That is just the world of large corporations. I worked for one a long time, totally unrelated to any entertainment media. The reward for excellence and the reward for mediocrity is nearly exactly the same. Once you figure this out, it's very difficult to have any motivation to do any more than floating slightly above mediocre. So, some leave and some stay around and be mediocre.
The difference with your game is you're invested in it's success. If it's a good game and does really well you benefit greatly. If it's shit and does poorly, you benefit very little. This doesn't apply much to corporate employees, who might get a small bonus on the success of a game.
I mean I've never worked for a game studio, but I've done the corporate world in a technical job. There's a reason they want people back in the office, because at least they control their time then. There's a long list of jobs I know of that can easily be phoned in 20 hours a week or less if you get to being able to avoid meetings. It was never uncommon for me to work half the day on personal stuff anything from investments to dev projects when I worked from home, and still get everything done I was supposed to at work on time and with a high level of quality (I did still care about doing things right, I preferred to avoid fixing my screw-ups later). If I hadn't left that job, I was in the middle of a little Python/SQL project to automate an easy 5-10 hours a week of work away.
That is just the world of large corporations. I worked for one a long time, totally unrelated to any entertainment media. The reward for excellence and the reward for mediocrity is nearly exactly the same. Once you figure this out, it's very difficult to have any motivation to do any more than floating slightly above mediocre. So, some leave and some stay around and be mediocre.
The difference with your game is you're invested in it's success. If it's a good game and does really well you benefit greatly. If it's shit and does poorly, you benefit very little. This doesn't apply much to corporate employees, who might get a small bonus on the success of a game.
I mean I've never worked for a game studio, but I've done the corporate world in a technical job. There's a reason they want people back in the office, because at least they control their time then. There's a long list of jobs I know of that can easily be phoned in 20 hours a week or less if you get to being able to avoid meetings. It was never uncommon for me to work half the day on personal stuff anything from investments to dev projects when I worked from home, and still get everything done I was supposed to at work on time and with a high level of quality (I did still care about doing things right, I preferred to avoid fixing my screw-ups later). If I hadn't left that job, I was in the middle of a little Python/SQL project to automate an easy 5-10 hours a week of work away.
The bar is just so low at mega corps.