2020 was such a hyped-up year for the video game industry. Fans knew that this would be the year that both Sony and Microsoft would be bringing out their next-generation video game console platforms. Likewise, there were a ton of anticipated video game launches, but that planned year for developers and fans didn’t quite pan out as planned.
No one could have predicted the world to get hit with a massive health pandemic outbreak. It’s become such a problem that we’ve endured new rules and quarantine measures in hopes of avoiding the spread. It’s certainly not something that we had planned on but 2020 had essentially killed off all sorts of events. For the video game industry, it was met with several expos being canceled but to go one step further, there was the transition for several studios into working remotely.
Like most jobs, there was a push to get employees out from under a single roof and into their own homes. It’s proved to be a difficult transition and it even cost several video game titles to get delayed out of the 2020 release year. Still, now that we’re through this transition period, more businesses are finding that working remotely is a viable option. It cuts down on the cost for different office spaces and buildings.
It seems that Square Enix is one company that’s ready to make this transition a bit more permanent. According to a blog post from the official Square Enix website, it looks like the company is going to offer a means for employees to work at home if they wish. It’s a preference but those that don’t have to be at the studio can get their work done at the comfort of their homes. We imagine this will be a case-by-case situation where we may see certain employees having to come into the studio after so long, but this pandemic transition may have allowed studios to rethink remote work.