Culture is pure lip service. Nepotism is very real, as so many others have pointed out. Multiple children of leadership on staff, especially in the department that has posted many of the 5 star reviews here. Unsurprisingly, none of them have been affected by layoffs. Friends of the CEO hold all power, regardless of role or qualifications. Near zero communication from leadership, who make decisions in a vacuum and rarely even communicate those. Directionless business plan. No employee review process whatsoever. Leadership fires at a whim, often without even providing feedback first. People have been let go without their managers being consulted. Unable to attract engineering talent at this point due to reputation. Company leadership has been moving to Texas, so expect continued job cuts and not much of a future in Bellevue (google "ProbablyMonsters Fort Worth" to understand motivations). Offices are uninspiring secondhand spaces taken over as-is from tenants that moved out and lack even basics, let alone the typical comforts of a game studio. Unqualified and truly toxic former Bungie people have been empowered for reasons that are hard to comprehend. Combined with a year of frequent recent firings and then sweeping layoffs despite assurances a few months ago that there would be none, the environment has turned into a highly political culture of fear. Employees don't know what they should be doing to preserve their jobs. Morale is at an all time low. Frequent bait and switch on promises like cost of living adjustments, bonuses, and stock options; if you don't get it in writing when starting, assume nothing promised will materialize. The only stated company goal last year was to reach an extremely high number of employees by the end of the year, openly encouraging over-hiring. Leadership enabled and allowed this, then turned around and cut dozens of roles to "right-size" the company while keeping their salaries. No accountability at all, just irresponsible, reprehensible behavior from a company claiming it's doing things better.
