Magmic Reviews

3.9

68% would recommend to a friend

(30 total reviews)
avatar

Mohammad Agha

85% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Magmic has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 30 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Magmic employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

30 reviews
2.0
14 Mar 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The best part was the people; working with a dedicated, trustworthy team. From the developers to marketing to HR, the co-workers are what made it worth going into work every day. - great people doing great work - great benefits plan at low cost, 3 weeks vacation per year - occasional free lunches/events - phone (iOS or Android) paid by company after 3 months employment - generally positive environment, conducive to improvements

Cons

Many people had many problems with management and how things were run behind the scenes. There was an overall sense that money just wasn't being managed properly, leading to several issue (case in point; the huge majority of employees were put on temporary lay-off in Jan 2016, most leaving the company - at this time, 8 weeks later, they still aren't back on their feet). - low salaries, few or no raises - excessive overtime expected and minimally compensated (ex. 2-3 weeks worth of overtime hours worked over a few months in exchange for 2 days off around Christmas, and you're pressured into working tons of overtime as if there's an unspoken rule that you'll be fired if you don't) - doesn't do any extra for employees (ex. when working overtime, company is legally required to pay for dinner up to $15/person, Magmic kept that as a hard limit, never more, even when working 4-5 extra hours a day) - events are short lived (free breakfast/salad bar lunch stop after a couple of months)

1.0
3 Mar 2016

Stay clear of this place - *TEMPORARY LAYOFFS*

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Very few pros at this workplace aside from the fact that it can be used as a stepping stone to better things. They have issued layoffs to >80% of the staff because management was unable to properly balance a budget. Oh and guess what - your last pay check ends on the very day you were told you were laid off. No offer for compensation, no 2 weeks' pay. Nice! This was clearly done so the majority of those laid off would find other jobs (remember this is a temp layoff) and so Magmic would no longer be required to provide them with exit packages (which would effectively bankrupt the company).

Cons

Oh God the cons.... let's see - Poorest upper management I've ever encountered - Company has no vision and no plans are shared with the 'lower' employees - Salaries are very poor in comparison to other companies for the same positions - Lots of people have an ego problem - Departments operate on an us vs. them mentality - Forced overtime - General incompetence - Much much more Seriously, stay away from this company no matter how great they make it sound.

2.0
12 Mar 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Magmic is a nice little studio to spend some time at while planning your next career move. The company is located just off Ottawa's Byward Market. The products they work on, while often uninspiring, provide a good base to hone your Game Dev skill on. While I worked there the team I was with was excellent. A lot of effort was put forth by the lead to make sure we were a tight-knit group. Any time there was trouble for one of us, everyone would step up to help meet the challenge. Though there were periods of crunch it never felt that bad because everyone pitched in instead of leaving it on one or two people.

Cons

The project stake-holders occasionally made it difficult to achieve a decent work-life balance. The last project I worked on started with a period of crunch already expected towards the end of the project. Like I said above, it wasn't that bad, but regardless crunch should never be something that is planned into a schedule. The office itself is quite dingy. The carpets are really old and are at the point where you cannot tell that they were cleaned the night before. The furniture around the office is in various states of disrepair. The only time serious effort was put into making the space look good was when a client was visiting in which case a façade of "hip game studio" would be put up overnight only to crumble a few days later. The big con is the company's financial woes. Magmic has often leaned upon its wealthy founder and CEO John Criswick in the past to bail it out of trouble. This strategy failed in early 2016 when the majority of the staff were temporarily laid off when the company was unable to balance its debts and payroll.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 30 Reviews

Glassdoor has 32 Magmic reviews submitted anonymously by Magmic employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Magmic is right for you.