Toxic environment overshadowed by free meals. - 3D Prop Artist Rockstar Games Employee Review

Sit tight and grab a tea ,its going to be a long one : Although I wasn’t a long-term employee at Rockstar Bangalore, the year I spent there completely changed my perspective on working in a corporate environment. The stress I went through has made me far more cautious in every step of my career. I genuinely never want to be part of such a workplace again. Despite the countless seminars and training sessions meant to promote safety, reduce toxicity, and prevent harassment, it’s all just a façade. The actual team environment is extremely toxic — constant misogynistic comments about women, mocking and insulting remarks about LGBTQ community, and power-driven bullying from certain employees are treated as normal. Management claims to have an “open-door policy,” but anyone who raises an issue is targeted and harassed. They show inclusivity in their games but the Work place culture speaks otherwise. May be UK team isn't like that but Indian team is very disciminatory . Even after clearing the interview, a new employee still has to pass another silent “test”: whether if can you can keep quiet while being mistreated and they mistreat you on purpose to see how you react and then deal you accordingly. That determines if you’re seen as a “culture fit.” On top of that, the London Prop Team doesn’t trust the Indian team because of past incidents and failures. That distrust trickles down to new joiners and creates a hostile atmosphere right from day one. Slack visibility is another whole problem. They want all your work visible on slack , its basically micromanagement. Promotions seem based more on who posts the most on Slack rather than actual work. Senior local artists often take credit by commenting under someone’s post claiming they were involved, even when they clearly weren’t. People deliberately sabotage others work —by posting wrong information, leaving misleading comments, and then laughing about it when someone falls for it and their work gets ruined. Leads and managers don’t fix the problem. Instead, they say, “Try to weed out wrong information,” which is only possible if you’ve been there for years. For new employees, it becomes a daily mental battle. And if you question incorrect instructions, they show up at your desk acting authoritative, saying things like, “You will do it this way, or else.” Something similar happened to me. I defused a situation by asking for feedback from the UK art lead, which exposed a senior artist’s false solution in front of the team. That triggered daily bullying from him and others he was close to. When I spoke up about the unfair treatment, things only got worse. I was put on a PIP. The leads told me, “You’re doing good, your communication is great, everything is smooth—but something is not right. We’re not getting the feel.” And this vague criticism continued for an entire year until I was eventually laid off. During that year, they sabotaged my work, withheld important information, constant bullying , and even tried to drag me into their workplace drama. One guy even told me to pick a fight over a task with another employee to “survive.” I refused, and he said, “If you won’t do it, you might as well not survive here.” Pitting people against each other seems to be a common entertainment for many leads and managers. HR and upper management are aware, but they ignore it because the offenders are veteran employees. If you’re not bootlicking and just doing your work quietly, they hate you for it. Some managers in their 40s also fancy young women at work. If the women don’t comply, they face the same pattern of bullying. For a studio that constantly talks about equality and equity, it exists only on paper and in seminars. HRs do their job well of hiding these issues. I could go on, but honestly, who listens? Anyone who speaks up gets labelled “not easy to work with” or given some other derogatory tag. Rockstar was one of the worst experiences of my nine-year career. Genuine people are punished, while those who gossip, spread toxicity, and contribute the least are the ones who get promoted—because upper management behaves the same way and pushes similar people into power. Good people who stay silent are made to over work and are underpaid while the employees who stay close to their abusers get special treatments. 1 star is mandatory rating , else I would give it a 0 .