Crunch Culture: The Dark Days of Sega’s Office Life September 8, 2025

Picture this: You walk into Sega’s offices in the late ’90s, and instead of the typical corporate sterility, you’re greeted by the sight of shower facilities and dedicated nap rooms. No, this wasn’t some Silicon Valley-style perk designed to boost morale – this was survival equipment for an industry that had completely lost its mind about work-life balance.

The crunch culture at Sega wasn’t just intense; it was absolutely bonkers. We’re talking about developers who would sleep at the office from Monday through Friday, finally drag themselves home on Saturday for a brief taste of normal human existence, then return Sunday night to do it all over again. It’s like Groundhog Day, but with more pixels and significantly less Bill Murray.

Toru Ohara, a Sega veteran, became something of a legend when he crafted himself a makeshift bed under his desk using cardboard and a sleeping bag. Talk about making the best of a terrible situation! The man basically became a gaming hermit crab, adapting to his concrete shell with whatever materials he could find.

The Sega Saturn Era: A Time of Extreme Chaos

The Sega Saturn era would make your head spin if you believe contemporary crunch is horrible. During the debugging phase, entire development teams would pull coordinated all-nighters, a beautiful and horrifying ballet of sleep-deprived programmers hunting out bugs like zombies on caffeine.

The workload was debilitating. Because bug reporting was done through a completely physical ticketing system, developers had to handle actual piles of paper daily. Imagine trying to fix code while drowning in paperwork – it’s like trying to perform surgery while someone throws confetti at your face.

But here’s where it gets interesting (and slightly heartwarming): these marathon office sleepovers weren’t always the soul-crushing experiences you’d expect. Developers like Ohara and his colleague Terada would bond over late-night gaming sessions, playing Bushido Blade together when they needed a break from their actual work. It’s almost poetic – game developers taking breaks from making games by playing other games.

The Human Cost of Gaming Excellence

Terada recalls Ohara delivering what might be the most gaming-specific life advice ever: “Your HP will recover if you sleep at the company, but your MP will decrease, so be careful.” Even in the midst of workplace insanity, these developers spoke in RPG metaphors. You’ve got to admire the commitment to the culture, even when that culture was slowly killing them.

The crunch periods were so intense that nap rooms became a premium commodity. During busy stretches, there simply weren’t enough beds available, leading to developers getting creative with their sleeping arrangements. Some literally “lived at the office,” turning conference rooms into bedrooms and treating the workplace like an extremely nerdy hostel.

When Reality Finally Hit: The End of an Era

Thankfully, this madness couldn’t last forever. By 2012, those infamous nap rooms had vanished from Sega’s offices for good. The change came partly due to work-style reforms sweeping through Japan, as the country began recognizing the devastating effects that extreme overwork could have on people’s physical and mental health.

The last documented use of these facilities was around 2010, when Terada utilized them while working on Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade. It marked the end of an era – both literally and figuratively – as the gaming industry began its slow, painful journey toward something resembling sanity.

Learning from Gaming’s Dark Ages

Looking back at Sega’s crunch culture feels like examining artifacts from a bygone civilization – fascinating, but absolutely terrifying. These developers created some of the most beloved games in history, but at what cost? Their dedication was admirable, but their working conditions were a cautionary tale wrapped in nostalgia.

The gaming industry has come a long way since those cardboard-bed days, though problems with crunch culture persist across many studios. Sega’s extreme example serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come – and how much further we need to go.

Today’s developers can learn from these stories without having to live them. After all, great games should inspire players to lose sleep, not force developers to lose their sanity.

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