Kotaku chats with several anonymous employees, who explain the changes Rockstar has made to improve their internal culture.
The release of Red Dead Redemption 2 was accompanied by an article from Kotaku that uncovered a crunch situation (labor exploitation) within Rockstar Games. Later, the North American media reported that this media exposure had opened the doors to internal changes in the company. Those green shoots have been translated into a real attempt to modify the internal culture of the also creators of Grand Theft Auto V.
"In the past few months, we've done a lot of work across all areas of the company, looking at our processes to determine what worked and what didn't, what we do well, and what we could improve," says Jennifer Kolbe of Rockstar. Games, an internal email from the company, to which Kotaku has had access. "We hope that most of you have felt some of those positive changes, as well as those that will come soon."
Flexible hours and more
Kolbe's plan includes flexible hours for studio developers, leadership courses for bosses, anonymous surveys, which will be used to collect employee feedback, as well as information updates on future Rockstar Games video games. It also promises improved communication and reduced crunch during nights and weekends when projects are nearing completion.
"We have taken conscious steps to improve our focus on video game development, in order to reduce the need for overtime," says Kolbe. "We realize that there is still a lot of work to be done in that area and we will continue to take action with the goal of being able to more accurately predict and plan games and DLCs in a way that is more sustainable." At the same time, they will try to ensure that all of this continues to allow them to develop the “incredibly ambitious” video games they always have.
Kotaku has contacted developers of the company, who have confirmed changes within Rockstar Games. “It seems that the culture as a whole is healthier. We'll see in a year or two if I tear my hair out, though it feels like we're moving in the right direction, considering the size of the company we are in. ” Even now, with the team working from home due to the coronavirus, the decisions are seemingly correct. "They continue to emphasize that it is normal not to be productive and that our goal should be health and care for our families," says another employee.
Personnel substitutions and other measures
Throughout the year, Rockstar has replaced the leaders of the San Diego, California and Lincoln studios. The same has happened with the directors and bosses identified as responsible for the negative actions in the company. Rockstar organized meetings to address the issue of sexual assault allegations and has drawn up plans to offer leadership courses. “It is as if there is an operation to get rid of weeds. There are still some, let's not be confused, but it seems that their days are numbered. "
The idea is for the crunch to be mitigated on your next big project thanks to technology and more efficient planning. Dan House's departure will lead to fewer last-minute script rewrites, which have irretrievably changed important aspects of the product, as happened with Red Dead Redemption 2. However, the next title is still in the early stages of development. , so it will be necessary to see how the company responds when the work progresses. Then you can see if there is indeed a real helm turn in Rockstar Games policies.
