Called Cops ‘n’ Crooks, the mode was a twist on the children’s game where players organize into teams of good guys and bad guys, but seemed especially tone-deaf during the global reckoning over police violence. Senior executives at the company, concerned about how the narrative might be interpreted during a time of heightened skepticism and mistrust of American police, put it aside. They still haven’t made plans to bring it back, according to people familiar with development. This was one of several politically sensitive actions. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., has taken in recent years. The company removed transphobic jokes from the most recent console release of Grand Theft Auto V and significantly narrowed its gender pay gap. Grand Theft Auto VI, will include a playable female protagonist for the first time, according to people familiar with the game. The woman, who is Latina, will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, the people said. Developers are also being cautious not to “punch down” by making jokes about marginalized groups, the people said, in contrast to previous games.
Moves like these once seemed unthinkable for a company whose best-selling franchise is a satirical depiction of America that involves playing gangsters who kill civilians. Grand Theft Auto V was a nihilistic parody that threw insults at everything, from right-wing radio hosts to liberal politicians. Inside the company, the tone wasn’t much different. A workplace culture full of drinking, brawling and excursions to strip clubs. The company was an early symbol of an industry-wide problem of long hours at the office, known as crunch, in which staff were expected to be at their desks many nights and weekends in order to keep a game on schedule.
That strategy was financially successful and turned Grand Theft Auto V into the second-best selling game of all time, with 165 million copies sold. It also led to burnout, attrition and a public controversy in 2018.
A more progressive and compassionate workplace, according to interviews with more than 20 people who work there or left recently, all of whom requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. “A boys’ club transformed into a real company.” still produce the chart-topping caliber of game the studio has become known for? Some employees aren’t sure. Morale across the company is higher than it’s ever been, according to many staffers. But the development of Grand Theft Auto VI has been slower than impatient fans and even longtime employees have expected. A Grand Theft Auto game looks like in today’s environment. Besides, several pointed out that you can't really satirize today's America — it's already a satire of itself.
Between the company’s new mandate and the 2019 departure of Dan, who led creative direction on many previous games, all signs suggest Grand Theft Auto VI will feel very different than its predecessor.
Rockstar Games was founded in 1998 by a handful of British game-makers as a subsidiary of Take-Two. With 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels, the company revolutionized open-world video games and grew to employ thousands of people, with offices in California, New York, across the UK and beyond. Grand Theft Auto products accounted for 31% of Take-Two’s $3.5 billion in total revenue in fiscal 2022, according to company filings.
The studio was built on a culture of seven-day work weeks, said Jamie King, a founder who left after eight years. But, he said, that sort of culture is “unsustainable.” Games like Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 required what some employees referred to as “death marches”—months of mandatory 14-hour days and weekends that took a toll on employees’ lives, mental health and sometimes marriages.
In October 2018, shortly before the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, His team had been working “100-hour weeks” to finish the game. The comments, Later walked back, The tipping point for many employees.
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