Not for the half-hearted devs. Your family and social life will suffer. - Programmer Rockstar Games Employee Review

3.0
14 Jun 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You will get to work with incredibly talented individuals who really do love their job and also you will get to work on some of the greatest games in the industry. The culture is a positive for most and I feel like they do treat those who are talented well and try to keep them satisfied. Over the years change has been frustratingly slow sometimes but I feel like leadership is taking the company as a whole (together with all R* studios) in the right direction regarding employment, hire/fire and technology. Despite the work conditions I do feel like management is very understanding and relatively open, but of course there are politics.

Cons

AAA game development culture in general favors overtime, crunch and stressful environments and R* San Diego is probably the worst. There will be a lot of mandatory overtime and not a lot of time for home or social life. I've seen several divorces, relationships fall apart and socially inclined employees get burned out. Some people just flat out resign due to the missed time at home. There also seems to be some resistance to change not only with work ethic but also technology.

Explore other reviews about Rockstar Games

5.0
30 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Innovation and technology is the best

Cons

Hectic days and crunching is bad

2
2.0
26 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-The main pros of working here are there are many talented folks who are passionate about what they do. -Free lunch and work events were always pretty fun - A once in a lifetime opportunity to work on the biggest games of all time.

Cons

Rockstar takes advantage of the passionate people they have working for them. They use the brand as an excuse to not treat their employees with any dignity or respect. It's also worth mentioning that microagressions and misogyny is a bigger problem than what's being reported here. There were many times where I felt like my voice wasn't heard because of it. Leadership is also a the source of a lot of friction. Many of them are out of touch and let people who have worked their for a long time get away with abusing their direct reports and other lower on the totum pole colleagues. There are people who work here that have been reportedly for unprofessional behavior multiple times but don't receive any serious pushback from leadership. It's a very cliquey, fear based environment masked behind a fake sense of a forward thinking company. There's a lot of information withheld from people who are directly impacted by it, which eventually caused me to mistrust the company and leadership. I have mixed feelings because I enjoyed working on the games and there are many talent people who are being held back by a company that refuses to think differently.

1
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