Rockstar Video games accused of union busting within the UK

Rockstar Video games, developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, has been accused of intentionally shedding staff who had been making an attempt to unionize, Bloomberg reports. The Unbiased Employees Union of Nice Britain (IWGB) claims over 30 staff 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 prepare.

“Rockstar has simply carried out probably the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting within the historical past of the video games business,” IWGB President Alex Marshall stated in a blog post concerning the layoffs. “This flagrant contempt for the legislation and for the lives of the employees who convey of their billions is an insult to their followers and the worldwide business.”

In addition to the disruption of getting to discover a new job, the union notes that a number of staff who had been let go are notably susceptible. “Amongst the employees dismissed had been these with visas sponsored by Rockstar and people with medical circumstances 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 Sport Employees Union discord channel, and seem to have been focused for that reason.” 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 staff prior to now over their return-to-office policy. Take-Two additionally laid off employees throughout a number of studios in 2024 and 2025, doubtlessly motivated by the choice to push back the release of Grand Theft Auto VI to 2026. The sport is predicted to be a massive hit for the corporate and the broader business, which is a part of the explanation why the IWGB believes the layoffs are motivated by one thing apart from financials.