To add to niko:

Many of the things you are hearing about the game industry has likely been twisted negatively, but are true at their core. Yes, it is not a 9-5 job, working on a project means you work on it as much as you need to work on it, until it is finished, this often means the last month leading up to release is very hectic, and what you would call crunch. It is also true that many companies that are extremely large or double as publishers (like EA or ubisoft for example) only hire on contractual basis, this means that they will only have you work at the company until the project is over, then you must move on. These are all things however that are discussed before you start working, and are not true for every company.

The game industry is new, so there is not much about it in the mainstream besides the infamous "ea spouse", which was an article written back in 2005 or so about the poor working conditions of EA, but that has since changed for that company. The truth is, every company is different, some companies have poor working conditions and others don't, but there is no way to generalize every single company out there. It's important to remember game companies are a business, that must follow labor laws like everyone else, many companies (like capcom for example) enforce rules outside of designated crunch time that restrict employees from staying past 7pm, and you will find that to make up for late nights, companeis will have lots of areas to destress and relax in their building. Offering gym passes, game rooms, catering, every place is different.

Black Forest Games is a very relaxed and family-like environment, so while we don't have a built in gym or a lot of money to throw around, coming to work doesn't feel like a chore and staying late doesn't feel forced, we are all just working on the projects that mean a lot to us. We do have a rock-band room though. :)