Rockstar will be putting an end to hybrid working arrangements in its studio by April. According to a Bloomberg report, Jenn Kolbe, Rockstar’s head of publishing informed staff about the decision to end hybrid working for security and productivity reasons as it goes into the next phase of GTA 6 development.
“Making these changes now puts us in the best position to deliver the next Grand Theft Auto at the level of quality and polish we know it requires, along with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game,” Kolbe informed staff via an email.
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The Bloomberg report mentioned that Rockstar has identified “tangible benefits” from working in person with other developers. This is a far too familiar tone that is played by team leads as a way to justify the scrapping of remote work in their organizations.
While remote work was rarely a thing in most organizations, the advent of COVID-19 in 2020 forced organizations to restructure their studios and policies to make room for remote work. With the pandemic now behind us, many companies are rescinding that decision. Others have stuck with a hybrid arrangement—which was the case with Rockstar.
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However, some companies have faced pushbacks from employees who find remote work policy more convenient. While there are benefits to remote work, there are also risks associated with it. At the top of those risks is how easy it is for confidential company data to find its way into the public domain.
Rockstar has set a 2025 release window for GTA 6 across PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game will be partly set in Vice City, a fictional reimagination of Miami. Also, it will star two protagonists including the first female protagonist in the series.
Rockstar will do everything possible to avert another GTA 6 leak
Anyone who has been following the activities around Rockstar and GTA 6 will not be surprised that the developer wants to put an end to remote work. Rockstar and GTA 6 has suffered a series of hacks and leaks that developers in the studio should find nauseating already.
More recently, Rockstar was forced to publish its first trailer for GTA 6 hours early after it was leaked online. The trailer set a record for a video game trailer by garnering over 90 million views in the first 24 hours. However, that is only a small portion of the headaches that hackers have put Rockstar through.
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Back in September 2022, a flurry of GTA 6 development footage and images was leaked online by a hacking syndicate later identified as Lapsus$. One member of the group believed to have hacked several high-profile targets was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in a secure location sometime last year.
As vile and damaging as the leaks were, they provided fans of the franchise a first look at the sequel of the long-awaited, all-time best-selling game. It was through the leaks that information about the female protagonist and the setting of the upcoming game in Vice City were first revealed.
Rockstar can better keep a lid on the upcoming GTA 6 if they can get their employees to work in person—forget the excuse that may be used to achieve that aim. It will be harder for Rockstar to track the activities of their developers once they are outside their office spaces.
Considering the amount of leaks that GTA 6 has suffered, no amount of precaution will be too much to protect the integrity of the final game. While I expect pushback from employees, I think, in this case, the decision was not a malicious one.
