Rockstar plans full return to office for GTA 6 developers, citing security and productivity

thesixthaxis.com:

Rockstar Games is planning to go fully back to in-office working from April, five days a week, it has told employees, citing security and productivity as they head into the final stages of Grand Theft Auto 6 development.

Per Bloomberg, Rockstar head of publishing Jenn Kolbe has told staff that ending hybrid working will bring “tangible benefits”.

In the email set to staff, Kolbe continued, “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.”

Fully remote and hybrid work has become increasingly prevalent since 2020’s pandemic lockdowns, with companies quickly adapting to not being able to have workers in offices and centralised locations. Some companies have really embraced remote work, with employees also able to adopt more flexible working hours and escape the crush of rush hour travel, and there’s entire game studios that are fully remote, allowing for employees to work from completely different parts of the country… or even completely different countries.

The last few years have seen tech companies in general pushing for a return to in-person work, but for GTA 6 in particular, though, it’s felt that this kind of move was inevitable after the big leak of screens and details that occurred at the end of 2023. That came directly because Rockstar North co-studio head and art director Aaron Garput worked from home and a friend of his son was able to gain access to an in-progress version of the game and production material. Rockstar will naturally want to close off the chance of this happening again, and the main way to do that is to close off remote working and bringing everyone back to the office.

GTA 6 is currently slated for a release in 2025 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with the reveal trailer that arrived back in December revealing that yes, the game is taking us back to Vice City, and