Grand Theft Auto VI Dev Rockstar Games Accused Of Union Busting After Layoffs

 Update: November 6, 2025

Last week, Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar Games laid off between 30 to 40 people across its various offices in the U.K. and Canada, citing “gross misconduct.” However, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) said these firings were a union-busting effort, noting the affected employees were part of a private union Discord chat group and were either already union members or attempting to organize one at Rockstar.

Now, Bloomberg reports that Rockstar says the employees it fired last week were let go for leaking confidential information. 

“Last week, we took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of company policies,” a Rockstar spokesperson told Bloomberg. “This was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.” 

Game Informer will continue to follow this story as it learns more. 

The original story continues below…

Original story: November 11, 2025

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has accused Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar Games of union busting after the company fired between 30 and 40 employees across its various offices in the U.K. and Canada last week, as reported by Bloomberg. The report says all the employees laid off were part of a private union Discord chat group and were either already union members or attempting to organize one at Rockstar. 

“Rockstar has just carried out one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry,” IWGB president Alex Marshall said in a statement to Bloomberg. “This flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans and the global industry.” 

Take-Two Interactive, which publishes the Grand Theft Auto series and owns Rockstar Games, told the publication that the firings were for “gross misconduct” and no other reason, noting that the company supports how the developer handled the layoffs. 

IWGB has not stated whether it will pursue judicial action against Rockstar Games regarding its accusation of union busting, but Game Informer will update this story if it learns more. 

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 26, after it was delayed out of 2025 earlier this year. 

[Source: Bloomberg]