Sports Story’s hidden dev room NPCs, who previously complained rather candidly about being overworked, are now ominously cheerful and insist they couldn’t be happier.
For some context, earlier this month a hidden room was discovered in the comedy RPG Sports Story, and it was filled with NPCs decrying what sounded a lot like crunch culture – something real-life game developers are forced to deal with all the time. While none of Sports Story’s developers have spoken out publicly, the scene could’ve been interpreted as a cry for help, but now it looks more like a hostage situation, as those very same NPCs suddenly have nothing but good things to say about their working conditions.
So, this is… interesting. It appears the secret dev room can still be accessed in Sports Story, but the dialogue has been updated to remove anything that would suggest its development was troubled. The NPC’s now insist the opposite:https://t.co/qVFhT1Cenw pic.twitter.com/mBdbskp8hjJanuary 29, 2023 See more
“Not only are we ahead of schedule on development, we are also setting records in employee happiness,” says one NPC.
Other NPC dialogue is even more suspicious, bordering on sarcastic. “Our staff are all well-rested, well-fed, and their self-esteem is skyrocketing.” Well-fed?! I wasn’t concerned about the NPCs starving to death, but I sure as hell am now.
“I can assure you, things are very much under control here! I promise.” It’s worth noting here that the “I promise” text appears after a short pause and is much smaller than the rest of the dialogue.
“Everything is working well!”, another NPC says.
“I’m not seeing any problems here whatsoever!” says another.
At this point, I’m not sure if this is an actually tragic situation or the developers are being tongue in cheek. I sincerely hope it’s the latter for their sake, but it’s hard not to suspect there might be some trouble behind the scenes at Sports Story studio Sidebar Games. I’ve reached out for comment and will update this piece if I hear back.
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Nothing to see here: Sports Story’s exhausted dev room NPCs now insist there’s no crunch culture, actually
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