Irrational Games looks to hire devs with game Metacritic ratings over 85
Metacritic rears its ugly head, this time in the middle of a new job listing from Irrational
Irrational Games is currently seeking a new design manager, complete with the requirement that they have "credit on at least one game with an 85+ Metacritic review score."
The listing, which appeared on Gamasutra's job board, is looking for a design manager with "a strong passion for and experience with first-person shooters." There's no mention of the upcoming BioShock: Infinite, though it seems implausible that someone so senior would be brought onto the design segment of the game this late into production.
Perhaps most stirring about the listing is that it makes it a requirement to have the positive Metacritic credit along with at least 6+ years working as a designer in the industry and at least 3 shipped titles from pre-production through ship date. Irrational's listing becomes the first job listing to specifically name the importance of a Metacritic score, showing just how tough getting into the company might be for a developer looking for something new. There's been a rising trend of counting review scores towards performance bonuses and now job eligibility, and it's likely something that doesn't sit very well with many in the development community.
Of course, many games have gone on to do incredibly well without hitting an 85 or above; Fallout: New Vegas from Obsidian, for example. It was revealed some time ago that the team just missed its benchmark of an 85 rating to get bonuses, hitting an 84 overall.
[Via Eurogamer]
As an EIC, I wouldn't want my site to be *THE* reason that someone didn't get a bonus, or that a studio got shuttered, because their publishers are morons.
This strikes me as one of those ads communicating that they aren't really looking for anybody, but if you happen to be a god walking among mortals, they would not mind hiring you either.
I personally have always found recruitment requirements as more of general guidelines than anything else. To sum it up they are looking for someone who has shipped and managed quality games, that's not a bad requirement for someone who will be managing a lot of people.
In general its often very difficult to recruit managers and leads from outside your studio. Its such a risk to bring someone in who would potentially disrupt an already established working atmosphere. Its going to be very difficult even without the 85 metacritic requirement :P
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Richard Gardner on 28th July 2012 8:15am
Of course this is assuming that every department is doing its job properly and there are no glaring tech problems messing up the user experience.
This requirement would make much less sense for a programmer or artist, who can deliver stellar work that shines even in a badly receiced game.