The industry has embraced remote working. Now what?

gamesindustry.biz:

James Batchelor

Editor-in-Chief

Tuesday 3rd May 2022

The world is changed.

That's no longer a suitably dramatic opening line to The Lord of the Rings, it's a fact. The coronavirus pandemic has altered the very way we operate and interact with most aspects of life. Most notably, in the case of a digital-centric industry like video games, the way we work.

Companies have adapted and continued adapting ever since lockdown measures were first implemented in early 2020, and even as many consider a return to 'normal' (whatever that means in 2022), the impact cannot be understated.

"We all had to go home. It wasn't really a choice," says Chelsea Blasko, co-CEO of Iron Galaxy Studios. "We had to figure out how to be efficient and productive at home. A lot of people had to be much more intentional with their culture than they ever had in the past to make sure people still felt supported. Whether you choose to be hybrid, fully remote, in-person, or some variation thereof, we will all need to take lessons we learned during the pandemic and lockdowns into the future."

Rachelle Davis, Bonfire Studios

Bonfire Studios' Rachelle Davis adds: "People's full selves came into view, quite literally for those of us who had our cameras on for the last couple of years. At first maybe there was some resistance to that, and perhaps in many places there still is, but the places that have thrived have really embraced that. They've allowed people to be the people they want to be, show up the way they need to show up today, with their full selves, with their families in the background, with their dogs licking their faces in the middle of a call. That's a change for the better in my opinion, and I think that's now here to stay."

For some companies,