Don’t let The Skywalker Saga’s toyish aesthetics fool you - it’s not a small game, by any means. The Skywalker Saga is the biggest Lego Star Wars game ever, with content that encompasses all three Star Wars trilogy movies. Naturally, it would make sense if TT Games took its time making the game. However, now that The Skywalker Saga has had a proper release date, we’ve found out what it took to get to this point. According to a report by Polygon, the grueling five-year process to get The Skywalker Saga made included a revolving door of staff members, mismanagement from the higher-ups, and the worst of all, extensive crunch. The report details that some 30 current and former TT Games employees complained about the working environment, only for their calls to fall on deaf ears. One former employee also told Polygon that management sent out a “very soft-spoken blackmail.” When asked the elaborate further, the same employee claims it gave off the vibe that “If people don’t start doing overtime, there’s going to be problems.” TT Games promised the developers an extended development timeline and a new engine. Unfortunately, the game’s development hit a snag with the new NTT engine. Although the employees tried to salvage the situation by using Unreal Engine, management insisted on using the new NTT engine as a cost-saving measure. Employees claim that this was the biggest factor that rendered the extended development time moot. Not to mention, the report details a culture of crunch within TT Games, which carried over to The Skywalker Saga’s development. The report reveals plenty of atrocious details about the inner workings over at TT Games, such as hostile working environments for female employees and a noticeable gender pay gap. Some employees even shared how the company’s co-founder and creative director, Jon Burton, would berate staff for trying to leave work on time. It doesn’t take a scathing report from Polygon to tell that TT Games had issues with the development of The Skywalker Saga. TT Games initially gave The Skywalker Saga an October 2020 release date before pushing it back to Spring 2021 and finally, to its current release date. But, the report does suggest that TT Games would have still delayed The Skywalker Saga even if the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t happen. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect Polygon’s report will have on The Skywalker Saga and TT Games.
