Rockstar Forced Devs To Work 18 Hours A Day For Full Week During Bully Development

Expert Verified By

Crunch During Bully's Development Was Brutal For Developers!

Story Highlight
  • Bully’s development saw Rockstar going through a brutal crunch phase toward the end.
  • The team had to work 18 hours a day for the full week, and the employees were not allowed to take breaks for lunch and dinner.
  • This situation also led to internal conflicts and mental breakdowns.

The Bully franchise has always been a staple of Rockstar’s catalog. This series offers an over-the-top gameplay style, and fans have always wanted to see what another outing in the Bully universe would have looked like.

During a recent interview, Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser confirmed that the sequel never happened due to a lack of resources. Now, another ex-Rockstar developer has revealed an interesting bit of insight into the IP’s development. According to the developer, Bully’s development led to the most crunch of any Rockstar game.

Why it matters: The gaming industry has been prone to crunch more than most other industries. This problem can even harm creative vision and developer motivation in the worst-case scenarios.

Bully
Bully Eventually Became A Major Hit

Speaking to Retro Gamer (via GamesRadar), Andrew Wood, one of Bully’s Environment Artists, remarked that Rockstar went above and beyond to get the game finished in time for its October release.

Unfortunately, this meant that the developers were forced to work seven days a week, with the typical day lasting as long as 18 hours. The developer also remarked that people were no longer allowed to take lunch and dinner breaks.

At one point, he compared the situation to being in prison. Moreover, Andrew Wood confirmed that many developers started having mental breakdowns, something that made the situation even worse.

All this considered, this environment was far from healthy. Perhaps it’s even more of a surprise, then, that Bully turned out as great as it did.

There were constant conflicts due to the stress of always being at work. A couple of people had mental breakdowns. It was brutal, especially near the end.

Bully
Fans Still Want To See Bully 2

Of course, Bully is not the only game that forced Rockstar developers to crunch before release.

Red Dead Redemption 2’s development also became famous for the extreme crunch that Rockstar developers endured to polish the game. Fortunately, it seems Rockstar is avoiding a similar crunch period for GTA 6.

What do you think about the situation? Comment below, or visit the Tech4Gamers Forums for more discussions.

Was our article helpful? 👨‍💻

Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔

Gear Up For Latest News

Get exclusive gaming & tech news before it drops. Sign up today!

Join Our Community

Still having issues? Join the Tech4Gamers Forum for expert help and community support!

Latest News

Join Our Community

104,000FansLike
32,122FollowersFollow

Trending

Black Ops 7 Beta Flooded By Cheaters Despite Secure Boot

Despite the mandatory Secure Boot requirement, Black Ops...

Ghost of Yotei Has Reportedly Sold Over 1 Million Copies; Selling Faster Than GoT

According to an insider, Ghost of Yotei is selling faster than Ghost of Tsushima as the former has sold 1.3 million copies on day 1.

Black Ops 7 Beta Day One Player Count Much Worse Than Initially Expected

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta is performing poorly on day one compared to its predecessors from past years.

Halo: Combat Evolved Remake Being Co-Developed by Virtuos Studios, Report Reveals

Insider claims that Halo Combat Evolved Remake is being co-developed by Virtuos Studio and will be based on a hybrid engine.

Battlefield 6 Nears 2 Million Pre-Orders, Expected to Sell 5 Million in First Week

As per a new report, Battlefield 6 has neared almost 2 million pre-orders with an estimated 5 million sales in the first week of launch.