Last fall, about a year after the release of Red Redemption 2Rockstar chief executive Jennifer Kolbe sent an email to staff with a list of bulleted items to promote Rockstar culture.
Rockstar, the game developer behind the scenes Grand Theft Auto and many other best-selling games, often contested, were widely criticized last year for cultural issues and overtime.
"Over the past few months we have done a lot of work across the company, looking at our processes to find out what works and what doesn't, what we love and what we can improve," wrote Kobe in an email, reviewed by Kotaku. "We hope that many of you have heard some of these positive and negative changes."
Kolbe further revealed some of their plans for 2020: flexible schedules for developers at Rockstar stations, from California to the United Kingdom; leadership and leadership training; anonymous surveys to collect feedback from employees; regular updates on the company's upcoming games and updates; and better communication around. The email tenor was straightforward: after the 2018 riots, Rockstar wanted to do better. They also wanted to reduce crunch, a subtle habit of working nights and weekends to end video games.
“We have taken strong steps to improve our game development strategy to reduce the need to work overtime,” writes Kolbe. “We see that there is still a lot to do in this area and we will continue to take steps to accurately predict and organize games and DLC at the highest level but it allows us the flexibility to adapt and be passionate about the complex games we do. ”
Klabe's email is one of a long line of major changes – or promises to change – made by Rodstar in the 18 months since the company faced public scrutiny of overtime and other cultural issues. October of 2018, while developing Red Redemption 2Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser told an interviewer that he and his team worked “100 hours a week” to end the game. The claim has sparked an online storm and has led to an investigation into the culture of crunch in the developer of some of the world's most popular video games, including Grand Theft Auto series, in which employees usually worked for 55 to 60 weeks eliminating new games.
Crunch was not the only disease problem at Rockstar, which employs nearly 2,000 people in studios around the world. The following investigation by Kotaku it was revealed allegations of sexual harassment of one of the company's top executives, Jerimo Barrera. (Barrera has denied the allegation.) For years, led by W kwender, his brother Sam, and the inner circle of other motorists including Barrera, many Rockstar offices adopted a house-like tradition that often included drinking, parties, and clubbing trips.
Now, though, the weather is changing as in the studio for a long game. Interviews with 15 people who worked for Rockstar or who left over the past year I paint a picture of a company changing in important ways. As one of Rockstar's staff explained Kotaku, it looks like it's now being used to “create a company as a company.” (Rockstar declined to comment or comment on the issue.)
"It looks like a completely healthy culture," said Rockstar's second engineer. "We'll see in a year or two when I take my hair out, but it looks like we're moving in the right direction to be the company we are.
Even today, with productivity reduced and staff working at home due to the coronavirus epidemic, company management seems to be saying the right things. "They continue to emphasize that it is normal to be unproductive and that our focus should be on our health and care for our families," said Rockstar's third employee.
Since its release Red Redemption 2, Rockstar has made many major management changes. Last spring, Dan Houser continued with what the church turned into his departure from the company. Throughout the year, Rockstar replaced studio heads at its offices in San Diego, California and Lincoln, with offices in the UK. The company has also benefited directors and managers who were said to have contributed to cultural issues. Rodstar hosted workshops on behavior and sexual harassment, and also made plans to introduce a mentor organization called Mindful Talent for management training.
It has been a slow process, Rockstar developers say, but it has led to improvements in other people's lives. “It's like working to get rid of bad eggs,” says one Rockstar employee. "There are still bad eggs around, that don't bother me, but like their days are numbered."
Rockstar leaders have told employees they hope to reduce debt on the next big project by upgrading their technology pipeline and planning some of the work ahead. Another theory shared by Rockstar employees is that Dan Houser's departure will lead to over-drafting and over-drafting at the last minute – the kind that has led to overtime work on Red Redemption 2. Rockstar also started planning for "changes" for many employees, allowing them to work various hours depending on their preferences and needs.
One strategy that managers set for the next game, is the new entry in Grand Theft Auto The series, which will start with a limited-edition release (which, by Rockstar standards, might still be a great game) that will be expanded with standard updates over time, which can help reduce frustration and growth.
But there is a downside: Rockstar's next big project is still growing. When production goes up and the game nears launch, will more time come with it? Will the Rockstar crew be under pressure for months of skiing to complete all the prestigious work it takes to make a Rockstar game? "The change has been enough for me to stay and give them a chance but see what happens when the pressure to deliver the final product is realized," said one engineer.
"There are still bad eggs around, that don't bother me, but like their days are numbered."
Although some unwanted executives have left, there are concerns in some Rockstar offices that a long-standing tradition of hard work can rise again when it comes time to release a new game at the door. "Problem with Red Redemption 2 it was not just a number, ”said a former employee. "The tradition was so focused on the idea that if you don't work overtime you don't work hard."
However, employees at various Rockstar offices say they feel like the company has taken great strides in the past year and a half in ways that will improve people's lives even when playing the next game.
One of Rockstar's services is with staff members who feel a lot of pain during development Red Redemption 2 it was Rockstar Lincoln, headquartered in the United Kingdom, responsible for quality assurance testing. Inspectors in Lincoln painted a motionless picture, telling stories of a space where bullets were needed, workers were expected to make locks while on duty, and blinders had to shut down to prevent fans from seeing.
Since 2018, Rockstar has increased salaries for Lincoln inspectors as well turn all contractors into full-time employees. Lincoln now tells inspectors that overtime can be selected, and that it will be paid at 1.5x prices. Some of those previous policies have been repealed, to the point where one employee said "company culture has become too good." Inspectors are now allowed to use phones at their desk.
"I wish you had (in 2018) heard the murmur of people all over the world when people felt that extra time was being made voluntarily," one inspector Lincoln sent me in an email last year. Secondly he said "Rockstar has always been the best" KotakuReporting on site performance conditions.
Employees of Rockstar North in Scotland, Rockstar San Diego in California, and Rockstar New York in Manhattan have also shared more results with the company's culture change, praising new quality improvements and communication from management, though some insist that they entertain their views with skepticism. Some lament that low wages (expected to be increased over time) or managers who still maintain the majority of the frat house culture that existed at Rockstar years ago.
Even those who have been serious about the changes in Rockstar culture are quick to say that it has been and will continue a long, long process, which can take years to fully accomplish. But some who have been making plans to come out two years ago now say they can see themselves living in Rockstar for a long time, as long as this continues.
The prospect of caution is a common theme.
"Talk about something as if it were just beginning," said one engineer. "Of course it will feel right now."
