Lazlow has left Rockstar Games

[Magic_Al]

Lazlow has reappeared from a nearly two-year absence from social media, providing an update and photo on his radiolazlow Instagram account. His website Lazlow.com is back and has a public link to his LinkedIn page. Long story short, he revealed he’s been away since late 2018 for life-and-death family reasons requiring him to be a primary caregiver. His LinkedIn lists his employment with Rockstar Games not as current but ended April 2020. He lists currently consulting with an unspecified video game company, but his description of his Rockstar job is written in the past tense and he lists several unrelated current projects. It’s sad what he and his family are going through but it’s nice of him to share this update with fans, some of whom like me listened to The Lazlow Show over 10 years and learned some of his real-life story. He mentions a possible reboot of The Lazlow Show so he may be back on the air in some way in the future. As for the Lazlow character in GTA, he’ll always be somewhere in the GTA Online nightclubs.

[universetwisters]

I'm kinda happy he's not gonna be involved with GTA anymore. As a writer, he's been turning GTA more and more into "social commentary" (altho to be fair idk how much of it is also Sam/Dan aswell). As his ingame radio personality, well, he's been spiraling downward since Vice City. Starting with San Andreas, every appearance of his has been more tacky, more loud, more washed out. Does it make sense seeing that you get a lot of radio hosts acting all excessive and over the top for listeners? Yes. Is it jarring when Lazlow's first appearance was as the straight man against all the crazy folks on Chatterbox in III? Hell f*cking yes.

[Bob Loblaw_]

One by one they all just fade away.

[DarkDayz]

4 minutes ago, Ho Diver said:

One by one they all just fade away.

 

It's really sad. But the obsessive in me having followed this company for so long hopes that they've all gone to Benz's company.

[D T]

That's depressing as hell man. I'm betting Sam's just waiting for one last score before he dips too.

[GhettoJesus]

22 hours ago, universetwisters said:

I'm kinda happy he's not gonna be involved with GTA anymore. As a writer, he's been turning GTA more and more into "social commentary" (altho to be fair idk how much of it is also Sam/Dan aswell). As his ingame radio personality, well, he's been spiraling downward since Vice City. Starting with San Andreas, every appearance of his has been more tacky, more loud, more washed out. Does it make sense seeing that you get a lot of radio hosts acting all excessive and over the top for listeners? Yes. Is it jarring when Lazlow's first appearance was as the straight man against all the crazy folks on Chatterbox in III? Hell f*cking yes.

I agree that his act wasn't that good, I feel like his character got sidetracked, he just doesn'tt deserve this washed out radio host role. V and IV were the biggest stinkers in this regard.

I wonder what made him do this and when will Sam leave the company. Looks like the old R* is really falling apart, I really want to know whether T2 and the current business model influenced their choices or did they just simply burn out of the company or whether they just want to retire.

Edit: I didn't know what he and his family are going through before people pointed it out. Best of luck to him and his family, it's real tough, I hope it works out for them in the end.

Edited August 13, 2020 by GhettoJesus

[Ash_735]

Whether you like the character or not this is big for the radio, all radio production was done by Lazlow and his crew at Rockstar NYC and his home studio, been that way since Vice City.

 

Also, sadly as I predicted, his LinkedIn specifically mentions that he worked for Dan Houser at Rockstar games.

 

I wonder what happens to the audio masters he has at his home studio, seeing as Rockstar don't go back and use them (most ports just converting from the pc audio).

[GhettoJesus]

1 hour ago, Ash_735 said:

Whether you like the character or not this is big for the radio, all radio production was done by Lazlow and his crew at Rockstar NYC and his home studio, been that way since Vice City.

How far does this go? Does this only mean recording/writing and fine tuning or did Lazlow come up with who should be on the radio, what kind of songs should be played and what kind of radios should there be?

Edited August 13, 2020 by GhettoJesus

[Kirsty]

This seems like a huge creative loss for Rockstar, he seemed to have a very close working relationship with Dan and maybe he just wants something different without him there. Based on his Instagram post however, I can't imagine to begin what he has had to go through with his family. It looks as though he has many projects ahead, so best of luck to him.

