Crunch, in other words sustained overtime, appears to have surfaced again inside Rockstar, and that is not exactly good news for the people doing the work…
It looks as if both Take-Two and Rockstar Games are doing everything they can to avoid a third delay for Grand Theft Auto VI. Not long ago, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick brushed aside delay rumors and even joked that a lot of people would probably be calling in sick on November 19, the game’s current release date. That last stretch, however, may be coming at a real human cost. Last week, two workplace reviews on Glassdoor highlighted exactly that issue.
The first appeared on April 30. A former game tester in Washington gave Rockstar Games a full five stars, praising the studio’s technology and innovation as among the best in the business. Even so, the review also mentioned chaotic workdays and poor working conditions. The second review, published on May 1, went further. A QA analyst at Rockstar India in Bengaluru gave the company only two stars and titled the post “Exciting Projects, but Unrealistic Workload and Expectations.” In that write-up, the analyst confirmed they had been working on Grand Theft Auto VI and complained about unpaid overtime and a work schedule that had started to affect mental health.
On the positive side, the employee mentioned free meals, some room for growth, even if limited, and the chance to work on one of the most anticipated entertainment projects in the world. The list of negatives was much harsher. Staff were reportedly expected to work unpaid overtime. The schedule had become extremely hectic over the last month. Some colleagues had to stay until 3 a.m. after already completing their morning shift. Employees were being asked to finish tasks in two to three months that would normally take five to six. According to the review, even raising concerns with department leads was pointless. The writer said they had enjoyed working there last year, but that the last few weeks had already begun to affect their mental health, and they asked management to remember that the people doing this work are still human beings.
It is not exactly shocking that Rockstar would be leaning hard on overtime ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI’s November 19 release date. Still, it is never pleasant to read that the pressure may be heavy enough to damage employees’ mental well-being. It is also difficult to defend the idea of demanding extra work while refusing to compensate it. For a company like Rockstar, which has reportedly spent nearly 3 billion dollars on staffing costs alone since 2019, cutting corners here, this late in the process, feels especially hard to justify.
