Every Friday afternoon, Next Gamers are greeted by a familiar phrase in the company-wide channel on Slack. “KUDOS!”, someone will write, and the thread will then fill up with replies.

“Kudos to X for helping me track down that bug.”

“Kudos to Y for having the courage to ask for help.”

Kudos is our way of highlighting things our colleagues have done in the previous week and to show appreciation for their work. Many people try to relate their praise to our company values - caring, courage, and curiosity. Before the pandemic, the whole company took part in Kudos in person, with everyone standing in a large circle. People would take turns giving praise while passing a bucket of candy around. If someone received kudos, they would have a piece of candy given to them.

When the pandemic came, Kudos became a purely virtual event. Though the candy has disappeared, the spirit of the ritual has not.

From senior management to junior new-joiners, everyone takes part. With Kudos, we want everyone to feel seen and have their contributions to the company and our games be recognized. By making a designated time and space for this, we lower the threshold for participation. Our hope is to show that giving feedback and praise doesn’t need to be intimidating.

We hope that, no matter how large our team grows or how busy we get, we can always find time to pause and reflect on everyone’s hard work, caring, courage, and curiosity.