GTA 6 devs hit out at Rockstar for “broken promises” over crunching

Rockstar Games devs have hit out at their bosses for ‘forcing’ them to return to being full-time in the office ahead of the final stretch of work on GTA 6. 

For years, Grand Theft Auto fans were left to search for clues and listen to many a fake ‘leak’ about GTA 6 as Rockstar and their publisher, Take-Two, remained silent about their plans for the highly-anticipated game. 

There have been a few big leaks that have turned out to be real, however. In September 2022, hundreds of development videos surfaced, showing off some new mechanics, a look at the main characters – Lucia and Jason – and a few other things. On top of that, the first GTA 6 trailer was leaked hours before it was supposed to go live. 

With the game entering the final stages of development, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Rockstar have urged their development teams to return to the office, citing security concerns about further GTA 6 leaks – which Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said affected team morale. 

Rockstar devs furious at office working return for final GTA 6 work

However, those devs aren’t pleased, especially as they fear that the crunch that plagued previous releases will return with the end of GTA 6’s development. 

“After so many broken promises we now fear management may even be paving the way for a return to toxic ‘crunch’ practices. Senior leadership need to rethink their reckless decision making and engage with their staff to find an arrangement that works for everyone,” one Rockstar dev told the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain.

“As usual, there has been zero consultation with us: the people who these policy changes most affect. Just one of my concerns is being forced to work late hours in the office to maintain contact with global teams when before we could log on from home to attend late meetings,” another added.

On top of having health issues that make a permanent return to the office difficult, some workers also noted that Rockstar had previously promised a flexible approach to working from home. This has also seemingly been broken with the urge for a five-day office working request. 

We still don’t have a release date for GTA 6, either, with Rockstar just saying it’ll release in 2025.