EA Europe
Developers are known to spend long hours and late nights at their place of employment, especially if they are closing in on a major launch date. Creating a masterpiece of gaming design and development requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but what do the spaces where these developers half live even look like? We're going to take a look at a few spaces.
Pictured above is the abandoned EA European Headquarters in Chertsey, Surrey (the UK). Picture by Simon Davison.
Bungie
This is the scene I usually envision when I think of the developers of my favorite games. Darkened conditions lit up by several monitors. This is an overhead shot from the Bungie offices of developers hard at work. It may look like its the middle of the night, but as you can see, not all the shades are drawn and it is actually daylight outside.
Bungie
Game development can not happen without collaboration when working in teams. Sure, there's a CEO somewhere calling the shots, but the miniscule ideas of the game are down at the developer level. Ideas are bounced off others in environments such as this. Post-it notes are being used on a white board here (I'm sure the colors stand for something). Rounded couches allow the groups to be able to all sit around comfortably while working together at Bungie.
Bungie
You have to love all the neat "toys" developers have to play with. This is another room at Bungie where they use people covered in dots to track motion in order to make realistic movements for characters in video games.
Bungie
This looks like a theater room, obviously at Bungie. There are three tiers (visible) of couch seating facing the large screen up front. I love the lighting scheme of this room. Another picture also shows red lighting as well in this room.
EA Sports
EA Sports has a soccer field. Pretty explainable but still pretty awesome. This is at the Burnaby, British Columbia, building in Canada.
EA Vancouver
While they are kicking around the ball in Burnaby, employees at EA in Vancouver, British Columbia, are knocking balls into pockets with a cue. The wall features a set of car parts and rims in toy style (hooked to a plastic frame so they are all in one piece).
Valve
Valve is supposed to be one of the best development companies to work for. It is said that very few have ever left Valve. With open space and comfortable places to sit, it already looks like an awesome place to work. The walls are littered with art from games.
THQ Montreal
Slim lines and low walls are the set up for the THQ offices in Montreal, Canada. Looks a little bare in this image that was taken prior to opening. At the time of picture, about 30 were currently employed at THQ Montreal. Source article was dated in 2010.
THQ Montreal
Developers have got to eat right? With the long hours spent on the job and the amount of developers in office at a given time, more than one microwave is definitely needed. And what late night developing session is complete without liquid jet fuel, also known as coffee.
THQ Montreal
This is the theater room at THQ Montreal. The white Xbox 360 shows how dated the picture is as they have two hooked up in this room. The room features two large screens as well as l-shaped chairs that recline.
2o
The devil meets the angel at 2o. They have one of the neatest set ups I have seen to date. The color scheme is a pretty blue with lots of big bay windows and awesome Embody chairs by Herman Miller.
2o
Apple is the computer of choice at 2o as seen here. According to 2o's website, in addition to the Embody by Herman Milliar chairs, each workstation is set up with a MacBook Pro and a 27" Dell display. (They also claim to offer free coffee, juice and beer.)
2o
This is not a picture painted on the wall. This is what the doors look like at 2o's office. Makes me think I'd be in the game while working.
2o
Last but not least, this is my favorite 2o room I found so far. This lounge area looks like the perfect place to take a break from developing just to chill. I want to go redesign part of my garage like this. The walls also feature a flat screen tv and there is a kitchen area off to the left.
