Rockstar, the studio behind the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, has been accused of union-busting after firing a number of employees who were purportedly involved in union activity.
As reported by Bloomberg, Rockstar fired between 30 and 40 employees late last week. According to a spokesperson for the UK’s Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), all of the fired employees were either members of the IWGB or were attempting to organize.
IWGB president Alex Marshall called the firings “one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry” and accused Rockstar of holding “flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions”.
Rockstar parent company Take-Two claimed that the layoffs were due to “gross misconduct” on the part of the employees, and that the company “fully support[s] Rockstar’s ambitions and approach”. No further explanation was given regarding the nature of said “gross misconduct”.
Of course, Rockstar isn’t the only company to be accused of anti-union activity (although I’m sure that won’t come as much comfort for the studio). It joins the likes of Activision and Nintendo, both of whom have had their union policies called into question.
Despite major companies’ best efforts, studios and workers continue to unionize, with developers like Disco Elysium‘s ZA/UM and Blizzard workers on games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft forming unions in the last couple of years.
Rockstar’s layoffs come as excitement reaches fever pitch regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, which was officially unveiled back in December 2023. The game, which is currently scheduled for release on May 26th next year, will mark the first mainline GTA entry in almost 13 years.
We’ll have to wait and see whether GTA 6 lives up to expectations, although I think it’d probably need to somehow cure all known diseases and solve world hunger to do that. Stay tuned for more.
