AAA project manager here (though not for Rockstar) and I'm used to better writing from Gamasutra.
Crunch is hard to explain to people outside the game industry and even people within it because we aren't all talking about the same things. Crunch is supposed to mean temporary forced over-time. Different parts of a project depend on the work of other teams, so occasionally, crunch is required so that the project isn't delayed by weeks or months while a particular team finishes a task necessary for another team to do their work. However, some (generally unsuccessful) companies have forced crunch for long periods for an entire development team because they were behind milestone goals and had to do so to stay funded or they were simply run by assholes. Plus, there is another weird kind of cultural crunch that occurs because the game industry attracts people who love games and are passionate about them, so you get people who love their jobs so much that they work all day and all night because they love it - and that's great, but imagine that you have a family with kids and your coworkers are putting in 20 more hours/week than you and your goal is to get a promotion so you have more of a say in creative decisions, you'd probably feel pressure to work longer hours too. So these are 3 kinds of crunch:
What he described is absolutely okay - especially in an artistic field. You can absolutely bet that movie writers, directors, and basically all senior artistic positions in film creation spend at least 3 weeks of extremely intense work over the life of a project. This is by choice too. If you love the work you do and want it to be something amazing that impacts the cultural zeitgeist, and you're lucky enough to work for a game developer who makes great games that do that then believe it or not, you might find yourself choosing to put that kind of passion into it. That's part of the artist's life. If you want a steady 9 to 5, be an accountant. . . or work for a good game developer in the game industry and expect that crunch may happen every now and again for relatively short periods for specific teams and with specific goals.
Having said that, if you find yourself in game development working for a company that is in perma-crunch for the whole team, start looking for work unless the game you're making is a red-hot golden goose and nearing completion because this means they are on the edge of bankruptcy. . . . and if you're in the game industry, you almost definitely already know that which is a major deterrent for game companies going on perma-crunch anymore. Experienced employees see this as a sign to immediately find other employment before the ship sinks.
The tough one is #3 because the truth is that dedication yields results. People who work a ton not only have more time to work, but they get better at their jobs faster and they're always around so they don't need to be caught up. Basically, they earn promotions with dedication - but that is the same in every industry. It would be lovely if everyone got to have a family and a lot of time with them and also get to achieve their career goals. We make choices and we get different benefits from those choices. Having said that, I think the important thing is that we will absolutely promote a family person who if they are the best candidate (though it is much more difficult for them) and we absolutely support families. Even during crunch, if someone has a kid doing a recital, school play, or game, etc. then they are specifically ordered to go to it (and we tell spouses that). If kids get sick, they can always go pick them up and kids are welcome to come up after hours and hang out in the break room (that has game consoles, television, ping-pong, food, drinks, tables for homework, etc.) as long as they are old enough to stay on their own or a babysitter has been hired (and there is a system for that too as well as picking the kids up from school or other activities). Plus, if there are kids in the break room, instead of everyone grabbing food and eating at their desks, we sit down after it is delivered and all eat and clean up together before getting back to work. What my Dad has seen over a much longer career than mine is that most developers have different phases of their lives where they're more family or career oriented, and we try to accommodate for that so that we can keep them, but we are still a meritocracy in regards to promotions.