With 'Red Dead Redemption 2' ten days out from release, more details are beginning to emerge about the game and the sheer scale of the work involved in order to make it a reality.
In a detailed interview with Vulture, lead writer Dan Houser of Rockstar Games discussed the incredible lengths that the production staff pushed themselves to during the game's development. As Houser told Vulture, they were often working "100-hour weeks" throughout 2018, which is pretty insane when you think about it.
Needless to say, the comments by Houser drew a huge amount of ire in the gaming media as it's just weeks after Telltale Games shuttered its doors, with many staff complaining about overwork and "crunch" overtime in order to get games ready for shipping. However, in a subsequent statement to The Verge, Houser walked back the statement somewhat and gave it a bit more context.
"The point I was trying to make in the article was related to how the narrative and dialogue in the game was crafted, which was mostly what we talked about, not about the different processes of the wider team. After working on the game for seven years, the senior writing team, which consists of four people, Mike Unsworth, Rupert Humphries, Lazlow, and myself, had, as we always do, three weeks of intense work when we wrapped everything up. Three weeks, not years," Houser told the Verge.
Crunch culture, as it's known, is a pretty common thing in the gaming industry and has been around pretty much since the beginning, and while studios are doing what they can to stamp it out, it seems clear that it's still a pervasive issue.
'Red Dead Redemption 2' arrives on Irish shelves on October 26th.
