MercurySteam, the developer of Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread, has been criticized in a statement from CSVI-CGT, a Spanish game developers’ trade union. The statement accuses MercurySteam of implementing poor working conditions within their workplace.
According to CSVI-CGT, the studio’s first game after Dread, Blades of Fire, did not meet the sales expectations of its publisher and MercurySteam laid off 24 employees, justifying 18 of them by claiming there was not enough work. However, the statement indicates that some teams at MercurySteam are now working up to 50 hours a week. It further accuses the studio of restricting internal communication not related to work, instituting random audits of communications between employees, limiting vacation days for several months of the year, and eliminating teleworking.
Since this statement was published, employees at MercurySteam came forward to refute the allegations in their own statement in Hobby Consolas magazine. However, the link to that article in Hobby Consolas now redirects to an error page, indicating it was removed. It was not archived in the Wayback Machine. Below is a cached Google result showing the article was published yesterday.
The statement was preserved in an article on the Spanish site 3DJuegos. This group of employees denies that teleworking was eliminated, communication is restricted or that MercurySteam is under systematic crunch, additionally claiming that there is a positive work environment with flexible hours, 10 days of vacation during the holiday season, and 23 remote work days per year.
With regard to their controversial practice of not crediting developers who don’t work on a game for 25% of its development, the statement suggests a new policy in line with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has been implemented since Metroid Dread and shared with all staff before Blades of Fire’s release. The statement does not deny layoffs have taken place, and admits there has been occasional crunch, but it is compensated with overtime pay.
You can read the statement from CSVI-CGT (in Spanish) below, along with a report on it from the Spanish site Vandal. The statement refuting the allegations is also linked below, on 3DJuegos.