„Blatant and ruthless” Grand Theft Auto 6 developer, Rockstar Games, accused of union busting in the UK

Today, thanks to a report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Rockstar Games, the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series, including the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, has been accused of union-busting. Unions are an important way for employees to advocate for themselves when huge companies make decisions that lead to hundreds of people losing their jobs, as we saw with Amazon earlier this week and have seen many times over the last few years. Given Rockstar Games' size and influence in the industry, these allegations are concerning.

Grand Theft Auto studio, Rockstar Games, accused of “blatant” union-busting

Unions are becoming more common in the video game industry, especially under Microsoft and Blizzard. As part of the massive 2023 acquisition, Microsoft agreed not to interfere with union formation for 2 years. In that time, unions formed among Battle.net workers, the Overwatch team, and the World of Warcraft team, among others. The call for greater unionization follows several brutal years in which thousands of developers have lost their jobs through layoffs, with Microsoft accounting for a large share.

According to the article from Bloomberg, which was shared on BlueSky, Rockstar “terminated between 30 and 40 staffers across multiple offices in the UK and Canada…” The company says that the employees were fired for “gross misconduct,” according to a spokesman for Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company. Although apparently all terminated employees were in a “private trade union chat group on Discord…” hinting at other possible reasons that this particular group of employees was targeted.

This information led Alex Marshall, president of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, to call this “…one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry…” At the time of writing, there has been no further comment from Rockstar or Take-Two, and it is unclear whether any legal action will be taken.

Grand Theft Auto 6 remains one of the most anticipated games of next year. Currently, it is planned for a May 26th, 2026, release date, barring any further delays. There is little doubt that whenever it is released, it will quickly become one of the biggest launches in gaming history. Will it cost $100, though? That’s still up for debate.

Grand Theft Auto VI

November 19, 2026

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• Overview

• Take 2 Interactive
• Rockstar Games
• GTA / Grand Theft Auto (franchise)