In early January, a letter from the “Wives of Rockstar San Diego employees” painted a very stark picture of the studio's working conditions. The description of the studio prompted confirmations from other ex-Rockstar employees, criticism by the IGDA and the revelation of a lawsuit by ex-Rockstar San Diego employees that was settled in 2009.
Rockstar released a wallpaper parodying the “Eye of Sauron” comment made by one former employee as an initial flip response. Today, after saying that Red Dead Redemption is still on track to release April 27, they addressed the Rockstar San Diego labor issue via a fan Q&A session.
“Unfortunately, this is a case of people taking the opinions of a few anonymous posters on message boards as fact,” read the post. “No business is ever perfect, but Rockstar Games is a tight knit team made up of around 900 supremely talented and motivated professionals, many of whom have worked here for a very long time. We’re saddened if any former members of any studio did not find their time here enjoyable or creatively fulfilling and wish them well with finding an environment more suitable to their temperaments and needs, but the vast majority of our company are focused solely on delivering cutting edge interactive entertainment. We’ve always cared passionately about the people working here, and have always tried to maintain a supportive creative environment. There is simply no way Rockstar could continue to produce such large scale, high quality games without this.”
“That being said, making great games is very challenging, which is why we have and will continue to try to keep hold of some of the best talent in the industry and support them in every way we can,”
This response, half dismissive and half PR spin, is highly unfortunate and hopefully Rockstar is not addressing the issue in a similar way internally. People who say “it's just what you have to deal with to make games” don't get it; mandated 12-hour days, six days a week is unacceptable in any job. While the vast majority of employees at the Rockstar studios are no doubt there because of a passion for games, that doesn't mean they should have to endure withdrawn vacation time and overtime pay because of it; it's ultimately still a job and just because it happens to be in the gaming industry does not make the workers' rights forfeit. Besides that, the employees have girlfriends, wives, children and family like anyone else, and mandating 72 hours worth of grind in a week will strain those relationships, not to mention tax a person's physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
8 Comments
January 22, 2010
It's a shame that even the game industry displays the same work ethics as retail or other blue collar jobs.
January 22, 2010
I bet the employees also have BOYFRIENDS & HUSBANDS.
Unless Rockstar has discriminatory hiring practices, as well?
Leslee
January 23, 2010
This is more like a sweatshop environment than anything else. And it is all motivated by profit. Just out of curiosity, where is the AFL-CIO and other union proponents on this issue.
One of the simple facts of software development, be it games or otherwise, is that you can't set hard time lines. While software development is considered a science it is also as much of an art as anything else. The business end of the industry needs to get a grip on the fact that you can't get blood from a stone.
It is like this; great game play, fantastic multimedia, release dates. Pick two.
January 23, 2010
@lesterley, David was speaking in general terms. We're sure that Rockstar has plenty of female employees as well. The video game industry is still mostly male, however. I remember the IGDA released a survey a couple years back, which showed that developers were like 80% or more white males.
January 25, 2010
No offense intended to any female Rockstar San Diego employees, but in my own defense, the original letter was from the “WIVES of Rockstar San Diego employees” and not "Wives and Husbands". As James said, if the studio does not have an overwhelming majority of white males, I'd be shocked.
January 26, 2010
Medical staff, VC analysts, housewives, armed forces personnel, law enforcement, construction workers, factory shift workers, journalists (or any other profession with deadlines), business owners, not to mention the millions of Americans working two jobs just to make ends meet - there are countless examples of people that have to work crazy and extended hours.
I do feel sorry for anyone working with poor management - regardless of line of work, hours worked, or how much or little they make. Management that fails to plan ahead, properly allocate resources, motivate & reward staff that puts in extra efforts, set and properly communicate firm goals and deadlines - yeah there's really no room for that anywhere. But that wasn't really what their complaint was about, so it leaves me wondering what their issue actually is.
March 11, 2010
I remember the IGDA released a survey a couple years back, which showed that developers were like 80% or more white males.
psp memory
July 13, 2010
This is more like a sweatshop environment than anything else. And it is all motivated by profit. Just out of curiosity, where is the AFL-CIO and other union proponents on this issue.
One of the simple facts of software development, be it games or otherwise, is that you can't set hard time lines. While software development is considered a science it is also as much of an art as anything else. The business end of the industry needs to get a grip on the fact that you can't get blood from a stone.
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