Why Crunch is a Game Producer’s Best Friend

Be brave enough to say what we’re all thinking.

Note, this was posted on April 1st. (wink)

Deep Dive by Notebook LM.

• Crunch drives urgency, slashes meetings, and creates fast, focused output producers crave.

• Tired teams impress stakeholders, bond through shared chaos, and finish what velocity charts never could.

• Critics call it toxic, but with the right spin, crunch becomes the secret weapon for shipping under pressure.

For years, the industry has been flooded with think pieces about the so-called “dangers” of crunch. Words like toxic, unsustainable, and exploitative get thrown around like confetti at a retrospective. But what if we’ve got it all backwards?

What if crunch isn’t the problem — what if it’s the solution?

As a producer, your job isn’t just to ship. It’s to inspire urgency, keep the pace sharp, and maximise output with the resources you have. And let’s be honest — there’s nothing quite like the magic that happens at 11:47 pm when someone finally checks in that fix no one had time to test. That’s the kind of momentum you can’t get during office hours.

Crunch creates clarity:

• Priorities surface.

• Meetings vanish.

• People stop arguing about swimlanes and start getting sh*t done.

In this article, we will unpack the misunderstood upsides of crunch, not from a moral high ground but from the trenches. Because if you’re leading a team and you’ve never whispered, “Can we get just one more build?” on a Friday afternoon… are you even producing?

Let’s get honest and talk about crunch and why it works.

“Mental health is important — just not during milestones.”
— Anonymous Studio Exec, quoted in an all-hands Slack thread

The Hidden Benefits of Crunch (For Producers)

You’ll never hear this in a GDC talk, but Crunch gives producers something that no process framework can match: control. Here’s what happens when the team starts crunching:

1. Urgency Becomes Default

When everyone’s in crunch mode, there’s no need to chase. People assume everything is urgent — which, for you, is ideal.

No more nudging on Slack.

No more chasing up Jira comments.

It's just a beautiful, panicked blur of output.

2. Meetings Magically Disappear

As time shrinks, so do calendar invites.

Daily standups turn into “who’s still awake?” check-ins.

Retros? Cancelled.

Planning? Done in a whisper over someone’s shoulder.

Best part? You’ll never hear “let’s circle back” again.

3. Stakeholders Get the Show They Paid For

Nothing sells progress like tired faces and coffee breath.

Execs love a team that’s “giving 110%”. They don’t need to see a roadmap — they need to feel the chaos.

You’ll be amazed at how much confidence you can generate with blurry screenshots and a dev muttering, “We’re nearly there,” at 2 a.m.

4. The Team Starts Bonding (Whether They Like It or Not)

Crunch turns colleagues into comrades.

They may cry in the toilets, but they’ll remember it forever.

Years later, they’ll say things like, “Remember that week we didn’t go home?” and laugh like it was summer camp with migraines.

Trauma builds trust. Ask any producer who’s shipped a game no one wanted.

“Tired? Good. That means you're finally working. Finish the job, then collapse wherever losers go.”
— Andrew Tate, speaking at a team morale coaching seminar

Velocity Is a Lie — Crunch Is the Real Forecast

Burndown charts. Cumulative flow diagrams. Monte Carlo simulations.
Lovely visuals. It is entirely useless when the actual project plan is panic and prayer.

Here’s the thing: velocity is a theory. Crunch is execution.

Why Plan When You Can Push?

Planning assumes reality will cooperate. Crunch assumes it won’t — and just skips straight to the chaos.

You don’t need to “inspect and adapt” when people work twelve-hour days. They’re adapting in real time, usually in total silence.

Your Best Forecast Is Fear

Try this: instead of updating your Jira workflow, let people know how much trouble we’re all in.

An adequately delivered “We can’t miss this deadline” Slack message will outperform any capacity planning tool on the market.

This isn’t project management. This is deadline-driven creative acceleration.

Flow Efficiency? Try Flow Exhaustion

You don't need to worry about trying to optimise work-in-progress limits. Just start everything at once and keep poking people until something gets finished.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly things move when people are too tired to argue about flow metrics.

