Publishing bad games badly - Anonymous employee NEXON America Employee Review

• Nexon America is governed entirely by nonsensical edicts from across the Pacific. Values and dynamics that work in Asia (egregious sexualization, pay-to-win mechanics, bottomless gacha pits) enrage Americans, and yet, despite constant financial face-plants, some inexplicable arrogance subordinates this whole office to that formula. • Correspondingly, Nexon's hierarchy resents vertical feedback. The only people with agency wear suits on another continent, and apparently these executives would rather jam their hubris forever than listen to the westerners on their payroll trying to raise flags. The experience of this, as boots on the ground, means toiling on projects you know will fail from absolute first glance. No superior wants to hear your concern, whether you voice it one-on-one to your supervisor or in front of the whole office to the president at a Q&A, because what do you know? This game was huge in China—have you seen the books? • The company’s culture prioritizes decorum and relationships over product, allowing inexperienced and artless developers to dictate the publishing process. To be fair, however, why would people who can't identify quality sacrifice for it? • HR hates everyone, and everyone hates HR. The adversarial vibe is clear, likely because leadership has no connection to games or industry culture, constantly prioritizes their own idea of fun over the office's, and seems to resent providing things employees want. One time, to boost morale after a massive layoff wave, a well-meaning admin dude set up a snack station, and his boss griped audibly about how much people ate. • Wages/salaries are well below industry standards. I know this is corporate practice du jour, but excluding employees from benefits as contractors engenders—especially when your products suck—the opposite of loyalty. The only reason to work at Nexon is to then work somewhere else.