Did WFH Hurt the Video Game Industry?

📆 9/2/2023 4:11 PM
📰 HarvardBiz

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The video game industry was better prepared than most to make the switch to remote work. Even so, researchers found that companies that went remote during the pandemic suffered more delays than those that managed to keep working in offices. Why? Weak ties — or casual relationships — suffered in the pandemic. Looking at data on white-collar workers’ communications, strong ties got stronger and weak one frayed. That, in turn, led to communication breakdowns that made hitting big deadlines or continuing to innovate harder, even as workers were individually productive. In short, this was an institutional failure. So what should companies do? Turning back the clock isn’t an option — companies need to find ways to encourage weak ties while accepting that office culture has fundamentally changed. They should: 1) accept that a one-size-fits-all strategy for remote probably won’t work; 2) consider creating a team to help encourage weak ties and otherwise pursue strategies to help build relationships across the company, 3) acknowledge that worker expectations have changed and try to find a balance between flexibility and face time, and 4) stay nimble and keep evaluating their approach as time goes on.

. Respondents in the 2020 survey credited these setbacks to external factors, such as rocky transitions to WFH at partner organizations and other pandemic-related slowdowns, but also internal problems, such as difficulty doing ad hoc problem-solving without being in the same physical space. Companies have about struggling to record voiceovers, increased stress on servers, and shipping delays.

The comparison is stark: Public video game companies that moved to a remote work model reported 4.4 times more delays than they did pre-pandemic. In contrast, video game companies thatshift to remote working reported roughly half the delays compared to pre-pandemic. Lest we chalk this up to a regional effect, Bandai Namco, which is headquartered in Japan and quickly pivoted to a remote work model, reported six times the delays compared to pre-pandemic.

These statements underline one particular potential cause for delays: a reduction in informal, unplanned conversations that lead to tacit knowledge exchange and new, creative ideas. The collaboration data collected by Humanyze, a workplace analytics firm founded by one of the authors, supports the view represented in these anecdotes.

First, leaders must recognize that most organizations will not be able to have a one-size-fits-all approach to remote work. What differentiates teams that have been collaborating effectively? The nature of the work matters; video game developers have different needs and habits than, say, the marketing teams responsible for promoting finished games.

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