Insomniac makes list of best employers again

The world of game development is not often thought of as one rife with employee-friendly companies. Every so often, horror stories arise about "crunch time," the final sprint to the finish line of a game's development, during which sleep can be a luxury and weekends a distant memory. That anecdotal evidence is punctuated by high-profile incidents, like the "EA spouse" lawsuit and the International Game Developers Association's ongoing quality-of-life concerns.

Despite that, Insomniac Games today announced that for the third consecutive year, it has landed a spot in the Society for Human Resource Management's "50 Best Small & Medium Sized Companies to Work for in America." Insomniac finished eighth in the small business category, the company said; the company finished in the top four for 2005 and 2006.

"Last year was among the most challenging in Insomniac's history as we prepared to release Resistance: Fall of Man worldwide with the launch of PlayStation 3," Insomniac founder and CEO Ted Price said in a statement. "Yet we delivered a top-rated and top-selling game--on time--while retaining our Top 10 ranking as one of the best small companies to work for in America."

Insomniac said results for the competition were based on employee-opinion surveys assessing the work environment, management responsiveness to worker concerns, and other factors.