Before Jason Schreier departed from Kotaku, he penned one more big piece for the outlet titled “18 Months After Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Has Made Big Cultural Changes”. The article goes over how hysteria fostered by outlets like Kotaku over “crunch culture” and reports about “harassment” has led to Rockstar Games ousting various staff deemed “bad eggs”, and implementing new rules for working conditions. Apparently Dan Houser wasn’t a fan because he left the studio in early 2020, with rumors circulating that he was forced out.
In the Kotaku piece it’s explained that Rockstar recently sent out an e-mail about the restructuring, with Rockstar Games head of publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, writing…
“In these last several months we have undertaken a lot of work across every area of the company, looking at our processes to determine what works and what doesn’t, what we are great at and what we could improve. We hope that the majority of you have felt some of these positive changes already and those that haven’t soon will.” […]
“We have taken conscious steps to improve our approach to developing games in order to reduce the need for overtime. We realise we still have plenty to do in this area and will continue to take steps so we can more accurately predict and schedule games and DLC in a way that is more sustainable but still allows us the creative flexibility to iterate on the incredibly ambitious and complex games we make.”
Some of these changes include flexible schedules for developers at their three major studios, new leadership training for management, anonymous surveys to collect feedback, and regular studio updates regarding progress on games and employee communication.
And then there’s Kotaku’s own influence on trying to corrupt the inner workings of the business by talking about “harassment”, and trying to deconstruct the “frat-house” culture that led to the company becoming one of the most successful studios in the world, with Schreier writing…
“Crunch wasn’t the only endemic issue at Rockstar, which employs roughly 2,000 people in studios across the globe. A subsequent investigation by Kotaku revealed a sexual harassment allegation against one of the company’s top executives, Jeronimo Barrera. (Barrera has denied the allegation.) For years, led by Houser, his brother Sam, and an inner circle of other veterans including Barrera, many of Rockstar’s offices embraced a frat-house-like culture that often included heavy drinking, parties, and excursions to strip clubs.
“Now, however, the climate appears to be shifting at the longrunning game studio. Interviews with 15 people who either work at Rockstar or left within the last year paint the picture of a company that’s changing in significant ways. As one Rockstar staffer described it to Kotaku, management seems to now be set on “running the company like a company.” (Rockstar declined to provide an interview or comment for this story.)”
We’ve seen this happen time and time again, where clique-ran media outlets bombard companies with negative press stemming from “harassment” or “boys club” claims leading to exposes and potential lawsuits – or a $10 million settlement in the case of Riot Games – along with completely overhauling how the games are made and the staff recruited. This always results in female characters being toned down, de-sexualized, and made more masculine and covered up. Usually top talented are ousted or moved out position so “diversity” hires can come in and ruin the fine work of the studio, similar to what happened to BioWare and DICE, both which ended up producing degenerate, poor selling games compared to previous outings.
Rockstar is now joining the ranks with others now that the talent that made them billions has departed, and the studio is looking to restructure along the lines of being more Social Justice-oriented.
We all know what comes next: a Diversity & Inclusion Department, more unqualified “diversity” hires, and then awful games that are broke, boring, and filled with Left-wing propaganda.
For all the Centrists™ out there ready to claim that it’s just a “conspiracy theory”, take note that Rockstar is already doing exactly what the above paragraphs mentioned, with Schreier writing…
“Throughout the year, Rockstar replaced studio heads at its San Diego, California and Lincoln, UK offices. The company also booted directors and managers who were said to contribute to cultural issues. Rockstar held meetings about conduct and sexual harassment, and made plans to bring in a coaching organization called Mindful Talent for management training.”
They spoke with one of the employees at Rockstar anonymously who basically confirms that the studio is basically heading in a Social Justice direction, as they state that the company has removed the “bad eggs” from the environment, but there are still a few more that they believe need to be removed, saying…
“It’s like there’s an operation to get rid of bad eggs. There are still bad eggs around, don’t get me wrong, but it feels like their days are numbered.”
This is basically code word for “extricating straight white males from the premises”.
Usually, with their ousting also goes the quality of their games, as we’ve seen with nearly every major other studio that decided to put “diversity” above merit, and ended up producing low quality games that sold poorly and found their way onto the Get Woke, Go Broke Master List.
At this point you may as well stick a fork in it because Rockstar is done.
Rockstar has been converged.