Rockstar Games is easily one of the most prominent and famous game developers out there. They don’t crank out titles every year like some companies, but when they do release a game, it’s easily one of the biggest releases of the year, if not the decade. The team is known for putting quality above all else, even if that means delaying something quite often, like with GTA 6. What fascinates many about the company is that despite it having so many people working for it, it has a “compartmented” style of production that ensures a certain level of secrecy.
For example, on Reddit, after today’s “leak” was revealed, many went to talk about how Rockstar segments everyone so that leaks of a grand scale can’t happen easily:
“You can see commentaries of ex rockstar devs who worked on past titles. They said the same thing.
Not all devs work on the whole project. Each one is given a small, specific task that eventually comes together to form the full game. So they only know the part they’re working on. For example, a dev working on Valentine’s vegetation would probably have zero clue what others are doing, and they have no idea what’s going on with RDR2 beyond their own task.
This is why Rockstar can fire devs mid-development without worrying about major leaks.”
They are right to a certain extent. For example, the “leak” today was nothing more than a basic animation that was put on a demo reel. Nothing more. Plus, it was up a few months ago and no one noticed, so it was hardly the worst thing to “leak.”
That being said, the company isn’t immune to leaks, as a massive one happened a few years back, showing off alpha footage of its upcoming game and causing a huge uproar on the internet.
Regardless, many on Reddit discussed this method of “compartmentalisation” and its pros and cons. Some laughed at the idea of one person only working on something super small in the game, like bushes, and not getting to see much of how Vice City itself works.
Others noted that they actually know some people who have worked for Rockstar Games, or are currently working for them, and noted similar things to what has been said in the past.
And as we’ve noted recently, Rockstar isn’t immune to controversy within its workforce.
Yet, they’re going to keep making the titles they want to make, and when they drop, they’re likely to be of incredible quality due to their “process.”
