An ex-Rockstar North developer who left the company all the way back in 2009, Obbe Vermeij, has shut down his blog after getting an email from the studio that informed him “some of the OG’s there are upset.” This kind of secrecy is harming the industry.
No one likes spoilers, sure, but there’s a vast difference between showing people how games are made and revealing every little detail to them. Vermeij recently started a blog sharing tales from his time at the company between 1995 and 2009. He was there far too long ago to be revealing any current secrets but was able to shed some light on the mysteries of game dev. Unfortunately, his former colleagues were worried about him “ruining the Rockstar mystique,” so he stopped and removed many of the blogs, as reported by Insider Gaming.
When GTA 6 leaked last year, all hell broke loose. People mocked it, saying it looked garbage, but that’s likely because many people don’t understand how game development actually works. Games often look like shit for years, only coming together shortly before release. The problem is most game developers don’t let us see that process, so all we can compare leaks to are finished products. Of course leaks pale in comparison.
The film and TV industries are very different. Part of the marketing is seeing set photos and clips of unfinished scenes. We don’t see a shot without CGI and audio and assume the film will be shit, because we know that gets added later. But when we peek behind the curtain of game development, we’re often horrified at the grotesque scenes simply because we’re not used to them.
Maybe, instead of Rockstar kicking up a fuss because someone who hasn’t worked there for 14 years is letting fans know some out-of-date tricks of the trade, it, and other developers, should just be more open about how games are really made.
