The thing is, it's one of those jobs where they essentially have people lining up outside the door who want positions... so it's easy for them to overwork and underpay their employees because if anyone doesn't like it and leaves, they have dozens of people waiting in the wings to fill the position.
It's not uncommon that in the last 4-6 months before a game's release they have "crunch time" where they bring in cots and expect people to pretty much sleep in the cubical so they can work super-long days, 7 days a week. and where most employees are salary they don't get paid overtime. (in the programming world there is a common saying: "overtime is free!").
Also I've heard that some developer houses hold getting your name in the credits over people's heads with options like "well we can give you that bonus, or if you forgo the bonus we'll put your name in the credits" basically forcing you to chose between getting credit for your work or getting paid appropriately.
I would recommend you read the legal documentation about West's and Zampella's Law suit against Activision, they pretty much spilled their guts about all the ridiculously abusive and unfair employment practices that they use.
It's also important to note that Activision was FOUNDED by a group of game developers who left Atari because they wanted to form a company that treated it's developers with respect
