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Kotaku's Jason Schreier: Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch

Deleted member 10629

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,238
https://kotaku.com/inside-rockstar-games-culture-of-crunch-1829936466

Here's the story Jason has been working on the last weeks.

Here's a sample:

In the final year of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the upcoming Western game, the top directors decided to add black bars to the top and bottom of every non-interactive cutscene in hopes of making those scenes feel more cinematic, like an old-school cowboy film. Everyone agreed it was the right creative move, but there was a catch: It would add weeks of work to many people's schedules.

"You can't just slap black bars on the cinematics we've already shot," said one person who worked on the game. "You have to reframe the camera so that the cinematics flow in a particular way, and you're emphasizing what you weren't emphasizing initially with that shot."
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With no hope of delaying the game any further—Red Dead Redemption 2had already been bumped internally before it was announced, then publicly delayed twice—there was no way for the developers at Rockstar Games to add more time to their schedule. Instead, they would have to crunch, putting in extra nights and weekends in order to redo these scenes and deal with the rest of the massive workload that was ahead of them. Would the black bars prove to be worth it?

This has been a common occurrence in the last years of development on a Rockstar game. Dan and Sam Houser, the co-founders of Rockstar and creative leads on Red Dead Redemption 2, are renowned for rebooting, overhauling, and discarding large chunks of their games. Through eight years of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the Housers and other directors have made a number of major changes to the story, the core gameplay mechanics, and the game's overall presentation. It's a process that some see as essential for making a game of this nature, but it's also one that leads to a great deal of overtime, and has contributed to a culture of crunch at Rockstar Games that is impossible to deny, according to interviews with dozens of current and former employees. This isn't crunch that came in a burst of a few weeks—it's crunch that, those employees say, has lasted for months or even years.
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Adding more links to new articles, thanks hydrophilic attack

Eurogamer:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-10-25-the-human-cost-of-red-dead-redemption-2

GameIndustry:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-26-rockstars-broken-work-ethics
 
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Flandy

Flandy

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Oct 25, 2017
3,445
Only just started but they crunched to add black bars? That sucks
 
Toumari

Toumari

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Oct 27, 2017
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In the final year of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the upcoming Western game, the top directors decided to add black bars to the top and bottom of every non-interactive cutscene in hopes of making those scenes feel more cinematic
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The Order: 1886 flashbacks.
 
Hydeus

Hydeus

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Nov 4, 2017
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"Nobody interviewed said they had worked 100-hour weeks—that would equate to seven 14-hour days—but many said their average weekly hours came close to 55 or 60, which would make for six 12-hour days"

Interesting.
 

Deleted member 364

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,240
"but many said their average weekly hours came close to 55 or 60, which would make for six 12-hour days"

I'm guessing he meant they might have worked some 72 hour weeks lol?


edit: reading further he does talk about some people who said they worked 80 hour weeks though.
 

Deleted member 2840

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Oct 25, 2017
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Bb--b-b-b-but ERA told me that Rockstar only ever crunched over 15 years ago!
That current Rockstar didn't crunch and that PR damage control thing was the truth! Schreier confirmed for Rockstar hater
 
Alucrid

Alucrid

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Oct 25, 2017
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"This isn't crunch that came in a burst of a few weeks—it's crunch that, those employees say, has lasted for months or even years."

sounds about right considering what we knew from previous games
 
LuisGarcia

LuisGarcia

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Oct 31, 2017
3,478
Haven't read it all yet but it seems like a real mixed bag. Lots of negative stories and lots of positive.
 
Philly Cheesesteak

Philly Cheesesteak

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Oct 27, 2017
3,297
Hydeus said:
"Nobody interviewed said they had worked 100-hour weeks—that would equate to seven 14-hour days—but many said their average weekly hours came close to 55 or 60, which would make for six 12-hour days"

Interesting.
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I wouldn't be surprised if that number was higher and the people Jason interviewed weren't trying to completely throw Rockstar under the bus.
 

