A brand new report confirms that as Rockstar Video games is coming into the ultimate phases of improvement on Grand Theft Auto 6, the corporate is mandating that staff should return to the workplace 5 days per week beginning in April, to no applause from anybody.
Bloomberg reported on February 28 that the corporate’s head of publishing, Jenn Kolbe, made the return-to-office choice. In an electronic mail to employees, Kolbe stated that the reasoning for the mandate got here right down to productiveness and safety issues, notably following an enormous breach in 2022 that spilled the tea on the crime sim. She additionally stated that Rockstar Video games discovered “tangible advantages” from our bodies being in workplace seats.
“Making these adjustments now places us in the perfect place to ship the following Grand Theft Auto on the degree of high quality and polish we all know it requires, together with a publishing roadmap that matches the size and ambition of the sport,” Kolbe stated.
That sounds good, however nobody’s shopping for it. On Twitter, builders from myriad studios decried the choice, calling the return-to-office mandate “bullshit.” “Return to Workplace Mandates are layoffs,” a former Bungie worker tweeted. “Distant staff are successfully informed: Transfer or Stop.” “Headline ought to be ‘Rockstar lays off all distant staff,’” posted a Sucker Punch developer.
Devs fear about work-life stability at Rockstar Video games
It’s not simply of us outdoors of Rockstar Video games which can be upset with this mandate. In keeping with a February 29 IGN report, builders on the studio are criticizing the corporate’s choice as nicely. Chatting with the publication anonymously, one worker stated that working from dwelling has been “a lifeline for many people,” specifying that Rockstar Video games must “rethink their reckless choice making and have interaction with their employees” to seek out options that work for everybody. One other nameless worker stated they worry having to “work late hours within the workplace,” which might imply builders would miss out on “spending time with our households.”
Additional, the Unbiased Employees of Nice Britain, a union that represents U.Ok. builders (Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland is main improvement on GTA 6), has additionally slammed Rockstar Video games for the return-to-office transfer. The group’s chair, Austin Kelmore, claimed to IGN in the identical report that firm administration will “pull the plug” on distant entry expertise on April 15, basically forcing staff to return into the workplace or else. He continued:
The employees within the IWGB Sport Employees Union at Rockstar are pushing for transparency over pay and promotions, a wholesome and inclusive office tradition, and work life stability [centered] round what every employee wants. It’s unacceptable that Rockstar management have gone again on their phrase time and time once more and have ignored the employees’ requests for fundamental working situations. Employees throughout the business are finished with letting executives make reckless and dangerous choices and the Rockstar staff are displaying us the beginning of what’s to return in the event that they’re frequently ignored. There’s no higher time than now to hitch our union and push for this to be the wholesome and sustainable video games business we all know it may be.
Kotaku has reached out to Rockstar Video games for remark.
Return-to-office mandates have been a hot-button difficulty within the video games business because the covid-19 pandemic upended longstanding methods of doing enterprise. Work-from-home insurance policies have opened the door for a lot of of us to seek out employment at studios they won’t have in any other case, notably disabled builders who can’t at all times make it to an workplace. Rockstar Video games isn’t the primary developer to insist upon a return to workplace. Activision Blizzard demanded the identical of its staff in February 2023.
