Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games, has reportedly enforced its developers to endure 7-day work weeks in a crunch time to meet heavy deadlines for Citizencon that kicks off on October 19.
Tom Henderson from Insider Gaming reports that Cloud Imperium Games sent out an email to its staff yesterday, which said that the developer needs to "double down over the next 18 days to make sure that once again we create an amazing experience for our community". This includes finalizing patch 3.42.2 for Star Citizen, as well as getting the Squadron 42 demo showcase for Chapter 1.
The email continues: "This means for the next two weekends we will be mandating extra time for all those working on deliverables for Citcon".
Insider Gaming got its hands on another internal email back in July 2024, where the outlet learred that CIG "pre-approved" 12 hours of "SQ42 TOIL" per week (TOIL = time off in lieu) for developers to meet upcoming Citizencon deadlines. The TOIL would only be made available to Squadron 42 ships, and employees must still be with the company by the game ships, or the TOIL "will be forfeited".
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Star Citizen developers in this huge crunch time leading into Citizencon on October 29 will get free food and extra free days off in the future, with CIG providing breakfast and lunch every working weekend (but not the Mon-Fri???) for those in the office (and not working from home).
The email said that employees "need to be mindful of the hours they work and are asked to have 11 hours outside of work in each 24-hour period".
Insider Gaming reached out to Cloud Imperium Games, which sent a message thanking its workers: "To show our appreciation, all those who will in the trenches with us over the next couple of weekends, can have Monday 21st October on the company as a free holiday. This hopefully will give a little break for everyone to rest after our long Citizencon weekend and the drive towards it".
Cloud Imperium Games has mandated the following:
- All staff are to be in the office on Friday, October 4th and Friday, October 11th (typically a work-at-home day)
- All staff are to be in the office on Saturday, October 5th, and Saturday, October 12th (for these days, the company will provide breakfast and lunch, with staff receiving company TOIL (time off in lieu) which can be stored and used for time off at a later date)
- All staff are to work on Sunday, October 6th, and Sunday, October 13th (this can be a work-at-home day, but the company "encourages" people to be in the office. For these days and for those in the office, the company will provide breakfast and lunch, with staff receiving company TOIL, which can be stored and used for time off at a later date)
At the end of the day, there's nearly $1 billion riding on Star Citizen... Citizencon is going to be huge, and just like any other big corporation or company or developer, there is crunch time. There are times when I've had to work 18-hour days for a few weeks in a row to catch up on a next-generation GPU release... it's just part of the job, and I rather love those crunch times.
CIG developers are putting the final polishes onto the game in its new patch leading into Citizencon, so 7-day work weeks isn't a strange thing... can't wait to see what is revealed during the event, and to see Chris Roberts take the stage.