GTA 6 Employee Leaves Scathing Glassdoor Review Complaining of Crunch

According to a post on Glassdoor, Rockstar Games employees—at least those working at Rockstar Interactive India—are being subjected to unreasonable working conditions ahead of the game's anticipated November 19th launch. A Glassdoor review from an anonymous QA analyst still recommends working there, but notes that "You are expected to work overtime without pay," that some colleagues had to work until 3AM after having already completed a morning shift, and that tasks that typically require up to six months are expected to be complete in 3 or less.

The Glassdoor review also notes that while the employee did enjoy working there in the previous year, "the last few weeks have been a toll on my mental health," imploring management to be more cognizant of needs of the workers at Rockstar Interactive. It's unclear if these severe overtime policies are also being enforced at other Rockstar studios, since last we heard from Kotaku's Jason Schreier, the crunch at NA-based Rockstar studios had been greatly reduced since Red Dead Redemption 2's arduous development.

A new Rockstar Games review on Glassdoor from an employee working on GTA 6 says:

- They’re expected to complete tasks that usually take 5-6 months in 2-3 months
- Work schedule has been hectic since last month and they’re working overtime
- The last few weeks have been a toll on… pic.twitter.com/liukhVLimH

— GTA 6 Countdown ⏳ (@GTAVI_Countdown) May 3, 2026

We first spotted news of this story breaking via the @GTAVI_Countdown thread on X/Twitter highlighting the Glassdoor review. Follow-up with @KiwiTalkz, a noted industry insider, states that "India isn't known for work-life balance," adding further authenticity to the report, at least at Rockstar Interactive India. Dialogue on the matter on the X/Twitter thread is largely unsympathetic, with the highest-voted comments being entitled gamers demanding the game be released sooner, as if it is a product they've already paid for.

Over on the r/PCMasterRace subreddit, discussion is a lot more balanced, and includes insight from other developers across the industry discussing the brutality of the game industry crunch. For those unaware, AAA gaming in general is known for brutal churn, demanding hours of overtime, often without overtime pay, that still culminates in mass layoffs even when the games are successful. Only a few studios, particularly Japanese studios like From Software and Nintendo, seem to be an exception. Even then, that's mostly down to Japan's work culture, where hours can still be brutal but firing and layoffs are exceedingly rare.

By nearly all accounts, the games industry is a tough place for developers to work with arduous labor conditions and regular layoffs. There are exceptions, even in the United States, but the fact is that the developers who make AAA games possible frequently report these practices and harassment from the audience with no real recourse. Independently-run studios generally don't share these issues, but are also limited by budget and exposure compared to industry titans like Rockstar.

It's an unfortunate situation all around. Hopefully, the higher-ups at Rockstar Interactive India or parent company Take-Two Games take these stories to heart and ensure fair treatment for its employees. If the crunch time is simply inevitable due to the scale of Grand Theft Auto VI, it's fair to say that employees should at least be receiving overtime pay. It's not like Grand Theft Auto isn't making bank for Take-Two or that Grand Theft Auto VI won't be one of the biggest launches of all time.