Rockstar Work Conditions

Rockstar Games Allows Employees to Speak to Press About 100-Hour Work Week

Rockstar Games employees were told they can respond to journalist inquiries, if anyone reaches out to them individually regarding working conditions. All of which stemmed from concerns when Dan Houser, Co-Founder and Vice President of Creativity at Rockstar, bragged about the 100-hour work weeks that went into Red Dead Redemption 2. It was a statement which he later said applied to only a few team members and was “optional.”

Employees have also been encouraged to speak out on social media, if they wish. Vivianne Langdon, a Tools Programmer from Rockstar San Diego, has done so on in a Twitter thread.

Others, such as six-year Rockstar employee Wesley Mackinder, have voiced similar sentiments.

Although Rockstar employees have gotten the green light from corporate to speak out about this alleged crunch, those who have spoken out negatively are either ex-employees or anonymous. As Vivianne Langdom stated later in her thread, one experience never speaks for everyone.

With this in mind, it still raises suspicions. Perhaps current employees at Rockstar don’t feel comfortable speaking publicly and negatively about a company they’re currently working for. Who among us would? Especially considering the fact that the Rockstar team is surely watching social media closely for public relations reasons.

For instance, Job Stauffer, who previously worked in a PR role at Rockstar ten years ago, had a much darker perspective.

On the more modern side of things, VG247 reports that a number of anonymous developers from Rockstar Games with comments from both sides of the spectrum. They stated things like, “It’s really not [a hellish place to work], we’re rewarded very well and crunch is never mandatory.” Another employee claimed different departments get different treatment, stating “I doubt you’ll see many tweets from Design or QA… I’ve done 50+ hour weeks as a standard since I started. Even if there is no work…”

We’ll provide more on this story as it develops.

[Source: VG247 and GameIndustry.biz]

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