Pros
A stepping stone into the industry. BARB is an opportunity to start in video gaming, collect experience, and move on.
Cons
Political Drama, drama, drama. There have been multiple changes of studio leadership, countless times of department restructures, individuals are in one day and then disappear under 'mutual agreements' to never return.
Psychological safety is at an all-time low, due to entire departments getting caught up in the political blast-zone between the constant power struggle of leadership.
Culture war. BARB cannot define its culture, because leadership constantly breaks culture definitions. What are the cornerstones of BARB?
Bullying. The definition is: To not be given credit, being set up for failure, constant undermining. It's all rife in BARB and if the leaders do this, it trickles down into management, departments, and projects.
Keeping up with the misinformation is hard. Knowing who knows what can, and cannot be discussed is a minefield. There is studio facing 'information', the reality, and 'leadership facing truth'. With little to no communication in the studio, staff do not believe what information they are given, as it will likely change in a week or less.
CRUNCH. This is a studio in full crunch for months, veiling as "focus time/bug-bash!/do your damn job". You do not get overtime, as you are salaried (on a very low salary for industry).
You will struggle to take holiday, this is due to the constant crunch. Little to no notice is given for changing timelines, be prepared to cancel your approved holiday because leadership cannot plan ahead more than 5 days in advance.
There are some great and very talented people working at BARB but leadership does not take people's professional (previous or current) experience into account. Most of the time you are just doing what you are told and you best do it quietly.