Pros
-Some of the most hardworking devs I've ever had the pleasure of working with. -Brilliant Admin team, always going above and beyond in order to always make everyone happy and comfortable considering their limited resources. An absolute shame the layoffs also impacted this team. -While it was a thing, company events were really fun and well organised.
Cons
1. Slim Paychecks and Fat Cat Execs: - The honest folks on the ground are scraping by on peanuts while the bigwigs are rolling in dough, making bank like it's nobody's business while spending their day on Linkedin sharing inspirational stories and quotes, while doing the exact oposite of what they claim to defend and fight for. There's way too many VPs, Heads and C-level titles, doing god knows what. 2. Bait and Switch Hiring Tactics: - You know those perks they promise during recruitment? Well, you can forget about them. Team Building? Currenrlt non-existent. EOTM schemes? Gone. Bonuses? Never seen them. And don't even mention 'Creative Wednesday'—that ship sailed ages ago. All this in order to save petty amounts at the cost of employee's happiness. 3. Management Who Couldn't Care Less: - Upper management? More like upper indifference. They're all about protecting the bottom line, not the people grinding away for them. Human Resources? More like "Business Protection Squad." Definitely the most unprofessional and less human HR I've ever had to deal with. They are half asleep during meetings and breaking terrible news of redudancy, life changing events, like they are casually culling cattle. And I can't forget the main driver of the clown car, the VP of HR, who kept claiming during meetings that "it's just business and that "it's the state of the gaming industry right now", and that "we should get used to it by now". All this while laughing at people's faces and cracking jokes in order to better the mood. This individual should be given a few lessons in humanity and empathy. 4. Eternal Misery and Zero Bonuses: - Morale's been in the gutter for a while, they kept bonuses on the distant horizon, while claiming in company wide emails that we would start seeing them soon. It's like a never-ending cycle of disappointment and disillusionment. 5. Bland Games, Talent Wasted: - They've got some of the most talented individuals i've had the pleasure of working with, but they're stuck churning out these soulless games that nobody cares about. It's all about hitting those KPIs that they claim to understand but never seem to translate them into releasing a hit game like their competitors keep doing year after year. 6. Dirty Tricks and Overseas Exploitation: - Oh, and let's not forget their shady dealings overseas. They're milking cheap labor and awful developing countries labor laws by dangling false promises of UK relocation, for remote and India employees, like a carrot on a stick . Layoffs? Yeah, they're in on it as well, it seems to be a trend now, so why not? It's happening, but they're just replacing people with even cheaper labor in India. As the VP of HR mentioned, "we can just hire cheaper in India so there's no reason to keep people here". Here's an idea: Why not make their VPs, Heads and Chiefs, all the corporate big suits, redudant and hire for their roles India as well? That would most definitely make a positive impact in the next financial year, and honestly it would not impact production at all. It's a mess and should be questioned and investigated. I strongly believe no job is safe outside of India. Overall, stay away from Kwalee, this ship has been slowly sinking, barely being kept afloat by the CEOs own pocket, and it will not be long until that pocket dries up in the direction the company is heading.