[Ash_735]

9 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

How far does this go? Does this only mean recording/writing and fine tuning or did Lazlow come up with who should be on the radio, what kind of songs should be played and what kind of radios should there be?

Recording/Editing/Production, and writing credits with Dan Houser.

[Len Lfc]

Seems that Tweet from May was real, afterall.. Really sad news. Having a family member dealing with cancer is tough to go through.

[Kirsty]

I was just reading through all his credits and he's done so much writing alongside Dan, was audio director for RDR2, wrote all the theatre stuff in RDR2 as well. Crikey. 

[eejyool]

3 hours ago, GhettoJesus said:

I really want to know whether T2 and the current business model influenced their choices or did they just simply burn out of the company or whether they just want to retire.

It's probably a bit of both. We're in 2020, it's been quite a few years since the company was founded and its main heads started getting involved. Times change, people get old, or tired, or both. All I can say is that I respect his decision. Even though it's saddening, I'm sure for him it was time to move on.

[Len Lfc]

3 minutes ago, Kirsty said:

I was just reading through all his credits and he's done so much writing alongside Dan, was audio director for RDR2, wrote all the theatre stuff in RDR2 as well. Crikey. 

Yeah, this was the one that concerned me a lot more than Dan leaving. Dan was a big deal, but Lazlow was their entire audio! Feels a bit insensitive to think about that, when it's a serious and personal family issue. But, still.

[eejyool]

BTW, I wonder what game company he's talking about. Maybe Benzies'?

[GhettoJesus]

50 minutes ago, LodwigRedemption said:

BTW, I wonder what game company he's talking about. Maybe Benzies'?

Either that or maybe some other small independent company. I can't imagine him going to some big, well-known studio. I wouldn't be surprised if he and Dan were making a company together but who knows.

Edited August 13, 2020 by GhettoJesus

[Senor DeekHead]

20 hours ago, universetwisters said:

I'm kinda happy he's not gonna be involved with GTA anymore. As a writer, he's been turning GTA more and more into "social commentary" (altho to be fair idk how much of it is also Sam/Dan aswell). As his ingame radio personality, well, he's been spiraling downward since Vice City. Starting with San Andreas, every appearance of his has been more tacky, more loud, more washed out. Does it make sense seeing that you get a lot of radio hosts acting all excessive and over the top for listeners? Yes. Is it jarring when Lazlow's first appearance was as the straight man against all the crazy folks on Chatterbox in III? Hell f*cking yes.

well in gta vice city stories, that was his start (canonically). he had no idea how the radio industry worked in 1984, but as the years went on, he slowly went from wacked out radio speaker, to being absolutely tired of everyones sh*t.

so technically, its been spiraling upwards (canonically)

but as in game releases, yeah, down down down.

[Commander S]

Really sad to read - I just wish the best to him and his family, and that they enjoy the time they have together. Massive respect to him for caring for his sister, too - that's such a tough thing for all involved, but really good of him to do that.

[kingcs]

21 hours ago, universetwisters said:

I'm kinda happy he's not gonna be involved with GTA anymore. As a writer, he's been turning GTA more and more into "social commentary" (altho to be fair idk how much of it is also Sam/Dan aswell). As his ingame radio personality, well, he's been spiraling downward since Vice City. Starting with San Andreas, every appearance of his has been more tacky, more loud, more washed out. Does it make sense seeing that you get a lot of radio hosts acting all excessive and over the top for listeners? Yes. Is it jarring when Lazlow's first appearance was as the straight man against all the crazy folks on Chatterbox in III? Hell f*cking yes.

This was kind of sh*tty. 

[Electric_Spectral]

Rockstargames is dying

[Lonely-Martin]

A shame, best wishes for his and his family personal life.

 

But I'd be lying if I wasn't curious if there's more to this era where both Leslie and Dan have also gone. If Sam leaves in the not too distant future too, hmmm..

