Unfortunately in jobs that require deadlines... there will always be crunch times. I have deadlines that I need to hit so if I need to work 12-13 hour days then I do so to make sure it gets done. A 100 hour work week is 7 days at little over 14 hours a day. That's pretty intense for crunching, but most devs acknowledge crunch time as a normal part of their job. It's not like they don't get compensated for it. Also take note that not the entire dev team is going through this much crunch time, it's typically the lead guys who do it out of passion.

There must be some reason to why Rockstar can get the best in the business to work for them. If they are as horrible as some media outlets say then people would start leaving the company, and in turn the quality of their games would take a hit (see Bioware for example). Instead RDR2 looks to be one of the best games of this gen, if not all time.

Lazy people complaining about somebody else’s job. I’d love to do 100 hour work weeks on games if I had the skills. I do 100 hour work weeks on a job I HATE lol.

Oh no what is the drama-club keyboard warriors going to do now?! Oh I see they are just going to keep acting like Rockstar has done anything wrong because they're drama queens don't want their pride hurt.
Mob mentality is strong with this one as well, I didn't even want to point out the fact that they didn't say that they forced them to work these hours but I knew the mob would just pour over me.

The people defending these long weeks are really ignorant to the whole situation. These companies put fear in their employees that they are replaceable if they choose to balance life and work. These companies want their employees to work long shifts and if you can't then they'll find a way to bring someone else in who can.

This isn't exclusive to rockstar, but probably most developers that aren't indie.

People say well it's only 4 people. Well I can tell you there's more than that and people have quit their jobs because of these lifeless expectations you live around worm.

It's not no physical work I don't see what the problem is if I was getting paid really good to provide for my kids I would work 105hrs a week if I could

It's almost as if some people are just really dedicated and ambitious. Not everyone that works longer than 40 hours is doing so because they're being forced to. Let people do what they want with their lives.

Stop abusing your employees everyone. It's bad for business and bad for your brand.

Above:

Lol these people are not working 100 hours a week. Prob different teams constantly working shifts to get it done. Walmart is 24 hours... that doesnt automatically mean employees are working 168 hours a week 🙄

Nothing wrong with putting in that extra work if you’re passionate about your craft. There’s no evidence this is being forced on anyone and I’m pretty sure this is not something they do on a regular basis. I’ve had to work 80+ hours in a single week many times and still do it once in a while and never did I feel like I’m being forced.

Those developers knew damn well what they signed up for. This isnt a Vietnamese sweatshop its a game studio in the UK where there are labor laws. People on the internet need to stop pretending they truly give a shit. You dont. Stop looking for things to be outraged about you miserable crybabies.

I’d be highly concerned about the games quality if this were true.

Crunch is common practice and I've heard of those getting let go for working just under an 80 hour work week. many have showers and cots in their offices so they can work late or overnight. Speaking from personal contacts at AAA studios. Typically many leave the business when they want to start a family and have kids and want to be involved in their lives.

I complain when massive overtime becomes expected but I know I can quit at any time. I generally have a pretty good attitude when I receive the check/ bonus for it.

lies

Apparently many people didn't read the article FYI it was 4 senior writers that choose to work that hard not the entire team. Hey whatever it's not like it's the only job that stress you out with how many hours you have to put in to meet deadlines I was in the Marine Corps and until you work 12 hours on 12 hours off or have to post 24 hour duty assignments for any extended period I don't want to hear any complaints. How about Doctors? Emergency responders? So many more jobs where the hours are crazy and way more stressful just saying.

No excuse for anything past 50-60 hr work weeks...it’s absolutely destructive to the worker. I really hope things change for the better...cause this is just bad

Edit: and before someone dares to say I didn’t read the article, I did. Even if they don’t expect it doesn’t excuse the fact that these sorts of things happen not only at Rockstar, but many other companies. It’s a philosophy that doesn’t work for the workers health. Period.

This was up to the person, not forced by the company People.

Lets show Rockstar with our wallets what we think about their inhumane work practices! Don't buy RDR2!

Who's with me?

They don't expect anyone to do it but if they don't then they're fired.

