These are the video game studios leading the charge for a four-day workweek

“I didn’t have a good work-life balance.” Pugh had read about Microsoft Japan’s trialing of a four-day week, which suggested that workers were not only happier but more productive. It is, says Pugh, about ensuring colleagues have space for their lives beyond the office — to “treat themselves with compassion.”By Pugh’s own admission, Crows Crows Crows, maker of decidedly experimental titles, is a “loose, chaotic kind of institution.” With such a focus on boundary-pushing work, he acknowledges it’s fallen into the trap of “valuing the product more than people.” The four-day week is a means of counteracting this, not least for Pugh’s own wellbeing as much as his colleagues. But going from, ‘We’re looking into this,’ to, ‘We’re actively starting this,’ happened way faster than I thought it would.” Like Nicklin’s initiatives at Die Gute Fabrik, the Eidos studios are implementing smarter work structures, including certain hours of the week where meetings can’t be hosted and “focus time” designed to foster more productive working. “The changes make a lot of sense,” they say, “and should have just been done anyway.”Despite the Eidos studios making the transition, it’s with independent companies that the four-day week is gaining the greatest traction. Perhaps we’re losing 10 percent productivity or even 5 percent.”As co-founder of Kitfox Games, Short’s acutely aware of the pressures on independent video game studios and describes moving to the four-day week in terms of another “constraint” on their output. That said, Contestabile envisages challenges related to the four-day week as production deepens but, conversely, a team that’s better placed to weather such difficulties — one “more resilient and well-rested.” For Contestabile, the four-day week isn’t just an opportunity to foster a healthier work culture — one that’s “fundamentally anti-racist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ friendly” — it’s also a way of making a meaningful contribution to the climate crisis.