Rockstar Employees Report Intense Crunch to Finish GTA 6
Some workers allegedly have to stay in the office until 3 AM.
Rockstar
GTA 6 is the most anticipated game of all time, no doubt about it. This, naturally, puts a lot of pressure on the developers, which turns into crunch – allegedly.
One Glassdoor review from a worker based in Bangalore, India claims that Rockstar is pushing its employees hard, making them work overtime without pay. Some of them had to work from morning until 3 AM to try and complete the tasks that usually take 5-6 months in just 2-3 months instead.
"The schedule has been hectic since last month," the review says, adding that complaining to HOD is "useless".
When asked if it was true, insider Reece Reilly, also known as Kiwi Talkz, replied: "What you call crunch is just normal day-to-day work in India, so 100% yes."
"India isn't known for work-life balance, I spend a lot of time there due to family and friends and I know how crazy they work."
Not everyone believes that one review, pointing out that there are others, praising the work-life balance part, to which Kiwi Talkz said he visits India often and knows people at Rockstar Bangalore: "Btw work/life balance by Indian standards is still sh*t by western standards."
This is not the only feedback mentioning crunch, however. An Indeed review from March (this time from New York, the US) complains about Rockstar's "crunch micromanaging culture," although there, people work 9-10 hours a day, not until 3 AM, and it's not clear if the Integrity Experience team the person worked at is connected to GTA 6.
On the other hand, just last year, Bloomberg's journalist Jason Schreier claimed that GTA 6 crunch was nothing compared to Rockstar's previous projects: "Skepticism is always healthy, but I've been keeping tabs on this for years (since my big 2018 story about Red Dead 2's crunch). They certainly haven't eliminated all overtime but everyone I've talked to at Rockstar says it's night and day from previous projects. If that changes, I'll report on it."
All of this has to be taken with a grain of salt, of course. Rockstar would never admit to crunch, but reviews alone are not confirmation. It's up to you whether you believe it (or care about it at all), but I can imagine a company working overtime to deliver such a huge gem as GTA 6. The question is if the employees receive what they deserve.
We'll see how it works out when the game launches in November.
Don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
Are you a fan of what we do here at 80 Level? Then make sure to set us as a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our content in your feed.
