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Rockstar employees were working 100 work weeks for Red Dead Redemption 2 (also, how RDR2 was made) UPDATE: Rockstar responds


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i remember doing 80-120 weeks for half a year at a time in my younger days. I was salaried, and shit sucks and that shouldn't be an expectations. It's understandable when shit breaks, and everyone is on deck (including your manager). But that should be a freak week and not required.

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2 minutes ago, foosh said:

i remember doing 80-120 weeks for half a year at a time in my younger days. I was salaried, and shit sucks and that shouldn't be an expectations. It's understandable when shit breaks, and everyone is on deck (including your manager). But that should be a freak week and not required.

Exactly. It's not normal, it's not acceptable. People who aren't workaholics have to fake being workaholics to keep up with idiots who are proud of their absurd hours. You work to live, you don't live to work.

 

All I actually get when I hear people talking about "normal" 100 hour work weeks is that they're either incredibly shitty at their job and thus need two and a half weeks worth of hours to get a normal week of work done (which I would say is unlikely), that their company needs to hire double the employees in that department (which seems extremely likely), or some sad, shitty combination. (Which seems eh.)

 

Of course they can never afford to hire the proper amount of people, they've got $35 million bonuses to give out to execs.

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1 hour ago, Emblazon said:

We were hourly. If I was salary I'd have told them to go fuck themselves then sued the shit out of them, not unlike what happened to EA a few years back. 

Being hourly makes it better, but it doesn't make it right. 

 

Some people are perhaps in a place in their lives where they can do an occasional 100 hour week and they're cool with it, perhaps even want it for the money. But when the entire culture is precisely how you described it - it's like a fucking honor system and if you can't hack it, well, then you don't belong - it has really bad ramifications for people who are not in that position. 

 

We should strive for working conditions that are sane. You can find mountains of research linking a myriad of social and health issues from overwork. This country is already light years behind other developed nations for things like maternity / paternity leave, quality health care, and just general work / life balance. Buying into or actually supporting the culture benefits ONLY the people at the top, who are fucking raking in money and might as well be laughing in your abused face. 

 

It. Is. Fucked. Up. 

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Wait, you all thought I was serious about that rite of passage crap? You all remember I'm the king of hyperbole, right? :sun:

 

The actual hours that I posted happened, but I wouldn't wish that crap on anyone. I can't imagine how the salaried employees dealt with it. 

 

Most people that work those hours in test are younger, early 20s, and not settled down yet. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part it's one giant HR violating frat fest. 

 

And California labor laws for hourly employees greatly favor the employee. At 100 hours in a week, that's 40 hours at time, 40 hours at time and a half, and 20 hours of double time. That's not a bad week of pay. 

 

Also, the jobs I'm referring to are entry jobs, similar in starting pay to that of fast food employees. THAT'S an industry with fucked up conditions and standards. 

 

But for upper level and salary? Big fat nope. And as I said before--salaried EA employees sued EA a few years ago and won, so I'm really surprised it's still happening and they haven't unionized. 

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Oh, I forgot about Sega--I was half way through my contract when they laid off half the department... how did they decide who was let go and who stayed on? Whoever stayed to work OT the night before the layoffs got to stay on. All who went home at 5pm were let go. True story.

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4 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Oh, I forgot about Sega--I was half way through my contract when they laid off half the department... how did they decide who was let go and who stayed on? Whoever stayed to work OT the night before the layoffs got to stay on. All who went home at 5pm were let go. True story.

 

Terrible, but even worse for the guy who works late umpteen days in a row, but that night had a 5:30 Doctor's appointment.

 

I am absolutely not trying to make light of the situation, but honestly think that could be the case with at least one person.

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1 hour ago, Emblazon said:

Oh, I forgot about Sega--I was half way through my contract when they laid off half the department... how did they decide who was let go and who stayed on? Whoever stayed to work OT the night before the layoffs got to stay on. All who went home at 5pm were let go. True story.

Sounds like that really helped Sega have market dominance 

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Houser's response:

Quote

There seems to be some confusion arising from my interview with Harold Goldberg [in New York Magazine]. After working on the game for seven years, the senior writing team, which consists of four people, Mike Unsworth, Rupert Humphries, Lazlow and myself, had, as we always do, three weeks of intense work when we wrapped everything up. Three weeks, not years. We have all worked together for at least 12 years now, and feel we need this to get everything finished. After so many years of getting things organized and ready on this project, we needed this to check and finalize everything.

More importantly, we obviously don’t expect anyone else to work this way. Across the whole company, we have some senior people who work very hard purely because they’re passionate about a project, or their particular work, and we believe that passion shows in the games we release. But that additional effort is a choice, and we don’t ask or expect anyone to work anything like this. Lots of other senior people work in an entirely different way and are just as productive – I’m just not one of them! No one, senior or junior, is ever forced to work hard. I believe we go to great lengths to run a business that cares about its people, and to make the company a great place for them to work.

 

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5 hours ago, mikechorney said:

But that additional effort is a choice, and we don’t ask or expect anyone to work anything like this. Lots of other senior people work in an entirely different way and are just as productive – I’m just not one of them! No one, senior or junior, is ever forced to work hard. I believe we go to great lengths to run a business that cares about its people, and to make the company a great place for them to work.

 

Of course its a choice unless....

 

7 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Oh, I forgot about Sega--I was half way through my contract when they laid off half the department... how did they decide who was let go and who stayed on? Whoever stayed to work OT the night before the layoffs got to stay on. All who went home at 5pm were let go. True story.

 

 

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I love semantics games like nobody being "forced" to work hard, yet you know that 100% you're passive aggressively back into a corner until you do it on "on your own accord". Give me a fucking break. Anyone with any work experience at all knows the drill. 

 

"I'm not saying you have to, but your coworker who has fifty mortgages, three kids in private school and ten cars and absolutely can't say no is doing it so it'll look really bad on your review if you don't do exactly as he does despite not having his manufactured problems." Have experienced this gem of peer pressure as well. 

 

In short: Lying, damage-controlling, pocket-stuffing president of a company is being a lying, damage-controlling, pocket-stuffing president of a company. Cool story, Houser. 

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