Elitist vibe/standards can make getting a job (and building a team) here unnecessarily difficult, and can lead to people experiencing a persistent "outsider syndrome" (e.g. assuming they're the least smart/talented person in the room, and worrying about their future employment).
Giving individuals ultimate responsibility (without rigid rules to guide + protect them) has downsides if you're not confident enough to fight for everything you want. For example, there's no real guide to when you can use your "unlimited" PTO, and asking leads to a sort of cryptic "I don't know, do YOU think you should go on PTO?" attitude from management. That can be pretty anxiety-inducing if you're a newer employee and don't know exactly where you stand (the same is true of work/life balance more generally).
Recent negative publicity has highlighted [cultural] growing pains that the company has historically been slow to lean into as it's transitioned into a much larger/multi-game studio. They essentially need to tame the "Wild West" of their early startup days, and put stronger rules and processes in place that protect the small number of individuals who might be unintentional "victims" of that small town culture, and that punish the small number of individuals that exploit it.
That's all well and good, and the vast majority of folks seem to be in support of these changes. Unfortunately, there are pockets of resistance (leaders and old guard who don't want to let go of their "kingdoms"), and pockets of activists (who are using this as an excuse to start a witch hunt/power-grab and transform the culture of the company entirely from one that is united by a love of games into one that is divided by resentful identity politics). The outlook remains hopeful though, as senior leadership has remained largely transparent, mature, and clear-headed throughout the changes.
