Before delaying GTA VI, Rockstar fired 30 employees and faced union-busting allegations

Grand Theft Auto VI got delayed, again, on Thursday, but that’s not the only reason developer Rockstar Games is in the news this week.

A trade union in the U.K. (where Rockstar is based) has accused the legendary gaming firm of union-busting, per the BBC. This accusation came after Rockstar fired 31 employees at the end of October. The union in question is the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (or IWGB), which claims that the employees were fired for discussing the formation of a union at the company. While efforts for unionization have borne fruit at studios like Blizzard Entertainment, unions are still relatively rare in the games industry.

While this news isn’t exactly breaking, it’s worth revisiting in the context of Thursday night’s delay announcement for GTA VI. Regarding the game’s delay, Rockstar posted on X that the extended timeline “will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.”

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Of course, Rockstar denies that the employees were fired for union organizing, per a statement given to Bloomberg. According to Rockstar, the employees were let go because they were sharing confidential information about the game in a public setting. Game developers (especially Rockstar) are notoriously secretive about projects in active development, with employees often signing non-disclosure agreements as a condition for their employment.

While the terms of any given Rockstar NDA are not really knowable at the moment, it’s possible that they could be broad enough to prohibit workers from discussing work in an outside venue like Slack or Discord. Whatever happened here, don’t be surprised if there are more leaks about this situation in the months to come. After all, it’s not like anyone is going to be playing GTA VI anytime soon.