That's the thing, they can say they aren't mandating it all they want, because I'm sure they aren't, but that doesn't mean it's not an expectation. Like if they want to get rid of someone, there are plenty of things that can be used as a reason when in reality the reason is that they opted to not put in the time, though that's a fault of labor laws and the expectation of work in general. Obviously there will be people who want to put that time in, or are fine with it/happy to do so because they just want to make the best game they can make, and with deadlines/it being such a huge project the whole thing ends up being slightly different than just an artist dedicating their whole being to their work.
Regardless, I'm buying RDR2, so what do I know.
I probably won't play a lot of (s)Quads in BOIV, so idk if that matter too much for me.