Pros
Dream come true. It was my dream to work at Epic Games because 'The Making of Gears of War' DVD is what made me want to work in games. Great facilities, great perks like loads of different free food every day, language classes, awesome relocation support . Lots of interesting, smart people working there. Regular demos to the whole studio with pizza, a lot of fun. Weekly group test sessions with production team and studio lead, very interesting (and lots of fun). Sense of camaraderie. Regular video all hands company calls with Epic HQ.
Cons
Old school approach of '1 person decides' instead of tapping into the power and creativity of the group to drive a game in a certain direction. Initiative was seen as a negative, which was shocking but true. In the Polish studio people would switch to Polish mid-meeting until the end of the meeting leaving expats confused. It feels like there is no way to give true feedback on the game (with the game having been managed basically from North-Carolina as far as creative direction/design). Feedback on performance was mainly negative, not much focus on the positives. Communicating with 'higher ups' was a definite no-no, not an open culture.