 

Edit: Imran too? Crikey!

Edited August 13, 2020 by Lonely-Martin

[GhettoJesus]

11 minutes ago, ArthurMorganRDR said:

Rockstargames is dying

Not necessarily. Sure it sucks that the veterans of the studio are leaving but this doesn't have to mean death or a drop in quality.

Edited August 13, 2020 by GhettoJesus

[Kris194]

Best wishes for him and his family. By the way, it seems, that a lot of senior staff left Rockstar Games almost at the same timeframe.

 

Dan Houser - he was on sabbatical since Spring 2019

Imran Sarwar - left in May 2019

Lazlow Jones - he was away since late 2018

 

It may have something to do with this

 

https://kotaku.com/18-months-after-red-dead-redemption-2-rockstar-has-mad-1842880524

Edited August 13, 2020 by Kris194

[Lonely-Martin]

12 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

Not necessarily. Sure it sucks that the veterans of the studio are leaving but this doesn't have to mean death or a drop in quality.

If we're talking about story modes, I can agree. RDR2 was awesome. We'll see what the next GTA story brings before I comment on that franchises future though.

 

But if we're talking online, oh dear. Both GTA:O and more so RDRO are so compromised in comparison. They feel cheap, especially RDRO.

[Len Lfc]

4 minutes ago, Indi said:

Just giving my two cents, there's two ways I see these working hours.

 

The first part is that, these games are some of the most complex and compelling games ever created, in some ways, I think to make genre-defining and ground-breaking sh*t, you've gotta, as Dan Houser said, "bite more off than what you can chew."

 

If you don't exceed expectations, you are going to do the same thing you did last time -- I think what Dan Houser said makes solid sense.

 

On the other hand, there is a human cost to overworking people and driving them to their limits.  It's a tough one for me, I hope the cultural changes aren't there to make people more relaxed and easy-going, because you're not going to break down barriers doing that.

 

I don't see how these games can be made by doing a regular job, but that's just me, so I think working more than a standard 7.5-8 hour day is acceptable, but at the same time, you don't have to work those hours if you don't go into games.

 

All I'm saying is, I hope the games aren't just watered down, I'd like to be proven wrong.  But considering how R* used to pump out a f*ck-ton of games up until V's release.  I'm not so sure.  At the end of the day, the key creatives at R* made their money, they proved their point, they proved people wrong and so...  I guess for them it might be...  well, what else do I need to prove?  I've done my goal.

Yeah, I agree. I think the key would be to have everyone be willing to put in the time. Hire people who were willing to work tirelessly on those games. Sadly, en masse, that's not really possible. Most people want to make games that are that good. But most aren't willing to sacrifice for it. Which is completely understandable. I wouldn't either.

[Kris194]

 I just took a look at RDR 2 credits

 

Quote

Audio Direction

LAZLOW

 

LOCAL PEDESTRIAN AND AMBIENT CONVERSATION BY

Dan Houser, LAZLOW and many others of course.

 

INGAME JOURNAL, CATALOGUE, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENTS

WRITTEN BY LAZLOW AND DAN HOUSER

He was big part of Rockstar Games since GTA III.

 

And GTA V credits below

 

Quote

Dan Houser	TV, Radio & Cinema Written by
Lazlow Jones	TV, Radio & Cinema Written by

 

Lazlow Jones	Los Santos Rock Radio Imaging Production
Jonathan Hanst	The Lowdown Imaging Production
Bryan Apple	Blue Ark Imaging Production
Lazlow Jones	Blue Ark Imaging Production
Bryan Apple	Non-Stop-Pop FM Imaging Production
Lazlow Jones	Channel X Imaging Production

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by Kris194

[GhettoJesus]

16 minutes ago, Indi said:

Just giving my two cents, there's two ways I see these working hours.

 

The first part is that, these games are some of the most complex and compelling games ever created, in some ways, I think to make genre-defining and ground-breaking sh*t, you've gotta, as Dan Houser said, "bite more off than what you can chew."

