Though Rockstar has not yet made a public response to the recent allegations raised by partners of Rockstar San Diego employees concerning the supposed excessive pressure placed on developers, Joystick has uncovered court documents that indicate that Rockstar has had an earlier dispute with employees back in 2006.
Two former-Rockstar San Diego 3D artists filed a case in August 2006, stating that Rockstar San Diego, formerly known as Angel Studios, “failed to pay overtime compensation […] to certain Angel employees whose primary duties are or were to create, produce, copy and/or install images into video games, using commercial or in-house software computer programs.” The recent issues raised also included concerns over overtime payments being cut or not awarded.
Even though Rockstar has continued to deny the allegations raised in the 2006 case, it settled out of court for a total sum of $2.75 million in April 2009. The money was distributed amongst approximately 100 artists, placing the total compensation around $27.500 per (former-)employee. Even after the case was settled, Rockstar stated that “Angel denies the allegations in the lawsuit and admits no liability or wrongdoing in settlement.”
Though the authors of the open letter that was sent to Rockstar San Diego last week threatened with legal action, no news from either party concerning a possible case, settlement or agreement has been revealed.