Pros
This is a first for me. But I honestly can't think of anything positive to say about this company. The only thing I liked was having the camaraderie of equally frustrated and talented co workers - it paved the way for lots of after hours beer conversations.
Cons
- Japanese work culture: All the stereotypes you hear about Japanese companies working people to death becomes truth here. There are more days than I care to remember where employees were pulling 10-12 hour days. Being on-call throughout the holidays is given and they're very strict about NO WFH. Basically, the management cares very little about their employees. (Japanese employees who were transplanted from the headquarters in Tokyo were treated even worse) - Japanese headquarters: this maybe no longer the case, however, they were at one time strongly controlled by the Japanese CEO who stayed in Japan for the most part. Which naturally lead to having odd-hour meetings on a daily bases. Often those who were in the meeting had to delay their lunch for couple hours. - No direction: Direction of the projects would often change daily without much notice. We would have odd-hour meeting and settle on a direction, since every decision had to come from the CEO. But literally next day, CEO could/would change his mind and move in a completely different direction - and the team is left to plan out a new course of actions within the same tight timeframe. This would happen repeatedly. And, as its a Japanese company with Japanese working culture, questioning your superior or second guessing wasn't in the bag. - Talent: At a certain point, Colopl hired numerous interns by posting ads on Craigslist. Yes CRAIGSLIST. The office started to feel very unprofessional, and many of the interns needed hand-holding. Not something you want in a team of less than 20 people. - Turnover rate: Almost everyone I had worked with left the company. Most of them couldn't even make it to a year. - VR: Like most companies out there in silicone valley, the new hot flavor is VR. But as it was with most early mobile game studios of 2010s, Colopl Ni much more concerned with churning out products rather than making well executed games. It often leads to low morale and people working relentlessly without much payoff.