Deleted member 12833

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Oct 27, 2017
10,078
Hydeus said:
"Nobody interviewed said they had worked 100-hour weeks—that would equate to seven 14-hour days—but many said their average weekly hours came close to 55 or 60, which would make for six 12-hour days"

Interesting.
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Interesting math indeed. Lol

TBH, 55-60 average is not outside the norm for most companies
 
Phendrift

Phendrift

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Oct 25, 2017
32,300
Many of the most harrowing stories shared by current and former employees—anecdotes of damaged relationships, mental breakdowns, and heavy drinking at work—were impossible to print without risking that the individuals involved might be identified. Given Rockstar's complex non-disclosure agreements and possible repercussions for violating them, we erred on the side of being as cautious as possible in this piece, which meant leaving out some of the roughest details we'd heard.
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Oh wow. Sad stuff, this is what sometimes puts me off wanting to work in this industry :/
 
Stixitnu

Stixitnu

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Apr 9, 2018
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Hydeus said:
"Nobody interviewed said they had worked 100-hour weeks—that would equate to seven 14-hour days—but many said their average weekly hours came close to 55 or 60, which would make for six 12-hour days"

Interesting.
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Seems normal if you want to hit deadlines.
 
Ikuu

Ikuu

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Oct 27, 2017
2,294
""The QA department at Rockstar Lincoln has been working mandatory OT since August 2017," said one current employee. "In October 2017 we officially began our crunch and have been in this crunch since to this date." As Rockstar has confirmed, Lincoln's testers have been asked to work on evenings and weekends since then, starting with three nights a week and later moving up to five, and starting with one weekend day per month and later moving up to every weekend. Anyone who wanted a two-day weekend would have to work an extra weekend day on another week, which meant 12 straight days of work between days off."

...
 

Empress of ice cream

Member
Dec 2, 2017
1,544
Just as I expected. Some had good experiences while others had terrible experiences working on this game. No one worked 100 hours but even something like 60 shouldn't be the norm if you are not up to it and feel pressured to do so, even if it is just peer pressure and you feel like you are working on something special like it is the case with RDR2.

There is always room for improvement and the higher-ups at R* should constantly strive for this and not only when things are leaked.
 
El_TigroX

El_TigroX

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Oct 27, 2017
4,212
New York, NY
The average was 45 hours in the high crunch period? That doesn't seem like a hell of a whole lot...? I know most professional workers will do that without blinking, and it's usually a bit higher.

Not saying it's right, just saying it's not uncommon, particularly in client service businesses.
 
Alucrid

Alucrid

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Oct 25, 2017
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"Then came 2013's Grand Theft Auto V, which required crunch from many who worked across Rockstar's studios. One former employee at Rockstar's Toronto office shared documents showing how many hours one team had worked during a week in the months leading up to GTA V's release. Those who had worked fewer than 60 hours were marked with the word "Under" in red letters."
 
jett

jett

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Oct 25, 2017
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Seems like the top directors have no idea what they're doing. YEAH LET'S JUST SLAP SOME BLACK BARS AFTER THE FACT THAT'LL MAKE DEM CUTSCENES MORE CINEMATIC HURR HURR
 
takriel

takriel

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Oct 25, 2017
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Who in their right mind wants black bars in cutscenes?
 
Maneil99

Maneil99

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Nov 2, 2017
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jett said:
Seems like the top directors have no idea what they're doing. YEAH LET'S JUST SLAP SOME BLACK BARS THAT'LL MAKE DEM CUTSCENES MORE CINEMATIC HURR HURR
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How on earth did you get that impression? Many moves change aspect ratios per scene / imax. You think R* directors have no idea what they are doing? Lmao arm chair develops now we have arm chair game directors.
 

laser

Member
Feb 17, 2018
310
Alucrid said:
"Then came 2013's Grand Theft Auto V, which required crunch from many who worked across Rockstar's studios. One former employee at Rockstar's Toronto office shared documents showing how many hours one team had worked during a week in the months leading up to GTA V's release. Those who had worked fewer than 60 hours were marked with the word "Under" in red letters."
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Wow, that seems like a toxic culture.
 

Deleted member 2791

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Then came 2013's Grand Theft Auto V, which required crunch from many who worked across Rockstar's studios. One former employee at Rockstar's Toronto office shared documents showing how many hours one team had worked during a week in the months leading up to GTA V's release. Those who had worked fewer than 60 hours were marked with the word "Under" in red letters
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Jesus Christ. This is living hell.
 
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