Two Glassdoor reviews from Rockstar Games employees allege unpaid overtime, 3 AM work shifts, and compressed timelines ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 in November.
The claims are serious, especially considering Rockstar's history with such practices in the past and the earlier talks of the company's effort to change its culture. At the same time, they are also unverified, and the context surrounding them is more complicated than the headlines suggest.
The first review was posted on April 30, 2026, by a self-described former game tester based in Washington, D.C. The reviewer gave Rockstar 5 out of 5 stars and praised the studio's technology and innovation as the best in the industry. It showed that the employee was proud of the work they were doing, but frustrated by the number of hours they were putting in.
The second review was posted on May 1, 2026, by a self-described current QA analyst at Rockstar India in Bengaluru. This one was more detailed and more critical. The reviewer gave Rockstar 2 out of 5 stars and titled the review "Exciting projects but unrealistic workload and expectations."
Glassdoor Review Claims
| Claim | Detail |
|---|---|
Compressed timelines | "They're expecting us to complete tasks that usually take 5-6 months in 2-3 months" |
Unpaid overtime | "You are expected to work overtime without pay" |
Extreme hours | "Some colleagues had to work till 3 AM in the morning after completing their shifts in the morning" |
Hectic scheduling | "The work schedule has been hectic since last month" |
Mental health impact | "The last few weeks have been a toll on my mental health, please be lenient on us, we are humans too" |
Management unresponsive | "If you complain to HOD, it's useless" |
Positive notes | Free food is good, growth opportunities exist (limited), working on "the most anticipated entertainment project in the world" |
The review explicitly references working on what's easily the next Grand Theft Auto. The claims, if accurate, describe a studio in the final stretch of production pushing its QA teams beyond sustainable limits to hit a November deadline.
Now, here is why you should exercise caution.
Glassdoor allows anyone to post an anonymous review. You do not need to verify your employment to leave one. The platform has a verification process, but it is not airtight and fabricated reviews are a known issue across every employer review site. This does not mean the reviews are fake. It means we can't verify their authenticity without independent verification.
Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive, as always, have remained mum.
However, it is interesting that these reviews and claims came up just weeks ahead of the company's next earnings call.
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Reece “Kiwi Talkz” Reilly threw his hat inside the proverbial ring after a user asked him about the credibility of such claims.
He replied on X:
What you call crunch is just normal day to day work in India, so 100% yes lol. India isn't known for work life balance, I spend a lot of time there due to family and friends and I know how crazy they work.
With that said, the working conditions described in the Glassdoor review, extended hours, overtime without additional compensation, compressed deadlines, and management unresponsiveness to complaints, are not unique to Rockstar India. They are endemic to the Indian tech industry. The Indian government's labor codes technically limit working hours, but enforcement is inconsistent, and cultural expectations around work ethic mean that people are expected to work more than they should anyway.
This doesn't make the conditions acceptable, but we can't just view from this from purely a Western lens of a "Rockstar crunching employees ahead of GTA 6 launch" headline. Why? Because it would miss the structural context. The same hours that a developer in Edinburgh over at Rockstar North would describe as crisis-level crunch might just be another Tuesday for someone working in Bengaluru.
Neither perspective is wrong. Both are describing real experiences, albeit filtered through different cultural baselines.
Rockstar Crunch History
| Year | Event | Rockstar's Position |
|---|---|---|
2010 | "Rockstar Wives" open letter describing 80+ hour weeks during RDR development | No official response at the time |
2018 | Dan Houser said the team was working "100-hour weeks" on RDR2; later clarified this was a small writing team | Widespread media coverage; Rockstar acknowledged concerns |
2018-2019 | Multiple current and former employees described mandatory crunch culture | Rockstar pledged to reform practices |
2020 | Jason Schreier reported Rockstar was redesigning work culture, reducing mandatory overtime | Studio confirmed commitment to more sustainable development |
2025 | 34 employees fired for allegedly leaking confidential information; union-busting allegations followed | Rockstar denied union-busting; PM Keir Starmer called firings "deeply concerning" |
2026 (May) | Glassdoor reviews allege compressed timelines and unpaid overtime at Rockstar India | No official response |
The question these Glassdoor reviews are raising isn't if Rockstar has attempted to improve over the years, it's whether their previous commitment to changing their workplace culture survived the pressure of two delays and a November 19 deadline that Take-Two has publicly staked its reputation and stock price on.
Zelnick has said he is "terrified" of measuring GTA 6's success, while Take-Two wants to be the "No. 1 entertainment company" on Earth, and the May 21 earnings call is weeks away.
Every sign points to a company that cannot afford another delay and is pushing to hit the date regardless.
This isn't to say that the Glassdoor reviews are accurate. We aren't saying they're fabricated either. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Rockstar India, and quite possibly, the rest of Rockstar, almost certainly find themselves in an intense production period, especially with hiring ramping up. After all, the studio is handling QA for the biggest game of the decade with a deadline that has already slipped twice. The hours are likely longer than normal.