 

If you don't exceed expectations, you are going to do the same thing you did last time -- I think what Dan Houser said makes solid sense.

 

On the other hand, there is a human cost to overworking people and driving them to their limits.  It's a tough one for me, I hope the cultural changes aren't there to make people more relaxed and easy-going, because you're not going to break down barriers doing that.

 

I don't see how these games can be made by doing a regular job, but that's just me, so I think working more than a standard 7.5-8 hour day is acceptable, but at the same time, you don't have to work those hours if you don't go into games.

 

All I'm saying is, I hope the games aren't just watered down, I'd like to be proven wrong.  But considering how R* used to pump out a f*ck-ton of games up until V's release.  I'm not so sure.  At the end of the day, the key creatives at R* made their money, they proved their point, they proved people wrong and so...  I guess for them it might be...  well, what else do I need to prove?  I've done my goal.

The crunch was insane, I think it is fair that people in the industry demand an 8 hour work day. These games can definitely be made by working 8, 9 hours a day, 5 days a week by employing more people. The question is whether R* can pay for a larger workforce. (Coincidentally PowerToFly which is some sort of site for women/minorities to find jobs partnered with R* today and they seem to have 135 openings which include but not limited to IT Security, animation, software engineering, German localization tester etc.)

 

I don't think R* will reduce crunch and change culture as much as the article claims. They will probably roll back on most of those and do some minimal changes. It is probably impossible to push out these colossal games without crunch within the deadline.

 

5 minutes ago, Indi said:

Yeah, plus, a company is most innovative and most creative at the start of their life.  R* has been around for 20 years now, long time.  It takes a certain type of person to live their passion.

Rockstar had great ideas even well into their lifespan. L.A. Noire, Agent, RDR 2 (well the first Red Dead game actually came out in 2004 but you can see that even a simple prequel can gain universal praise)

Edited August 13, 2020 by GhettoJesus

[GhettoJesus]

Just now, Indi said:

L.A. Noire and Red Dead weren't really R* properties.  You could say Red Dead 1 and 2 are theirs, and yeah, they are, but L.A. Noire was Brendan McNamara really, Brendan was just mates with Sam and Sam was interested in the idea -- that's when R* started to pitch in.

I didn't exactly know whose idea L.A. Noire was. I thought it was someone's idea at R* and they just outsourced it to some independent company. Hope McNamara makes it in the industry though because the game and his idea was awesome.

 

2 minutes ago, Indi said:

Yeah, I don't think they'll employ more people though, I do agree with you, it's possible, but how feasible, or how realistic is it that they'll do it?  I don't think it's very realistic.

Well as I said they seem to have plenty of openings. Not every single one of them is connected to programing but R* probably wants to up their numbers a bit. I hope they find some qualified people who can ease the load on their employees.

[Len Lfc]

9 minutes ago, Indi said:

L.A. Noire and Red Dead weren't really R* properties

Yeah, it's still weird thinking that Red Dead was originally a Capcom game lol

[Commander S]

47 minutes ago, kingcs said:

This was kind of sh*tty. 

 

 

Yeah, it's pretty tacky to see someone leaving a company because a family member is terminally ill (and they've been their carer for the last two years), and the only thing some people are saying in response is "will the next game be better or worse, then?". Read the room, for goodness' sake...

 

Same for tying it in with speculation comparing it to people leaving the company for whatever other reasons - it's not sure why other people have left (whether it be because of cultural changes after the recent scandals, or just because of other things in life), but when this particular case isn't because of being fired/pushed out for something, conflating all that with this is in bad taste, IMO.

Maybe start another thread to discuss 'the future of R* games', or 'recent changes at R*' - because by conflating Lazlow's family situation with things like Jeronimo Barrera getting canned, people could easily skim this thread and start pointing the finger over something that hasn't happened. It's bad enough that people are too busy talking about stuff beyond the sad news that should be more important, but also risks people falling into false speculation (I've already seen people elsewhere wonder why he was "fired", because they've jumped to conclusions without finding out what's actually happened).