One of the biggest pains was hiring and onboarding new talent in the work-from-home situation, as Chimera kept going at full speed. Since the first lockdown, the team hired more than a dozen people from the first interview to onboarding in a pure remote setup. At the same time, the team continued developing three games simultaneously. “In the beginning, we had to find hotfixes in an immediate response,” says Christian Kluckner, Managing Director of Chimera Entertainment. “But we were already sure that we would not simply return to the employment setup of the pre-pandemic times afterwards. So we went from adapting to transforming“, he continues. 

WFH went better week after week, and the desire to keep the positives of the new remote work world grew within the team and the studio leadership. “We also discovered an unforeseen opportunity for hiring,” says Kluckner. “Chimera already was a diverse international team with people from 20 countries.” Building on this foundation, the HR and legal team started looking into permanent work-from-home frameworks in the four countries Finland, Italy, Spain, Romania – respecting the regional requirements in labor law. In early 2022, Poland and Portugal are about to follow. “18 months later, we have a stable setup in place, which is a great tool for attracting a wider talent pool than ever before. If candidates do not consider relocating, we are ready to take them onboard where they are.”, says the Managing Director.

Former Remedy Producer Wiczniewski joins as Project Lead

Raimund Wiczniewski is the latest example, reinforcing Chimera Entertainment as a Project Lead. Wiczniewski joins from Remedy Entertainment, where he worked on games like Control and Alan Wake Remastered. “I have been talking to Chris from time to time for the last two years about me joining Chimera, and now I am excited that it is finally happening,” he says. Besides his enthusiasm about Chimera’s project pipeline, being able to keep living in Helsinki spurred his decision.

The new joiners, as well as the existing team, have embraced the studio’s tools for collaborating and hanging out together. The Chimeras stay connected on platforms from Zoom and Jira to Slack or Discord, where the team’s gaming nights happen regularly. “It’s cool to see how we keep engaging across countries. However, we will also make every effort to bring all Chimeras together on special occasions and regularly to keep the social glue and alignment. Be it at our winter party, the DevSummit, for team huddles or the Oktoberfest. It’s still great to see each other and mingle in real life”, closes Hendrik Lesser.