To build on this post: EA's Redwood Shores location is not really in Redwood City, it's actually adjacent to San Carlos, which is next to Redwood City. Many companies in this area call their company a "San Francisco" company, this is because they want to attract the Silicon Valley investors. That's why EA has the corporate HQ there, rather than San Mateo. Everywhere in the San Francisco's Peninsula is full of investors, entrepreneurs, kids, teenagers, adults, people with family, the works. The Rich, the mother fucking person with a big mansion. Yeah, the works. That's why corporations want to stay here, rather than "moving."
Yeah, SF these days is kind of terrible. The rest of the Bay Area can be alright (I've been here for about 15 years now), and most game devs aren't actually in SF. They're in Menlo Park, Redwood City, Foster City, etc. I work in the same building as the Sledgehammer guys, and they're super easy to spot compared to all of us other "regular" tech company office workers. XD
The thing about the unlimited vacation perk, is it sounds great on paper, but a lot of companies have internal environments that discourage or actively punish people who do take vacation time. It often leads to people working more and just never going on vacation because they feel like they can't or will be overlooked come promotion time because they decided they needed a little time off. I look at "unlimited vacation" as "trap!"
IDK the last time you checked but San Bruno housing is pushing like $850-$900k these days... T.T
Visceral the studio was originally named EA Redwood Stores and then renamed to Visceral. The campus itself is still named that, but there are multiple studios and subdivisions operating there.
I doubt they owned the building, probably rented the floors they needed. If the lease is up theyll just leave, if it isnt they can probably sublet it or move another team in.
I have worked for EA sports games AND worked with India based teams and I am telling you in the nicest possible way that there is a big chance you have never been more wrong in your life about anything
You might want to rethink the term code monkeys, its ... pretty offensive! Making ANY current gen game, even a sports game requires real work and real skill. Engineers in India, which I have worked extensively with, are not even close to proficient enough in videogames to be anywhere near a Fifa or Madden game, you are taking a lot of game development for granted.
While outsourcing is common in the industry, it's highly unlikely you'll see an entire AAA project structured the way you're suggesting. Oftentimes the distance and timezone difference can significantly impact productivity. That's not even factoring in the availability of talent in those countries compared to North America and Europe.
