Although this week’s topics were generally depressing, there was one thing we discussed shortly that really caught my attention- the working conditions of Rockstar and their development of Red Dead Redemption 2. I think it’s because of the focus of my final paper, but this discussion really struck a cord with me.
First, some background information:
Rockstar’s co-founder and VP Dan Houser casually said in an interview with Vulture the team was working 100 hours a week finishing Red Dead Redemption 2. This comment came with a lot of backlash, causing Houser to back pedal, saying it was the four person senior writing team over a three-week period who were working that much; this intense short-term overtime is supposedly common for the team, who have been working together for 12 years. Houser continued on to say that “Rockstar doesn’t ‘ask or expect anyone to work anything like this.’ Employees are given the option of working excessive overtime but doing so is a ‘choice’ not a requirement,” (Forbes.com).
However, this “optional” overtime statement was contradicted by a QA tester at Rockstar’s Lincoln Studio (UK) on Reddit. He discussed the multiple non-disclosure agreements that all employees sign, which initially stopped him from speaking out (Rockstar gave employees permission to talk about the hours issue). The poster wanted to make sure he stated that “he and other QA testers (with the possible exception of salaried staff) are paid for their overtime work. He then writes ‘the other big things is that this overtime is NOT optional, it is expected of us. If we are not able to work overtime on a certain day without a good reason, you have to make it up on another day. This usually means that if you want a full weekend off that you will have to work a double weekend to make up for it,” (Forbes.com)
This struck a cord with me for several reasons. The first being that I know first hand how it feels to be exploited by the company you are working for- I was expected to work a minimum of 10 hours of overtime in my restaurant, that shit is hard on a person especially when they aren’t given the option of no overtime.
The second and probably most important reason this stuck with me is because of how Rockstar exploited the labor-power model Marx defined. What this model describes is how money is used to create a product and that product is used to create more money. This whole capitalistic model, in my opinion, generally fails the worker who is producing the product, especially when they aren’t given the option to increase their work output.
By requiring their workers to work an absurd amount of overtime, Rockstar is also interrupting the work/life balance of their employees. If someone wants to make their entire life their job, that is their choice. No one should be forced to work over the standard work-week, especially if not working overtime means facing job-related consequences. This sounded a lot like the adversity (as a nice way to put it) women were fighting against during the second wave of feminism.
Thankfully, because of the public outrage and the backlash Rockstar received, they made all overtime completely optional, you know, the way it should be.