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Big Fish Games

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Big Fish Games reviews

3.5

66% would recommend to a friend

(313 total reviews)
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Larry Plotnick

75% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Big Fish Games has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 313 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Big Fish Games employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

313 reviews
1.0
Apr 27, 2014
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

The people like having fun -- it's easy to make friends here. Interesting technical challenges.

Cons

Poor management in software engineering. They claim to be "agile" but there is nothing agile about the way they work -- it's really "waterfall" style sprinkled with scrum meetings. I worked on several projects. We spent hours upon hours planning and re-planning entire projects 6 months into the future. When the schedules inevitably slip, we cut corners and cancelled test automation work, requiring entire teams to run manual regression tests on nights and weekends while last-minute bug fixes trickled in. Promotions don't make sense, they're usually based on who makes more noise rather than actual contributions. Retrospective meetings were mostly a facade -- managers didn't welcome negative feedback. Suggestions for improving the development process were often discouraged and frowned upon. People got made fun of by managers for thinking unit tests were a good idea. Technical debt is rampant, even in services/tools that should be long-lived. Good user experience is not prioritized, resulting in bad products that fail in production. Individual contributors clearly not valuable as people to management, treated like interchangeable parts.

5.0
Apr 9, 2014
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

* Fun comes first--we are focused on making games that are fun and engaging. We are very customer-focused. * Flat organization--not a lot of bureaucracy. Employees aren't focused on climbing ladders--we're focused on making fun games. Smart, hard workers are easily noticed and rewarded for their passion, dedication, and good work. * Great people--I have never laughed so much at work. We have a great,open culture. I truly enjoy going to work every morning. * We get to make games and entertain people EVERY DAY!

Cons

Not a massive company with training programs--if you are less of a self-starter and need structured programs, this might not be a good fit for you. This is a company for people with entrepreneurial spirit.

3.0
Mar 27, 2014

Overall a good place to work, but could be improved

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Good location, nice view. Benefits are pretty good: free bus pass, good health/vision/dental coverage, lots of subsidies for other services. Most of the people I work with are enjoyable to work with, intelligent, and open to ideas. I enjoy the team I'm on and like my manager. Great yearly parties (want more!) Generally I have the opportunity to participate in learning events on and off site, but I usually have to take the initiative in finding these and asking my manager. Good work/life balance, at least on my team. It varies from dept to dept. I think the executive team does make good decisions in general. I think the company will continue to be successful.

Cons

Compensation is low for game industry. They claim it is the median rate, but they could attract a lot more talent by being more competitive. I feel a large disconnect between myself and the executives. Some are more approachable than others, but most seem to think they are above you and don't try to engage with you. A lot of the leadership (at all levels) is promoted from within. This can be a good thing, but I've had some issues with past managers because they simply aren't good leaders.

Viewing 268 - 270 of 313 Reviews

Glassdoor has 349 Big Fish Games reviews submitted anonymously by Big Fish Games employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Big Fish Games is right for you.