Raging Spaniard
If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
This probably wont end well, but here we go.
I think Red Dead 2 will be an incredible game. Unfortunately, as we have heard of other AAA work environments, the employees suffer a great deal in order to bring you quality of this degree, most of the time it is not done by choice.
If youre not familiar with Glassdoor, its a website where employees can leave feedback on studios they work at. Its a fairly reliable tool (some outliers here and there, as with most review based sites). Game Developers certainly use it before they consider their next move, I know I have.
Rockstar San Diego, where RDR 2 is being made, has some of the worst ratings Ive seen on the site:
Plenty more where that came from, but I think the point is well made. Some will argue that its easy to put up "fake reviews" in the site, and while that its true you can also see a pattern emerging in these reviews. They are numerous and talk about the same issues but all use a different, distinct voice. This makes them far more credible.
Bonus Edit. If you still don't want to believe Glassdoor, thats fine. Statements from other people in this very thread:
Now, hey, if you decide not to care about this, I cant blame you! Lots of people don't want to know how the sausage is made and I totally get that, no judgement here. However for me personally I have reached a point in my life where I want to at least be aware of who I am giving my dollars to and make better choices in which companies I support.
And by the way, its not like their way of doing business is justifiable. Take Two is doing incredible business for themselves and could afford to keep employees around and not do sudden layoffs on release or at any point, really.
From their 2016 earnings report:
This is their culture, plain and simple and they are hoping you don't notice. I don't have a problem with an employee willing to give 150% of themselves to their craft, however, long term crunch (year plus!) is well documented to not work and its usually forced upon your younger hires, who still have passion and drive for this industry. I am a 10 year vet in Game Development and here in the Bay Area you mostly meet people in their mid 30's who got the hell out of AAA gaming as fast as they could or quit making games altogether because of working conditions such as this one.
As a game developer, I wont be supporting such blatant examples of abuse in a company that should be a leading example on how to treat their employees. Maybe after reading this you will still buy their game, but at least now you know the real cost.
EDIT: Because people think we were born yesterday, every page has about 3 posts like this:
Yes, we know, no need to point it out and act like its big news. We are talking about a software company operating in the US that has no excuse to treat their employees the way they do, and it affects me personally because these are my neighbors and potential coworkers.
I think Red Dead 2 will be an incredible game. Unfortunately, as we have heard of other AAA work environments, the employees suffer a great deal in order to bring you quality of this degree, most of the time it is not done by choice.
If youre not familiar with Glassdoor, its a website where employees can leave feedback on studios they work at. Its a fairly reliable tool (some outliers here and there, as with most review based sites). Game Developers certainly use it before they consider their next move, I know I have.
Rockstar San Diego, where RDR 2 is being made, has some of the worst ratings Ive seen on the site:
"Not for the half-hearted devs. Your family and social life will suffer."
AAA game development culture in general favors overtime, crunch and stressful environments and R* San Diego is probably the worst. There will be a lot of mandatory overtime and not a lot of time for home or social life. I've seen several divorces, relationships fall apart and socially inclined employees get burned out. Some people just flat out resign due to the missed time at home. There also seems to be some resist...
Massive OT, zero work life balance, unreasonable demands on employees, and horrible upper management that will fire you with no warning.
Horrible bully management. Sweatshop work conditions. Endless overtime. Unkept promises. Low pay for the stature of the studio
I wished that I ran off when I heard that early on.
At the end you will only realized that it is all very true, can be even worse than you can imagine.
People lose their health, lose their hair, get fat and depressed.
Even HR admit that they have bad reputation and difficult time hiring people.
There is no appreciation about hard work and any decent respect or positive encouragement to employees.
There is no ownership. Same work will be cycled over a group of people so people learn to trash other's work to make themselves shine. It is encouraged and it uses as the way to get advanced.
Worst Place to Work in all of gaming"
Unfortunately, nothing much has changed over the years. It is very tense environment. It is astonishing the quality of games that come out of this place, mainly because 4+ years development time will do that. Management needs to stop thinking about how they appear and start truly listening to needs of the employee. Throwing out talent because you can simply find cheaper is not ethical it is sad to see passionate designers go
"Welcome to Hell!!"
Plenty more where that came from, but I think the point is well made. Some will argue that its easy to put up "fake reviews" in the site, and while that its true you can also see a pattern emerging in these reviews. They are numerous and talk about the same issues but all use a different, distinct voice. This makes them far more credible.
Bonus Edit. If you still don't want to believe Glassdoor, thats fine. Statements from other people in this very thread:
I'm a software engineer in San Diego and I've had a few friends who all echoed pretty much every complaint in those reviews while they were working there. I wouldn't just chalk it up to a disgruntled employee flooding Glassdoor with fake reviews.
As someone who works in the game industry in San Diego, I can tell you they are infamous here for their work conditions.
I work with quite a few ex-RS people and, yeah, they don't have nice things to say about working there.
To add to the pile, I also know people that have worked at Rockstar (North specifically) and these reviews are not just a few bad eggs spreading lies. That company is runs people into the ground and spits them out and they do it all on the foundation that you work for Rockstar and should be grateful that you do.
Now, hey, if you decide not to care about this, I cant blame you! Lots of people don't want to know how the sausage is made and I totally get that, no judgement here. However for me personally I have reached a point in my life where I want to at least be aware of who I am giving my dollars to and make better choices in which companies I support.
And by the way, its not like their way of doing business is justifiable. Take Two is doing incredible business for themselves and could afford to keep employees around and not do sudden layoffs on release or at any point, really.
From their 2016 earnings report:
- 1.3 Billion in cash and short term investments
- 700 Million digital net revenue
This is their culture, plain and simple and they are hoping you don't notice. I don't have a problem with an employee willing to give 150% of themselves to their craft, however, long term crunch (year plus!) is well documented to not work and its usually forced upon your younger hires, who still have passion and drive for this industry. I am a 10 year vet in Game Development and here in the Bay Area you mostly meet people in their mid 30's who got the hell out of AAA gaming as fast as they could or quit making games altogether because of working conditions such as this one.
As a game developer, I wont be supporting such blatant examples of abuse in a company that should be a leading example on how to treat their employees. Maybe after reading this you will still buy their game, but at least now you know the real cost.
EDIT: Because people think we were born yesterday, every page has about 3 posts like this:
Hate to break it to you, but the console you're not playing the game on was made in a bad working environment. I mean boycott whomever you want but Rockstar probably doesn't have suicide nets to catch depressed employees.
Yes, we know, no need to point it out and act like its big news. We are talking about a software company operating in the US that has no excuse to treat their employees the way they do, and it affects me personally because these are my neighbors and potential coworkers.