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Employee Exodus at Rockstar Games?
hammersuit writes "GameDaily Biz is reporting on recent troubles at Rockstar Games. 'A difficult console transition, FTC investigation, re-rating of GTA: San Andreas and more have put Rockstar and Take-Two in an unenviable position. We've received word that in addition to people who left because of studio closures, even more either fled or quit. Are Rockstar employees jumping ship or is this just a result of cost-cutting at Take-Two?'"
Is it just me or doesn't there seem to be a single coder or designer there? Nobody who actually makes these games? noNow if people from HR are leaving, then their is a reason to be worried. When HR quits update your resume yesterday.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
"Maybe, or Rockstar was actually populated with conscientious people and most people didn't know it.
The development of Bully in which you play a schoolyard thug who tortures fellow classmates for fun might just have been the breaking point for some of Rockstars talent. It's time to move on when you're asked by your boss to do work that is morally contrary to your beliefs...I think a number of Rockstar's best and brightest did just that."
Or maybe you're just making shit up out of thin air, which is just as plausible.
Can you pick out one person from this list that is invaluable? Hell, they're all upper managers and marketing/PR flunkies. Getting rid of them can only improve game development.
And you hereby demonstrate your utter lack of knowledge of the game industry.
What exactly do you think upper management does at a game company? Who do you think manages development of the games? What do you think the title "VP of Development" (it's actually VP for Development) means? What do you think product managers do? Do you have any idea?
As for marketing, Rockstar has always been about image, and it's now lost almost all of its image makers. The image any company projects comes from its marketing and PR departments. Rockstar's fall in public perception (including among hardcore gamers, as this submission demonstrates) is directly related to the loss of a large part of that marketing department, and the entire PR department (two times over, in fact).
People like you apparently think the world would be a better place if it was just made up of a bunch of coders. Where do you think all the artwork for Rockstar's games come from? It comes from the marketing department, which is where all the designers are. Ditto for the music in the games; the soundtracks for all the GTA games comes from marketing. Who do you think makes sure the games hit their milestones? Who do you think project manages, produces, writes the scripts, hires the voice talent, does the recording, does the game testing? It ain't the coders.
Every single one of the people on that list was important. These were some of the top people at Rockstar, responsible for making decisions both big and small. A coder can be replaced in a day. A good manager that has a larger understanding of the industry and the company is almost impossible to replace in any time frame.