Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga developers allege "extensive crunch" in new report

rockpapershotgun.com:

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been in development for five years and suffered multiple delays, but it now has a new release date. The latest Lego spin on Star Wars, which covers all nine main films, will release on April 5th.

At the same time as Warner Bros. announced the release date however, Polygon published a lengthy report on extensive crunch suffered by employees working on the game at developers TT Games.

Based on interviews with more than 30 current and former TT Games employees, Polygon's report paints a bleak picture which includes crunch on several Lego games in the studio's past.

There are also allegations of workplace bullying, managers who would yell at employees to return to their desks if they attempted to go home on time, and a substantial gender pay gap and lack of women in senior roles.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has allegedly been no different, despite the studio having more time to work on the project. The studio has allegedly still been crunching, with several employees citing the move to a new, unfinished and internally developed engine called NTT as one of the causes of delays.

TT Games, formerly Traveller's Tales, have mostly focused on making Lego games for the past 17 years, including several previous Lego Star Wars games. The Skywalker Saga is due to feature characters and settings from across all nine films. It was previously due for release in spring 2021.

The studio was bought by Warner Bros. in 2007