There was just a lot of politics (more than the norm), even for someone who didn't want to be involved in it. A lot of shaming and blaming has been happening for even the smallest things, lots of talking behind backs, rather than just addressing and fixing issues - a culture inherited from certain managers. It creates an unpleasant and toxic environment that feeds itself, and doesn't inspire confidence or respect. Although these complaints have been heard, it never seemed like anyone listened. The upper management seems pretty tight-knit, so critique of their leadership doesn't have any real effect. As you can see from the clearly padded reviews below this, there's an obvious urge to cover up and gloss over those kinds of problems, and instead blaming the lower-level employees for being uneasy. This kind of stuff is why people keep leaving Turbine.
The games themselves, while exciting IPs, are almost quite literally carbon copies. That's a mix of a couple problems. One is because the goal, frankly, is to make money, which is understandable because Turbine needs to prove itself in that space and get some footing. Though I'd argue that skinning other people's games doesn't do much to push the company forward, nor inspire confidence in the new direction of the company. The other is lack of ability to innovate. It's not because the designers have no imagination or anything, they're great, it's because producers, EPs, marketing, directors and execs all have their hands in the pie to the point where you just have to start over and copy something that worked for someone else. The focus should be on making players happy, not making money and pleasing execs - because the former will result in the latter when it's done right.
