Rockstar’s a big company—and while we’re excited for Grand Theft Auto 6, that doesn’t sideline the studio’s potential for cruddiness. Both from a consumer-facing point of view (like GTA 6 being fully digital) or an employee-facing one, with union-busting allegations in the UK still ongoing.
It looks like, even outside of that dispute, there are still problems. Union members who aren’t embroiled in the current legal quagmire spoke to GameDeveloper about their experience with the studio, and it’s not looking particularly solid there, either.
The developers, which the report states “chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal”—already a bad sign—go into a trio of problems with the company that’s making things difficult. Namely bonuses, gender pay gaps, and crunch.
Firstly, that the lack of transparency around those bonuses makes it a useful carrot on the stick for leadership—and a mental nightmare of invisible chess for employees, given they’ve got no idea whether their bonuses will be good or not, or what even goes into one: