Comments on: Contract Negotiation for Mid-Career Game Developers (Part 1)

By: Contract negotiation for mid-career game developers (part 2)

Contract negotiation for mid-career game developers (part 2) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:39:12 +0000

[...] part 2 of my series on contract negotiation for mid-career game developers. Please also check out part 1, which provides a general [...]

By: adam

adam — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:55:29 +0000

In the UK (probably EU too), you’re already legally protected in that case.

Basically: the employer loses-out, because they were too stupid/lazy to sort this out – you end up with an “industry standard” contract which is vague in many ways. Since employment contracts usually spend 99% of their words protecting the employer…

By: Ian Schreiber

Ian Schreiber — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:57:40 +0000

Best bet is to ask a lawyer. I’m not a lawyer, but my understanding is that without a contract, neither you nor your employer owe the other one anything, no way no how. This is obviously not a good position to be in (consider what happens if they suddenly stop paying you, for instance, or if a verbal promise is made to you about some kind of bonus or royalties on a product and then the company doesn’t follow through) but it’s not good for your employer either (what happens if you give your resignation notice, promise to finish up a few things before you leave, and then don’t follow through).

By: Shy Developer

Shy Developer — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:58:37 +0000

It’s actually not that bad. They made a lackadaisical attempt at a contract about 5 months in, but have never asked for me to sign it. I’m just trying to figure out what it means if I decide to leave, what kind of negotiable power I may have at this standpoint, and so on.

By: Ian Schreiber

Ian Schreiber — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:35:27 +0000

No contract? Sweet! Talk to a lawyer and figure out just how much you can weasel out of your employer. Take the source code just before launch day and sell it yourself under your own banner. Sell corporate secrets to the competitors. The sky’s the limit! Um… ahem… by this I mean “yeah, what Darius said, ask nicely for a contract.”

By: Darius Kazemi

Darius Kazemi — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:05:36 +0000

I might include something like that. Generally speaking, you should ask management for a contract if you don’t have one. It may be very much worth talking to a lawyer: depending on the state you live in, working without a contract may be illegal, or it may require your employer to do a bunch of things they don’t want to do. In that case you can be like, “I don’t want you guys to get in trouble, so I should have a contract.” But I don’t know for sure.

By: Shy Developer

Shy Developer — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:58:35 +0000

Very much looking forward to reading more on this subject. Any advice for someone that’s been working for a game dev company for a while who *doesn’t* have a signed contract?

By: Darius Kazemi

Darius Kazemi — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:01:33 +0000

That’s a good point. The short answer is: demand to see your employment contract well before your first day on the job, and before you make any life changes you can’t take back.

By: Ian Schreiber

Ian Schreiber — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:42:59 +0000

One thing I’d add that you didn’t mention: sometimes you don’t even see the employment contract until your first day on the job, where you sign that as part of all the paperwork (along with 401k and health benefits elections). If you’ve moved across the country to take this job and you’ve already “started” that makes it all the more intimidating to be negotiating now – it would appear at this point the company has you over a barrel, because you’re hardly going to be walking away after such a huge sunk cost! Also, by putting the employment contract in with a bunch of other routine forms, this tactic does tend to make the process feel more like busywork than an actually important piece of paper to scrutinize… especially when you’re anxious to stop filling out forms and get out there to start working on the next cool project.