As the UK government investigates allegations of union-busting at Rockstar Games following the latter firing more than 30 employees, the company once again denied the same. It called these claims “entirely false and misleading,” reiterating that the individuals were terminated for talking about “confidential information (including specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles) in a public forum.”
Of course, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has fired back. In a statement to multiple outlets (including Eurogamer), it said this statement is “littered with falsehoods and disinformation – they have given multiple, conflicting reasons to explain why the workers were fired, as if attempting to reverse engineer a rationale for the dismissals.
“Once again, they have chosen to mischaracterize workers speaking about their working conditions in a private forum as ‘leaking information.’ It is hard to understand this statement as anything but a desperate attempt to deflect from the global scrutiny they have come under over the last month. From the UK Prime Minister in the House of Commons, to the game developers across the world erupting in protest – all eyes are on Rockstar and their lawless attack on the people who make them their billions.”
The layoffs allegedly had roots in the company changing its Slack policy many years ago, prompting developers to use Discord for their discussions, which then became a place to discuss unionizing efforts. While the IWGB submitted a legal claim and the fired developers expressed their desire to return and finish Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar seemingly isn’t budging on its stance.
As for GTA 6, it’s set to launch on November 19th, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S after facing two delays (with the firings reportedly having no impact on the latest delay). Despite this, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says it will deliver an “unrivalled blockbuster entertainment experience.”
