Skip to contentSkip to footer
      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Pocket Pinata Interactive

      Is this your company?

      Pocket Pinata Interactive reviews

      Small, well-intentioned studio ruined by mismanaged teams and unhelpful leads - Software Developer Pocket Pinata Interactive Employee Review

      1.0
      11 Nov 2023
      Software developer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Development team was pretty diverse, Met some really cool people at my level. Working with them was pretty fun. Great work-life balance. I never had to work beyond the designated work hours. And, if you were communicative about it, teams were very understanding if you needed to take a break to run a quick errand, go to an appointment, take a short break away from your desk, etc.

      Cons

      Long planning meetings, although I feel like this is pretty common. Low pay, I can't speak to others experience, but I was promised raises twice, and both times I was given absolutely trivial reasons as to why I wouldn't get them. Support from most of the leads was not existent. There were numerous times where I would ask a question and it would either be met with silence or I would get a "This is what google is for" in response. There was also very little constructive feed-back. I was even denied the opportunity for growth in a few instances. For example, when I asked if I could take on a feature I found more interesting, I was denied because "it was more involved." Instead of my drive being rewarded with guidance, it was shut down because they thought I was not capable. No transparency when it came to bad-faith clients. We found out what was happening after it was too late and a bunch of us were laid off with very little warning. And not 2 months after the layoffs, I saw a job posting for a position slightly above that of a few people who were laid off, for the same pay.

      avatar
      Pocket Pinata Interactive Response
      2y
      Thank you for sharing your feedback. We appreciate your input and will review the information provided to better serve our employees in the future. While our newly retitled engineering position may seem similar to previous roles, our grades for engineering have been restructured and as such the posted intermediate role requires a greater level of skill, responsibility and autonomy than would have been expected from the previous entry level grades. Additionally, we are continuing to recover from the substantial and unresolved non-payment issue by a client. We understand the hardships faced by our former employees and are committed to continuing our efforts to honour the financial commitments made to laid-off employees. Thank you. Kalvin Morrow CEO Pocket Pinata Interactive

      Explore other reviews about Pocket Pinata Interactive

      1.0
      14 Feb 2024
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Worked with some of the kindest and most skilled people. Exec level management (with the exclusion of the CFO) are all very pleasant to work with.

      Cons

      Co-Owner & CFO laid off the majority of the studio back in September 2023. I have not received any severance to date (Feb 2024). They have reported to the government that the severance was paid out, this is causing financial harm to me personally and a lot of headache trying to resolve this. In the past they have also not paid my monthly paycheck on time. Attempting to resolve any of these issues often results in getting stonewalled by HR or the CFO conveniently losing any correspondence to solve the issue.

      3
      avatar
      Pocket Pinata Interactive Response
      2y
      Thank you for sharing your experience with us. While I can't dive into specifics online, I will address what I can. The layoffs referenced unfortunately are due to payment issues from multiple clients, despite our best efforts, clients sometimes do not follow through on their end. We have taken steps to prevent this from happening again. This layoff was not a result of the ownership group, CFO or HR making a decision but rather myself the CEO. I did not want people to work if we could not pay. Feel free to drop a line to me or our HR team at hr@pocketpinata.com if you want to chat more or share more feedback. Kalvin Morrow CEO
      1.0
      20 Sept 2023
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Met many genuinely good people, but now they've all been laid off or quit because of the accountant.

      Cons

      Low pay, mismanagement, long project meetings, unkept promises, with an extra helping of company drama, partners in dispute, and no transparency. Run by an accountant who doesn't know how game development works or how to run a company. He took over for our tech director who had family problems. The accountant started burning bridges with the senior developers and they started leaving one at a time. He hired an HR team and outsourced IT who caused more problems. More developers started leaving and projects started shutting down. When experienced management spoke up, he blamed them and fired them. When his partner spoke up, he fired him too. Then he laid off our whole team.

      1
      avatar
      Pocket Pinata Interactive Response
      2y
      We appreciate that you have taken the time to comment about your experience with our company. While we cannot discuss specific business or personnel matters in a public forum, we can offer some general insights: Non-Payment by a Client: Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and goodwill, we cannot always prevent nonpayment by unethical and bad-faith clients. These situations have devastating effects on small organizations like ours, and, more importantly, on the dedicated employees who work here. We have recently instituted changes to prevent future non-payment issues. Termination Process: Whether a result of layoff or otherwise, we understand that the termination process is very difficult. Our goal is always to ensure a fair and respectful process. Feedback and Improvement: We take all feedback, both positive and negative, seriously and are committed to continuous improvement in both the current and future workplace environments and management practices. Open Door Policy: We encourage all employees to reach out to our HR department or their managers directly, if they have concerns or issues they'd like to discuss. Employee Well-being: We care about the well-being of employees, both current and former. If you have specific concerns, we can assist you with, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We genuinely hope that you find success and fulfillment in your future endeavours. It's essential for us to ensure that every employee's experience is as positive as possible, and we will continue working towards this goal. If you have any further feedback or would like to discuss your experience in more detail, please feel free to contact me or our HR department via hr@pocketpinata.com. Kalvin Morrow CEO Pocket Pinata Interactive
      See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All
      Related searches: Pocket Pinata Interactive jobs | Pocket Pinata Interactive salaries | Pocket Pinata Interactive benefits | Pocket Pinata Interactive interviews
      Pocket Pinata Interactive reviewsPocket Pinata Interactive Software Developer reviewsPocket Pinata Interactive review