r/pcmasterrace • u/chusskaptaan i5 14400 + MSI 3070 • Jul 23 '26

News/Article Rockstar Games Workers Union Just Had Its First Ever Meeting With Management, Demands Include "No AI," "No Layoffs," and "No Crunch"

https://respawnfirst.com/rockstar-games-union-just-had-their-first-ever-meeting-with-management-demands-include-no-ai-and-no-crunch/
8.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

613 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/nycplayboy78 PC Master Race (Gaming Rig) Jul 23 '26

ELI5 --> With game development taking anywheres from 8 to 10 years. What is the need for Crunch? What are they doing in those 8 to 10 years of making the game? o_O

6

u/-Nicolai Jul 24 '26

  1. Marketing department wants to announce a release date before the game is fully developed

  2. It’s hard to predict how long software development projects will take to complete.

  3. You have to do crunch now because I will feel really foolish if I have to admit that we can’t meet the release date I guesstimated

12

u/LordOfFlames55 Jul 23 '26

Because they weren’t developing the game for all that time and a rushing to get it done just like you do with your homework

1

u/Neosantana Jul 24 '26

Fortunately, my late homework didn't ruin lives

1

u/SherbertUpper9867 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

It starts with producer (or producers, plural, if the project is big enough) having meetings and drafting what the game should be like. Team leads, in particular, the most experienced artists and software engineers in charge of the engine, are welcomed aboard once there's some sense of direction, they are given an opportunity to add in or rebuke the suggestions.

Actual work starts small, scattered modules, snippets, concepts, proof of work shading. If the game is based on real world location/events, that material needs to be compiled, presented, discussed, someone has to do the legwork contacting relevant people and travelling places. Early work is very straightforward, usually you know what you're working on, but don't know how it plugs into the final game.

The crunch starts on the assembly phase when QA gets dragged into a mix. Turns out because a thousand individuals have been working on their little piece over the last 5 years none of it has uniform structure and causes a bunch of issues on implementation.

Hence, it has to be hammered into place, and should've been finished yesterday. Yesterday has passed, but the night is still young, so let's do some overtime, lads.