Over the course of the week, workers, current and former, of Rockstar Games have been coming forward and citing that they have been working under less than ideal conditions. Red Dead Redemption‘s development has been a victim and now Max Payne 3 is apparently another. Originally scheduled to release in the Winter of 2009, MP3 has been delayed to late 2010. An anonymous source from Rockstar games talks about the delay:
“The game’s story just went through another total re-write earlier this month (the third that I am aware of in the past two years) and that [means] the team would have to have all of the content done by April or May to make that August release date.”
That’s a very, very tight schedule to be working under and as a result, the source further cited Rockstar’s removal of employee vacation time and long work hours and weeks.
This is not a great thing to hear about from a rather renowned game studio. The problem, which becomes self-perpetuating, is the longer it takes for a developer to bring a game to shipping, the more money they will end up spending. Sometimes, the delay is something they are willing to go through (Batman: Arkham Asylum and Splinter Cell: Conviction) and other times the delay is something they were not expecting. Rockstar games falls somewhere in between the two. It’s even more perturbing to me that they have re-written Max Payne 3 at least three times.
It is important to developers that they put out the best game they possibly can, but when it gets to a point when you’re going to end up losing more money than you will get back, that’s when you’re in serious trouble.
What do you think about Rockstar’s reported mistreatment of its workers? It’s kind of like finally finding out your awesome shoes are made by little kids… KIND OF.
Source: Joystiq
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I have to say this news is like foreboding for us fans. If the 3rd rewrite in 2 years is in fact true, then this goes to show that Rockstar have really tried too many things in too many directions rather than following an effective track from the start.
It makes me wonder if MP3 will end up becoming a poorly made, rashly thought out game.
doomed like the awful awful movie
Just put the game out. From what i saw of the screen shots they can just have Max in whatever South American Sh_t hole that was, shooting people and nursing his beer gut in that wife beater he was wearing and i'll buy it if the gunplay is smooth. Don't think to hard on it Rockstar.