Overtime At Rockstar Games No Longer Compulsory But It Was Before

Overtime at Rockstar Games faced a lot of controversy lately so the video game company has declared it won't be mandatory as it was reported to be earlier.

Rockstar Games is under fire by the social media over 100-hour work weeks. Since the controversy has stirred, the backlash has been unavoidable for Rockstar. In the aftermath of the backlash, the overtime at Rockstar is no longer a mandatory task for the employees.

Once, Dan Houser spoke of the 100-hour work weeks, since then, Rockstar Games has been going down a harsh road of backlash. But, things got even twisted when a Rockstar QA Tester came out. The employee talked extensively on the matter via Reddit.

In his explanation, it was clear that overtime at Rockstar Games didn’t go unpaid. But meanwhile the Rockstar Games UK employee pointed out that it was not optional as well. The video game company had set up an environment where they expected overtime from all.

Yet, the man who started this whole thing off wanted to clear the confusion that had spread. Dan Houser told Kotaku that the overtime he talked about was only about a small team of seniors. Moreover, Jenn Kolbe, Head of Publishing at Rockstar Games also commented on the issue.

Jenn Kolbe speaking with Kotaku clarified the overtime situation asked of the Rockstar employees. Kolbe believes although it may have looked like a compulsion it was not. Jenn in her own words said:

Through the conversations, we’ve been having it is clear to us that the requested scheduled overtime felt like an obligation to some, if not many, of the team.
We, therefore, spoke to them to make sure it is clear that the OT is not mandatory.

Now that the matter seems to be going towards a solution. Let’s hope it gets settled soon. Some Rockstar employees might have felt the pressure but, it could have been miscommunication.

Rockstar Games also had strict rules regarding the discussion of studio environment over at Twitter. But, in the wake of this controversy employees now have permission to tweet about their workplace. At first, the opinion about Rockstar’s work environment didn’t seem so shady.

But, one must admit that there were some harsh cases of overtime at Rockstar as well. Despite all the negativity let’s not forget how Rockstar granted an ill gamer’s wish to play their RDR 2.

Astute eSports Gamer.