Rockstar San Diego

[Zipfinator]

Read this article.

It's ridiculous. I wonder how Chopper Dave is doing.

[Chopium]

It just makes me sad for the industry and the workers. It's turning into a factory rather than a studio. Thanks to big monopolies, the game developing industry has lost its soul.

[theCommie]

I've always thought it's only a matter of time before any truly successful company turns into slave-driving monolith; past successes breed ever-meteoric standards and expectations, yet the time-frame for such projects is always pushed to be shorter and shorter.

[Armageddon]

That's weird. I had a dream awhile back that I got a job at Rockstar. They never let me leave the building. The temperature was turned up. Loud metal music in the office. and annoying people beside me. That was a weird dream...

[YokaI]

Well this explains why the majority of Rockstar's games are shit. XD

Good thing for those wives to speak up, or maybe nobody would have ever known. It's important to know this isn't really a rare practice (accidental pun with another video game company?). Just be thankful you don't want a job in a Japanese company. Overtime work without overtime benefits really isn't great, but it's legal so you got to do it if you want to keep your job. And in the video game world, most of your time is overtime toward the end of production process. Alas, why I am torn at the heart about what I want to do once I get my degree and if my Japanese classes are truly even worth it. )= I think japan is getting it now though, and many game companies (capcom) are treating their company as a studio and not a company like old video game practice. It's important to note that this is the first time in history that video games have become an industry of financial prosperity, meaning now companies will feel free to milk out as many products as they can with the least love needed. I really hope nintendo takes up that practice soon, their games could really use less business behind them.

This is a perfect example of bad company practice. Employees are treated like slaves and in result the products are generally suffering because of that. As a result, they get less money because they make shitty games. Games like midnight club and red dead redemption are examples of games that could have been made better if they were treating their employees with a little bit of dignity and honesty. Well, assuming those are Rockstar San Diego games. XD

[Zipfinator]

There have been reports of this happening at the Vancouver studio too. Not sure about their UK one though.

[[JFG]Propaganda]

What a menstruating bleedfest. If your job is so bad find something else.

[Zipfinator]

What a menstruating bleedfest. If your job is so bad find something else.

Yes, I'm sure with many studios closing putting tons of artists out of work they'll have no problem just finding a new studio withing a few days of quitting Rockstar.

[YokaI]

What a menstruating bleedfest. If your job is so bad find something else.

Yes, I'm sure with many studios closing putting tons of artists out of work they'll have no problem just finding a new studio withing a few days of quitting Rockstar.

The sarcasm is strong in this one.

I guess I have no say about menstruating though, since the there's a big thread of me being a whiny bitch.

Also, are you only saying that because it's wives? Sexist! [/feminist]

[Dionysos]

Leave the US, found a new company asap.

This situation of badly managed studios is a great opportunity for studios which actually care about their employees; I can't think of many areas of work where the employees seem to be so motivated and engaged into what they're doing in the first place. I do wonder why there aren't more disgruntled developers founding their own studios; after all, they should know best how to achieve the best without negative effects to the employees' life's.

Saying there are no other jobs around is not a valid argument. It's probably that you can find another job in a slightly different area of expertise, depending on what area of game development you are/were in. Maybe you'll have to settle for a job where you don't make games for a while, until you have the resources to move or change things to the way *you* want. The mentality of staying because alone you have no power to change anything too is flawed; it's exactly the reason these situations arise. If everyone were adamant about their rights, everyone would be a lot better off.

[YokaI]

Leave the US, found a new company asap.

This situation of badly managed studios is a great opportunity for studios which actually care about their employees; I can't think of many areas of work where the employees seem to be so motivated and engaged into what they're doing in the first place. I do wonder why there aren't more disgruntled developers founding their own studios; after all, they should know best how to achieve the best without negative effects to the employees' life's.

Saying there are no other jobs around is not a valid argument. It's probably that you can find another job in a slightly different area of expertise, depending on what area of game development you are/were in. Maybe you'll have to settle for a job where you don't make games for a while, until you have the resources to move or change things to the way *you* want. The mentality of staying because alone you have no power to change anything too is flawed; it's exactly the reason these situations arise. If everyone were adamant about their rights, everyone would be a lot better off.

You make a valid point, however I feel there's a whole aspect of this you are missing. Many of these men probably have wives, children, and other family that they have to stay and work FOR. Relocating just because you don't like the working habits just isn't responsible at a certain age of your life where you should be willing to sacrifice and have commitment toward a family. Your ideas work well if you are a single and young person, but come age and growth of a family, relocating is a big task. Especially when your wife is also working, it can cause a lot of dilemma and could lead to separation / divorce.

And no, the point isn't that there's NO jobs, it's that it really isn't a secure field to just drop and get another job instantaneously. Many of these people were probably only planning to work at rockstar in those conditions until they found a job that was achievable and better in terms of conditions.

As for founding your own studio, it has worked in the past but it may not work for much longer in the way this industry is shaping. Part of my major distaste in this industry is that they are working on a very hollywood format, in which millions of dollars are poured into investments such as advertisements, so much so that independent companies have absolutely no way to compete. I mean, how many of you bought Noby Noby Boy? Or How many of you even downloaded games such as Run Man or buy Bit.Trip on the wii? Without the proper loans and investments, it could be near impossible to "start your own PROFITABLE development studio". (Profitable is key there) And yet again, all of you are drooling over Mass Effect 2 and probably everyone on this forum owns Modern Warfare 2. That isn't a bad thing, not at all, it's important to have a competitive field. However, to say that forming your own company is a SECURE job option is naive at the least.

And I don't see what importance you are stressing on leaving America. As I was saying earlier, Japan has some AWFUL treatment of video game developers, and America right now is by far ahead of many other countries in terms of the rights of video game developers under the publishers / development studio headmen. That's just my opinion from observation / articles on kotaku. Also, the economy is stressed in every part of the world, it isn't just America, if that was what you were implying. America has it the worst right now, but only because of how economic our government and society is here.

[fry_]

It's funny, I just read a chapter on producing a team for my game dev class and it warned against exactly this (The Game Production Hanbook by Chandler if you're wondering). However, truth is everyone who goes into the game industry knows that this is the case. Because of the the nature of the game industry, crunch time is inevitable. Of course, a good producer should be able to accurately set milestones, but even the best producer can't account for the unexpected fuckup that sets a team back weeks. This article makes it seem like it's a sweatshop, and while I'm sure working conditions are probably worse than average, it's a pretty widespread fact that game developers are ridiculously overworked...often. I really doubt any studio will be that much different.

[Zipfinator]

This is NOT the standard in the game industry... 14 hour days for 6 days a week for 8 months? How the fuck can you guys consider that standard? 14 hour days for one or two weeks is standard during crunch time from what I've heard, but for 8 months?

[trcc]

I never heard of such things happening in Montreal. Of course there is crunch time, but I visited some studios and it appears to me environment quality is top shape.

[fry_]

This is NOT the standard in the game industry... 14 hour days for 6 days a week for 8 months? How the fuck can you guys consider that standard? 14 hour days for one or two weeks is standard during crunch time from what I've heard, but for 8 months?

Didn't see the 8 months. You're right though, around 2 and 3 is standard. No comp time is pretty shitty too.