Rockstar demands workers return to the office

Following Grand Theft Auto 6’s reveal and even release date, it seems Rockstar Games is requiring staff return to the office for their work week. Of course, it’s just the latest major studio to abandon the remote work model.

In an email to staff acquired by Bloomberg (via IGN), Rockstar’s head of publishing Jenn Kolbe informed staff it was a decision made in order to increase productivity and bump up security measures. She claims this will put the New York-based dev in a better position to offer the same polish that fans — and the company — expect from this next entry, and the ability to form a roadmap “that matches the scale and ambition of the game.”

While remote work has its benefits and for many helps with productivity, it sort of is in Rockstar’s best interest to keep things under lock and key. Considering it was put in a position of releasing the reveal trailer of the much-anticipated next GTA entry early because it got leaked, that hacker back in 2022 leaking stuff about the game, leading him to getting arrested and confined to a secure hospital (via BBC), oh and let’s not forget about early footage shared allegedly by the son of an employee (via PSX Extreme).

While it sucks for employees who vastly preferred the work from home model, it’s clear that there are cracks in how Rockstar handles it, perhaps a hybrid model would’ve been more accepted, but here we are.

This comes after IGN reported last year that Ubisoft Montreal faced heavy backlash from staff after upending its 100% work from home ability, which was a huge selling point for some. This left many of its 4,000 employees having to redo life changing choices they made and brandishing the fact they were reassured they could entirely work from home for the past two years at the time of the report as “broken promises.”

“Making these changes now puts us in the best position to deliver the next Grand Theft Auto at the level of quality and polish we know it requires, along with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game…”

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