GTA 6 Devs Slam Rockstar Games for Mandate Return to Office

A new report confirms that with Rockstar Games entering the final stages of development Grand theft auto 6The company obligated employees to return to their offices five days a week starting in April, without applause from anyone.

Bloomberg mentioned On February 28, the company's head of publishing, Gene Colby, made the decision to return to the office. In an email to employees, Colby said the reasons for the authorization were due to production and security concerns, particularly the following Major breach in 2022 Which He poured the tea On the crime sim. She also said that Rockstar Games found “tangible benefits” from having bodies in office chairs.

“Making these changes now puts us in the best position to deliver grand theft auto “At the level of quality and polish we know it requires, coupled with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game,” Colby said.

It sounds nice, but no one buys it. On Twitter, developers from countless studios decried the decision, describing the return-to-the-office mandate as “prattle“Going back to office mandates is layoffs,” a former Bungie employee chirp. “Remote workers are effectively being told: Move or quit.” The headline should be, “Rockstar lays off all remote workers.” to publish Developer of Sucker Punch.

Developers are concerned about work-life balance at Rockstar Games

It's not just people outside of Rockstar Games who are upset about this mandate. according to February 29 IGN a reportDevelopers at the studio are also criticizing the company's decision. Speaking to the publication anonymously, one employee said that working from home has been a “lifeline for many of us,” explaining that Rockstar Games needs to “rethink its rash decision-making and interactions with its employees” to find solutions that work for everyone. Another anonymous employee said they feared having to “work late hours in the office,” which meant developers would miss out on “spending time with our families.”

Furthermore, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, a union representing developers in the United Kingdom (Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland is leading development in GTA 6), also criticized Rockstar Games for its move to return to the office. The organization's president, Austin Kilmore, claimed so IGN In the same report, the company's management will “turn off” remote access technology on April 15, which will essentially force employees to report to the office or otherwise. He continued:

Workers in the IWGB Game Workers Union at Rockstar are pushing for transparency regarding pay and promotions, a healthy and inclusive workplace culture, and work-life balance. [centered] About what every worker needs. It is unacceptable that Rockstar's leadership has repeatedly gone back on its word and ignored workers' demands for basic working conditions. Workers across the industry are tired of allowing executives to make reckless, damaging decisions, and Rockstar's workers show us the beginning of what will come if they are continually ignored. There's no better time than now to join our union and push for the gaming industry to become a healthy and sustainable game as we know it.

Kotaku We have reached out to Rockstar Games for comment.

Back-to-the-office mandates have been a hot-button issue in the gaming industry since the COVID-19 pandemic upended old ways of doing business. Work-from-home policies have opened the door for many people to find work in studios that they might not have otherwise, especially developers with disabilities who don't always have access to an office. Rockstar Games is not the first developer to insist on returning to its position. Activision Blizzard She demanded the same from her employees In February 2023.