Rockstar Games Has Cleaned Up Its Boys’ Club And Crunch Culture Practices

As various video game companies come under fire for their so-called bro culture and abusive workplace practices, Rockstar Games has risen to the occasion and has been earnestly cleaning up its act. The Grand Theft Auto developer has been working to improve its workplace practices since it received criticism for making its employees work 100-hour work weeks leading up to the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently published a report that brings attention to the various improvements within the company. Sources reveal that the entire design department has been restructured, temps are being transitioned to full-time employees, and scheduling has been drastically improved. Employees are even being given “flexitime” options that allows them to take a set amount of time off for every hour that they’ve worked. Several abusive managers were also fired as part of the studio’s efforts to clean its house.

Rockstar Games is now “a boys’ club transformed into a real company,” as one employee noted.

According to the sources, the development of the highly-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 is also going well. The studio’s ambitious plans to recreate entire parts of North and South America has reportedly been scaled down to focus on a fictionalized version of Miami and its surrounding areas with more cities being added on a regular basis.

The franchise’s satirical portrayal of marginalized groups, however, isn’t likely to go away as the developers argue that they aren’t meant as an attack against the said groups.