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Last night, Red Dead Redemption The developer Rockstar Games lifted its social media rules by telling employees that they were no longer barred from talking about their professional experiences on Twitter and Facebook. This decision led a number of staff members to share essentially positive stories of their experience in the huge gaming business.
"First of all, it's one of the most rewarding and stressful projects I've worked on," he said. Keith Thorburn, who works in the music department of Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland. "I know what the epic feel looks like, but it has been managed so that I feel happy and healthy. "
The rise of social media comes as a result of an industry conversation about excessive overtime, which followed Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's comment on: New York Magazine "We were working 100 hours a week" in 2018. On Monday, Rockstar sent other comments to Kotaku, attributed to Houser, claiming that he was referring to himself and his team of editors for a period of three weeks, and that "we are not asking nor expecting anyone to work in this. meaning".
The comments sparked a lot of controversy in recent days, as former Rockstar employees spoke on Twitter about their own crisis experiences in the company, with Rockstar's former public relations manager . Job Stauffer writing that "at the time of GTA IV, it was like working with a weapon to the head seven days a week" – and other observers have criticized the company for its overtime practices. Stories about Rockstar have been circulating in the video game industry for years, especially in 2010 around the release of Red Dead Redemption, when a group of spouses of employees of Rockstar San Diego wrote a letter addressed to the company.
Rockstar generally advises all employees not to discuss social work topics, but last night the company's HR manager sent an e-mail to staff at several of the company's studios stating recognized that some felt frustrated. the story that circulated and said that employees would now be allowed to talk about their experiences, with "no need to put sugar on the skin". The move has led the current staff to share some very positive things about their employer.
"Since I've been in the studio, work practices have improved significantly," he said. Phil Beveridge, coder at Rockstar North. "Crunch on Red Dead Redemption 2 was definitely better than on GTA V, where I shot a month over 70 weeks (while telling my boss to go home …)"
"I have never worked more than 50 hours a week (and this is a rare case), but I usually work between 2 and 6 paid overtime per week," he said. Vivianne Langdon, tool programmer at Rockstar San Diego.
"I've been at Rockstar for two years and I've been working on RDR2," he said. Danny Bannister, vehicle artist at Rockstar North. "I have never worked nearly 100 hours a week. There was some tightening but nothing ridiculous. We worked hard on the game but we were not mistreated. I think the maximum I did on the RDR2 was 60 for a week. "
(Just to conceptualize this, 60 hours would be five 12-hour days or six 10-hour days.)
"As a worker at Rockstar North, I should probably add my voice to the conversation that's going on right now," writes the tool designer. Tom Fautley. "We crack. I did not see anyone having to work 100 hours a week, but I certainly saw friends getting closer to that number. I am asked, encouraged and expect to work overtime (evenings and weekends) to meet a significant deadline. During the almost five years that I have spent here, at most, I have been working over a week, but this has not been a recent one. "
(Rockstar's main artist, Miriam Bellard, summed up a number of these stories on his Twitter feed, if you want to see them all.)
We have been looking at and reporting on the working conditions in gaming studios for years, especially Rockstar, for a few months now. For this story, we give anonymity to current and former employees to make sure they feel comfortable speaking out. We have heard a wide range of experiences and will publish the story when it is ready.
Clarification (09:02): This story has been updated to clarify the nature of email sent to Rockstar employees.
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