Rockstar Games QA analyst claims GTA 6 crunch has been ‘hectic’ recently in lead-up to launch

The long and winding road to Grand Theft Auto 6 seems to be in its final stages, but that could spell some unfortunate work conditions for devs trying to get everything done in time.

Rockstar Games’ Glassdoor page, a website where employees can leave anonymous reviews about their employers, has been rocked by a scathing two-star critique from a quality assurance analyst that paints an unfortunate picture of what things are like at its location in India.

Rockstar India is based in the city of Bengaluru, and the recent review came from that location on May 1. The QA analyst states they are not happy with the conditions, especially “since last month,” in which they describe the work schedule as “hectic.” They also claim that workers are “expected to work overtime without pay,” and that “some colleagues had to work till 3am in the morning after completing their shifts.”

“They’re expecting us to complete tasks that usually take 5-6 months in 2-3 months,” they said, as Rockstar continues its push towards somehow getting the impossibly large-scale GTA 6 out the door and onto consoles later this year on Nov. 19.

Last year, GTA 6 was delayed for a second time, and Rockstar announced layoffs around the same period. Accusations of crunch are not new for Rockstar, either, as its various studios across the world work in tandem on the title that’s been close to a decade in the making.

It wasn’t all negativity in the review, though. The employee said that the “free food is nice,” and that “you get to work on the most anticipated entertainment project in the world.” So, without directly confirming it’s GTA 6, that’s the big implication.

“I enjoyed working here in the previous year but the last few weeks have been a toll on my mental health,” they said. “Please be lenient on us. We are humans too.”

The pressure is on across the board when it comes to GTA 6. With development costs likely rising over $2 billion and the scheduled release date looming in just over six months, it truly is finally coming down to the most important days in the game’s creation process yet.

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Grand Theft Auto 6’s development is trudging along to release later this year, but the hotly anticipated sequel won’t be coming to PC…at least not right away.

PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will be home to GTA 6 at launch, but PC gamers are being left in the lurch, as has been the case for most previous titles that Rockstar Games has launched. And that’s by design, according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

“Rockstar always starts on console because I think with regard to a release like that you’re judged by serving the core,” Zelnick said in a new interview with Bloomberg. “Like really serving the core consumer. If your core consumer isn’t there, if they’re not served first and best, you kind of don’t hit your other consumers.”

So, PC gamers aren’t a “core” consumer in the eyes of Rockstar, apparently. But you can bet that, within a few years, GTA 6 will eventually come to PC with upgraded visuals and other buzzwords so that the game can continue to sell.

GTA 5 was released and re-released several times over, on multiple different console generations, along with a Definitive Edition that also came to PC. It’s hard not to see this for what it is: a chance to make more money with subsequent different launches, and that’s just the way it goes.

The expectations for GTA 6 are unfathomable, with Zelnick previously calling the game “the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth, in history.” And according to a QA analyst at Rockstar’s studio in India, it’s leading to crunch conditions to make sure the game’s development crosses the finish line.

“We never claim success before it occurs,” Zelnick said. “We have the most amazing creative teams. We not only encourage them to pursue their passions, we insist that they do it. We try to give them unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”

With Nov. 19 just about six months away and a massive marketing campaign looming over the summer, Zelnick said that “our goal is to deliver to consumers something that’s never been experienced before,” when it comes to GTA 6, remarking that “being on the sidelines but pretty close to the front of the sidelines is very, very exciting and terrifying, because the expectations are so high.”

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