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Crystal Dynamics

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Crystal Dynamics reviews

3.3

50% would recommend to a friend

(65 total reviews)

Ron Rosenberg and Scot Amos

53% approve of CEO

43% positive business outlook

Crystal Dynamics has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 65 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Crystal Dynamics employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

65 reviews
3.0
Jul 9, 2014

Be prepared to work hard for this company

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great co-workers that are passionate Nice office, open layout, above cafe on 1st floor I have family and the benefits are good. I got 1 week paid PTO when my son was born. That goes for both women and men. 1 week paid. They comp more jury duty. Perks - Bagel Friday's, jamba juice and cupcakes on occasion. Snacks are stocked - Pop tarts, cereal, chips. Coffee robot and free soda. Tools and tech are good IT and facilities does a good job When we are not crunching, I can leave by 6 to pick up the kids from daycare Free shuttle to and from train Beer Friday - after 4pm

Cons

Long hours are required with 50 hours standard except for crunch time which is closer to 70 hours a week. No over time for those of us that are salary. Crunch time happens every 3-4 months for 2 months due to understaffing. The company tends to hire seniors or people right out of college which leaves gaps. Most of us are young with little office experience. They bring in lunch and dinner during crunch time to encourage employees to feel good about working longer hours. Food is decent but not worth the overtime. Management says they like feedback and transparency but they often ignore feedback and don't share when or why people leave. Did they get fired or quit? who knows. High burnout rate. Most people have been at the company for less than 1 year. I get the feeling that if my coworkers didn't have such high amounts of college debt that they would move on. Pay is okay, but bonuses are less than 10%, and you can forget about raises higher than 3%. They promote with title, not money. The last bonus I got was based on the amount of overtime and profit of the last game. Recruitment seems to hire to fill positions, not because the fit is right. Managers give feedback that starts as a positive but often slips in a bunch of negative to fear you into working harder and longer. The bathrooms suck. Stupid to mention but when you share a bathroom with so many guys, it becomes a big issue.

3.0
Jul 16, 2015

Great talent, poor leadership

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Exciting IP, great design and art staff, good facilities, decent wages and benefits, lots of free snacks, fairly decent office environment.

Cons

Poor management, lack of transparency, 'too many cooks in the kitchen', nit picking the details by leads instead of focus on higher priority items, lack of proper schedule and accountability of leads and production to commitments, terrible studio location.

2.0
Jan 15, 2019

Leadership is lost and winging it everyday!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great perks, plenty food (you'll never be hungry), good benefits and a great office location.

Cons

Leadership has no idea what is needed to run an effective operations department. The execs are solely focused on the product and have no idea how finance, HR, IT, and operations should be run. They try to act concerned (well one does more than the other) but its very carsalesmanish rather than real concern or empathy. The other is just rude and unapproachable. Not one of the heads of the operation department are qualified and they are lucky to be in their roles because they all lack the knowledge and experience necessary to lead those departments. There is high turnover and a ton of disgruntled employees. Many feel unsupported by their managers with no path for growth or useful feedback. Leaving this toxic environment was the best decision!

Viewing 4 - 6 of 65 Reviews

Glassdoor has 73 Crystal Dynamics reviews submitted anonymously by Crystal Dynamics employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Crystal Dynamics is right for you.