This morning, I received, as did everyone in the company, an e-mail from the CEO. It was to give us an update for our work from home status. After some analysis of the situation, we were told that the majority of us will continue to work from home until January 2021.
They were already hinting at this timeline before, so this doesn’t come as a major surprise, but now we have a confirmation as such. We were also told that going forward, some additional work from home resources will be made available to us but details are still being worked out. I think that probably means some additional funding for things like desks, chairs, and other equipment. They’re also trying to arrange some way for us to remove some of our personal belongings from our studios. It’s important to realize that for most employees, the work from home order arrived with great urgency and very little warning. People went home as if it was a normal day and then in the evening, were not told to come back the next day, and here we are. Personal items like pictures, toys, clothing, and the like were all left at desks. Some people had plants at their desks and it’s safe to say most of those are now very dry and very much gone.
At my desk, I have very little in the way of personal items that I need right now. I have an umbrella, two hoodies, some green tea, and interestingly, a Tupperware container of now very stale cookies. I don’t need any of these things, so I probably won’t request to come get my things. I am thankful that I have nothing stuck in the mail room as there is currently no plan in the place to get those items to their rightful owners.
As for the actual work we do, now that I know I’ll be at home until the new year, that means I’ll help complete and ship FIFA 21 from the comfort of my own home. I’ve never made a game while spending most of that development time at home, so this will be a first. I know I won’t be alone as many other game developers in my company and in other studios worldwide are in the same situation. Come fall and beyond, many of the new games will have had their last bits of development done while everyone is at home.