Rockstar Video games, developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, has been accused of intentionally shedding workers who had been attempting to unionize, Bloomberg stories. The Impartial Employees Union of Nice Britain (IWGB) claims over 30 workers who had been eradicated on the developer’s places of work within the UK and Canada had been both already a part of a union or trying to arrange.
“Rockstar has simply carried out probably the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting within the historical past of the video games trade,” IWGB President Alex Marshall stated in a weblog put up in regards to the layoffs. “This flagrant contempt for the legislation and for the lives of the employees who carry of their billions is an insult to their followers and the worldwide trade.”
Apart from the disruption of getting to discover a new job, the union notes that a number of workers who had been let go are notably weak. “Amongst the workers dismissed had been these with visas sponsored by Rockstar and people with medical situations who will lose entry to important office healthcare schemes,” the union says. It provides that “all of these dismissed at Rockstar UK had been members of the IWGB Recreation Employees Union discord channel, and seem to have been focused because of this.” In response to the IWGB’s claims, Rockstar’s writer and proprietor Take-Two Interactive informed Bloomberg that the layoffs had nothing to do with union exercise and as an alternative had been “for gross misconduct, and for no different purpose.”
Rockstar and Take-Two have come into battle with workers prior to now over their return-to-office coverage. Take-Two additionally laid off workers throughout a number of studios in 2024 and 2025, doubtlessly motivated by the choice to push again the discharge of Grand Theft Auto VI to 2026. The sport is predicted to be an enormous hit for the corporate and the broader trade, which is a part of the explanation why the IWGB believes the layoffs are motivated by one thing aside from financials.
