I’m a senior UX researcher with 8 years of experience based in North America. My last role was leading research on a major AAA game at one of the biggest studios in the industry. Shipped title, name in the credits, creative leadership as my primary stakeholders. I’ve been searching for about 6 months.

The company is a mid-size remote gaming studio (~400 people), pre-revenue, backed by a major US investor. No physical offices. Fully remote role. They reached out to me, I didn’t apply.

I had a competing offer from another major studio on a AAA title. I was transparent about this early on and they accelerated their timeline to accommodate mine.

I interviewed over a month. 6 interviews including a take-home. The director (my skip-level manager) got on a call during her vacation and spent 45 minutes selling me on the role. When one interview was a bit flat, she brought it up and I offered to redo it, which she immediately took me up on and scheduled for the next day. Two of my former creative leadership executives sent unsolicited references. The recruiter told me “everyone wants to hire you.”

When the verbal offer came, I tried to negotiate. I asked about leveling up the title, since their “senior” maps to “staff” at most companies based on the scope they described. No. I asked about an accelerated performance review path. No. I asked about a bump in base comp. No. All three asks happened across two calls on the same day.

After that, radio silence for an entire business day on the day they knew my competing offer deadline was. No “hang tight.” Nothing. Then at 3pm the recruiter texts me on WhatsApp asking to schedule a call with the director for the next day, past my deadline, without acknowledging the deadline at all. I reminded her it was today. She said “my bad, I thought it was tomorrow.”

I got the director on a call that evening. She told me:

•	Comp isn’t moving

•	Level isn’t moving

•	I was their first choice “by a thin margin”

•	She “had to convince people” to hire me

•	I came across as “more reserved than they’re used to”

•	I’m “hard to read”

This is after a month of bending their process to accommodate me, calling me from vacation, and rearranging interviews when one didn’t go perfectly.

I took the offer. The role is remote, the comp works short term, and I didn’t want to relocate for the other offer. But the whole thing left a bad taste. The “thin margin” and “had to convince people” comments felt designed to lower my confidence before signing, especially since nothing in the process before that moment suggested any hesitation.

Is this a normal closing tactic? Has anyone experienced something similar?