials from TT Games developers, stating that while they feel positive that fans will have an enjoyable experience with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, many had a horrible experience due to the stress that they were put under. Employees at TT Games even reported that they had to work 80-100 hour work weeks while also working on different projects and new additions being added. The staff at TT Games even explained how they were afraid to go against working additional hours because of the consequences that may follow if they’d disagree.
The experiences of TT Games' developers during the development of the latest LEGO Star Wars (which features more playable characters than any previous LEGO game), feel similar to those shared by Rockstar employees during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. During the development process of the ambitious Western prequel, workers felt pressured to overwork themselves, with the game's scale and beauty - like LEGO Star Wars - coming at a human cost. The 60-hour story, side missions, graphics, and the online mode were the main things being worked on, with the game's narrative team also working extra long hours during its development.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga definitely has the potential to be one of the greatest LEGO games in the franchise due to its content along with the sheer time and dedication put into it. Regardless, some people find it difficult to support games and studios that have utilized crunch, so it remains to be seen if these reports of crunch development will affect the game's success. With LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's release date confirmed to be April 5, hopefully, the team at TT Games’ hard work has paid off.
Source: Polygon