People are blowing this way out of proportion. Hard work is common in countless fields.
Rockstar doesn't seem to have a retention issue, so obviously the staff don't feel they're all that mistreated. They must feel they are well paid enough to compensate for some hard work now and again. Remember, crunching tends to happen at the end, leading up to release, and Rockstar doesn't release very often. I'm sure they have some slow times too. Some of them get OT pay. Some get royalties. $1.9BN paid out in the last 5 years, and over $500M in the coming year I bet.
They get to work on hit games, instead of games that come out and promptly disappear with nobody noticing.
In the last IGDA satisfaction survey, 95% of devs reported crunching in the last year or doing extended hours. Good luck making great games without any crunch at all. Like any creative endeavor with the reality of budgets and schedules, you're not going to achieve greatness with everyone punching the clock at 6pm.
The industry has already made huge strides in this area since EASpouse and similar lawsuits. Now, more employees get OT pay and mass layoffs at the end of projects are far less common, plus more studios recognize the benefits of not burning folks out.
Last thing, let's say you could somehow eliminate all extended hours. Say that requires 10% more staff, or 10% more development time. That pushes budgets up. Is everyone so outraged by this story also cool with game prices going up to pay for it?
