A developer who worked on Red Dead Redemption has said that periods of intense "crunch" at Rockstar Games were driven by a need to impress executives rather than by genuine technical necessity such as fixing bugs. The developer described the practice as "unacceptable," adding to a long-running debate about crunch culture in the games industry and renewing scrutiny of working conditions at one of gaming's most acclaimed but also most criticised studios.

According to the developer's account, extended overtime was used to "put on the show" for executives, suggesting that visible effort and long hours were valued as a display for management rather than as a practical response to development problems. This echoes previous criticism of Rockstar's working practices, including comments from co-founder Dan Houser in the past about long hours during Red Dead Redemption 2's development, and reflects wider industry concerns about crunch being normalised as a management tool rather than a last resort.