 Bendy is in trouble. Following a tumultuous few months, Mike Mood and The Meatly have had to lay off the majority of their studio's workforce. The Kindly Beast, a team that grew out of the accidental success of Bendy and the Ink Machine, has been decimated by layoffs that have seen over 50 people lose their jobs, just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving. We like Mike Mood and The Meatly. They've been kind to our channel personally, sharing our videos and helping us to grow. We don't want to vilify the pair for a mismanaged situation. In our opinion, Kindly Beast simply flew too close to the sun. Nevertheless, some anonymous reviews of the company from former employees paint a cautionary tale about the importance of careful structure and planning for big games. As such, let's take a look at work on Bendy and the Dark Revival, how things went wrong, and what other indie developers can do to avoid making similar mistakes. Right from the start, it's been clear that Mike Mood and The Meatly haven't ever been very good at project management. The first chapter of Bendy and the Ink Machine was thrown together over a weekend, and the second chapter was made in two weeks, while The Meatly was sick. The pair of developers focused on getting their work done at all costs, and this likely set a negative precedent for future work. I swore I'd never work like this again, Mike commented, while endlessly bug testing chapter four ahead of its release, it seems that he is chronically incapable of relaxing. As Bendy's popularity grew, Mike and The Meatly found themselves scrambling to put together an entire media empire when their primary talents lie instead in game development, a very different skill set. Once Bendy and the Ink Machine was completed last year, they put their small studio to work on several follow-up projects, including Showdown Bandit and Bendy and the Dark Revival. The previously named The Meatly Games became Kindly Beast, in anticipation of a big period of growth. In February, in an effort to grow their business to take advantage of Bendy's widespread appeal, Kindly Beast bought out Carmen Interactive. This was a moment of pride for Mike, who had previously worked for the company, and had hired them to make the mobile game, Bendy in Nightmare Run. Over a short period of time, Kindly Beast hired 40 new people, all of whom were set to work on various projects. Out of four anonymous reviews of the company, three mentioned the studio's free coffee machine as a perk of the job, all of the reviews mentioned that their colleagues were wonderful. That's about all the positive things they have to say, which, a day after being fired, isn't all that surprising. Showdown Bandit was the work of over 20 developers, but two weeks away from the launch of its first episode, it was still a long way from being perfect. Seemingly falling back into familiar habits, The Meatly and Mike took over the project entirely, opting to finish the episode themselves, rather than rely on their full team. The game eventually released three weeks late, but not before Mike and The Meatly laid off all of the previous heads of Carmen Interactive, leaving Kindly Beast without an upper management body. The stress of this alone led several employees to go on medical leave, unable to cope with the pressure they were facing. Delegation seems to be difficult for the pair. One review claims that the board was the only point of contact for any and all creative and business decisions, with 50-plus employees awaiting instruction and feedback at all times. Apparently, creative work was often dismissed entirely by Mike, who would insist that teams started all over again with a new direction. Eventually, as the working environment became increasingly stressful, developers were encouraged to stop aiming for perfection. The company's new mandate was get it done good enough. Kindly Beats was no longer a studio that aimed to innovate or excel. If a game was relatively stable, it could be shipped, flaws and all. It didn't help that the company's production workflow was disorganized at best. Mike and the Meatly were developers, game makers, not managers. They were a long way outside their comfort zone trying to manage such large teams, and their typical strategy of making things up on the fly simply wouldn't work when juggling on so many different projects. Employees got used to long periods of downtime as they awaited instructions from Arnhay. They couldn't get any work done without the boss's permission, and game development began to stall. It didn't help that Mike, according to one employee review, often wouldn't come into the office. Whether he was working from home or simply taking time for himself, it didn't matter. Some kind of leadership was needed at the office. The working environment quickly became more stressful, but employees were assured that their jobs were safe. The removal of the former Carmen Interactive bosses didn't mean that their jobs were in danger as well. Then, employees discovered that their personal accounts on the company's system had been locked. A subsequent publicly posted note explained that staff were to lose their jobs, but reminded them to abide by their contractual obligations. After only around eight months since Kindly Beast ballooned in size, it shrank again. Over 50 people were left without jobs, amounting to approximately 80% of the company's workforce. It seems that Kindly Beast likely grew a lot faster than its founders could manage. Wanting to be involved in every single decision that went into their games, the Meatly and Mike simply didn't have the right skill set to handle such a large workforce of employees. Management skills have their place in a game studio of any size, but the larger the team, the more important it is to have a clear, well-structured organisation. We don't think that Mike or the Meatly set out with the express goal of harming their employees' mental health in exchange for a quick buck. What's far more likely is that they tried their best, but got in over their heads. Perhaps this wouldn't have happened if the pair had ever learned to take their time, without rushing from crunch period to crunch period. The finished Bendy and the Ink Machine released last October at around the same time as Red Dead Redemption 2. We almost made a video at the time about how both games featured dangerous development crunch, but that Bendy's was more justifiable because it came from a position of genuine passion. It seems we were wrong. Game development that is built around working long hours without proper breaks or careful structure will always end in ruin eventually. The loss of telltale games earlier this year similarly shows just how important it is for game studios to build slowly and carefully, and be content with living within their means. We as gamers need to be aware of this. When a game like Untitled Goose Game releases and is shorter than People Might Hope, we should appreciate that it was made by four people who made the wise decision not to overextend themselves. Ultimately, a small gaming project that achieves its goals is far better than a theoretically impressive game that falls apart mid-development. We wish Mike and the Meekly all the best in trying to put Kindly Beast back together, and we look forward to seeing what comes next, not just from them, but also from all their former employees as they move on to new pastures. Whatever you're trying to achieve in life, make sure you are pursuing your goals in a healthy manner. If your dreams are really worth reaching for, they're worth waiting for as well. As the old proverb says, be not afraid of growing slowly, be only afraid of standing still.