Following the success of Elden Ring, a series of negative reviews of From Software surfaced on Twitter, claiming that staff at the studio often faced excessive overtime and a chronic dissatisfaction with pay.
The reviews were originally published on the Glassdoor-like jobs board Career Connection between 2012 and 2019. With its increasing prominence in the West, many latched onto the mention of crunch in the reviews of From Software. It prompted Twitter users to fall into tired stereotypes of Japan as a country of overwhelming overtime and exploitative work practices.
GamesIndustry.biz spoke to a number of From Software employees, past and present, to gain a better understanding of how the issues raised affect those working at the Elden Ring developer. The studio does not permit employees to give interviews, whether they still work at From Software or not. As such, all sources wished to remain anonymous.