When you work for a company this great, 100 hours a week into something you absolutely love or enjoy doing, likely makes it all worth it to the employee.

This is fairly normal if you work in the Tech sector. I work for a company, and a guy would stay in the office for Days, he never left. He would get there in the Early morning, shower there (our bathrooms had showers) eat there, sleep there, and do it all over again. He would be in the office for days, trying to hit goals and get things released/updated.No one forces people to work 100 hours. But if you are in the Gaming/Entertainment/Tech sector, its kind of expected.

If programmers worked that much, their code would turn to shit. It's impossible to maintain the quality.

Don't want to work 100 hrs per week then that's fine, but be careful you may not get raise or promotion.

I work on the roads, I often get calls to dig up water, electric and gas faults at all hrs and the have to reinstate it after it's fixed.
I've worked 45hrs straight a few times and quite often over 100hrs a week, it's very hard work but the money is really good.

Better not be.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free

Call me crazy, but instead of crunch how about management hire an appropriate amount of staff for the project?
How about they provide an appropriate amount of time for a project to compensate for faults, and regularly review the state of the build against milestone goals?

And in the event of issues with the build arising, how about they hire temporary help, provide alterations to the scope or extend the deadline as required?
There is zero excuse for crunch, it's entirely due to failed management and greedy senior management. Unionise already and maybe game developers can start getting treated like they deserve.

thanks for posting this article. it's important to highlight this issue. managers are often the most ambitious people in the team, and push their workers to their limit to deliver stellar products that can compete in the marketplace. but stellar game sales can become a very short-lived success, because people burn out and relationships get burned.

This is what happens, when you listen to the guys who INSIST that the horse's testicles should be SO REALISTIC, that they shrink when the weather gets cold...

And here I work 40 hours a week but sleep about 30 of them. I don't sleep at home though so that kinda bites.

Selling tactic. Clever.

They don't ask or expect them too, but when you put an insane deadline on a product/project guess what people are forced to. I was a game dev and transitioned to a mobile app/web developer now I own my own company. Why? Well because Game dev is BS. As I said before and sometimes you don't get paid for weeks / months.The milestones in this industry is ridiculous you have to work minimum 80hours just to barely clear what you were supposed to do that sprint. And most of the time the projects are ridiculously agile, meaning one month you are working on this asset then you're told scrap it because it doesn't fit the new vision of the scene. Then you're told that you won't be paid for another week or so. It's ridiculous, and don't get me started on the layoffs. We are supposed to remain loyal when the industry is everything but loyal smh.

Edit: to add, they tie you into a salary position, so that you can't get paid overtime. It's all a legit scam for the workers indeed, this game will easily make a billion while the developers on the project make 50-150k. And then on top of that most of them won't be compensated properly.

The rock gets 5 hours of sleep a night and he works out multiple times a day. Tiger keeps to a strict 12 hour day and is home by 7. This was a small group of veteran writers who purposefully does this with every game they do. It was for only 3 weeks. 60-100 hour weeks can be managed in a healthy way especially it it's for a short time.

Mass Effect 2 is still perfection to me. If anything makes me feel the same as ME2 did again in my lifetime, I'll be pleasantly shocked.

Clearly a lot of the voters didn't play or don't remember Half Life 2. It will always be my number 1 game of all time never mind sequel.

Diablo II. Wasn't even in the bracket?

Prequel. Indeed a fantastic game. Characters, story, visuals are something else. Unfortunately the controls, gunplay, and the excessive attention to detail got in the way of making it perfect. I still consider it a masterclass in storytelling though.

Biggest jump for a sequel was from Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2. Redefined what had been done on a cinematic, narrative, graphical, technical and gameplay level. It was improved on from the original in mindblowing ways.....even during the SAME generation.

While I fully appreciate the game is a stellar achievement, I didn't enjoy my time with it, due to the game on PS4 looking like it had been smeared in vaseline and the game mechanics were an absolute pain in the backside to get to grips with.

Trying to do a simple task that requires you to open not one but two weapons wheels when you are in a heated skirmish and wanting to use health was a fun sapping experience. Even the act of opening a drawer was a chore, sometimes less is more.