Devolver Digital’s New SNES Title Addresses the Plague of “Crunch” While Raising Money for Charity

By Brian Bell  |  May 10, 2018 | 4:16pm
Images via Devolver Digital & Megacat Studios
Games News Fork Parker's Crunch Out
Devolver Digital’s New SNES Title Addresses the Plague of “Crunch” While Raising Money for Charity

Devolver Digital has singled itself out within the videogame development and publishing community through their individual mix of absurdity and engagement, and their next title brings all of that attitude to the SNES for a good cause.

The game in question, Fork Parker’s Crunch Out, is the product of a collaboration between Devolver Digital, Mega Cat Studios and Take This, a non-profit organization focused on addressing mental health issues within the gaming and development community. The title puts players in the shoes of Devolver Digital’s bombastic fictional CFO Fork Parker as he uses “questionable motivation tactics” to push his crop of developers to finish their projects “by any means necessary.”

Those tactics, which include “coffee, discipline and shock treatment,” as wel as the game itself, speak to the long-standing issue of “crunch” that inundates the game development industry, something the developers wanted to address through the satirical eye of Mr. Parker. “The game aims to raise awareness of the all too real issue of game dev crunch through a playful look at the pressures of game development, exaggerated by the menace that is a game publisher executive,” read’s the game’s description. Sounds about right for a game that includes “unpaid interns” as a power-up.

In keeping with that theme, Devolver Digital has pledged that 100 percent of the profits from sales of Fork Parker’s Crunch Out will be donated to Take This, marking the first time that “crunch” actually benefits the mental health and anxiety levels of overworked developers.

Fork Parker’s Crunch Out is available for preorder here for $49.99.

 
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