“If you’re still working at 10pm, it means you care. If you’re not, you don’t.”
— Excerpt from a deposition in the “EA Spouse” class action lawsuit

Mythbusting: Common Objections to Crunch

Whenever someone suggests crunch, a crowd appears — armed with blog posts, burnout stats, and tweets from ex-developers with strong feelings.

Let’s clear a few things up.

“People burn out.”

Sure. Some do. But here’s the truth: Burnout is just turnover with more drama.

You weren’t going to keep everyone anyway. At least now they’re leaving after hitting that deadline.

New hires bring fresh energy and haven’t learned how to say no yet.

“Quality drops.”

Does it, though? Or do people start defining “bug” a bit more generously?

Expectations shift during the crunch. Suddenly, “edge case crash” becomes “shippable v1 quirk.”

QA doesn’t fall behind — they get more strategic about what they log.

“It’s unsustainable.”

Not everything needs to be sustainable. Campfires aren’t sustainable — but they’re great for heat and light, briefly.

Think of crunch like a creative bonfire. Sure, it’s mostly smoke and regret… but for a moment, it works.

“It creates a toxic culture.”

Stay vague only if people talk about it. Use phrases like “all hands on deck” or “we’re in a push.”

If you don’t call it crunch, is it even happening? Words are powerful. Just pick different ones.

“Sleep is a form of scope creep.”
— Anonymous Executive Producer, justifying a 2 am stand-up

Tooling Tips for Managing Crunch Efficiently

(Or: How to Keep the Chaos Just Structured Enough to Avoid an HR Investigation)

You can’t just let crunch run wild. You’ve got to manage it like a professional. Here’s how to keep the pressure high and the optics tidy:

1. Use Slack Bots to Keep Spirits Low

Automate reminders like:

• “Only four more hours until midnight!”

• “Has everyone eaten today? (Optional)”

• “Let’s push through, then maybe rest!”

Bonus tip: set it to trigger a motivational quote every time someone types “burnout”.

2. Introduce Competitive Burnout Leaderboards

Nothing builds hustle like a leaderboard. Track things like:

• Most commits after 10 pm

• Longest session without Git errors

• Number of bug fixes completed while crying

Offer prizes. Or don’t. The recognition is the reward.

3. Replace Retros with Group Apologies

Forget “what went well” or “what can improve”.

Just go around the circle and have everyone apologise for what they didn’t finish.

Quick, efficient, humbling.

For extra effect, dim the lights and play rain sounds.

4. Make PTO a Hot Potato

Want time off? Great. It is hard to get folks into the office if they are physically unwilling, and laws in some (woke) countries say they are entitled to time off.

Find someone else not already crunching, assign them to cover the vacationer’s tasks, and hand them the 43-step handover.

This weeds out the unserious and boosts problem-solving skills.

5. Use Fake Schedules That End Two Weeks Early

Build trust by removing it.

Set the visible deadline before the real one.

That way, when everything falls apart (it will), you still have time to “miraculously recover”.

Nothing bonds a team like an unexpected bonus week of additional panic.

Your Producer’s Toolkit

That’s your toolkit.

Messy? Yes.

Effective? Also yes.

Legal? That’s why we don’t write anything down.

“You can’t measure passion in hours — but we do anyway.”
— Statement submitted during formal arbitration proceedings before an Employment Tribunal

Closing Thoughts: Crunch Isn’t Broken — You Are

If you’ve made it this far and are still frowning, ask yourself: Are you resisting crunch… or greatness?

We get it. You want boundaries. Balance. It's time to see sunlight.

But game production isn’t about being comfortable. It’s about delivering. And if that means a few sleepless nights, emotional spirals, and a team-wide existential collapse… so be it.

Some call it toxic. We call it shipping efficiently under voluntary pressure.

Crunch isn’t the enemy. Crunch is the unsung co-producer. The uncredited hero. The shadow sprint that gets sh*t done.

So next time your team looks tired, unfocused, maybe even a little broken…

Don’t panic. Lean in. Book a sync.

And calmly, confidently say: “We’re just gonna need a little push.”