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Amid delays to the long-awaited GTA VI, reportedly one of the most expensive video game productions in history, developer Rockstar Games is accused of firing up to 40 staff members to prevent them from unionizing.
According to the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer terminated between 30 and 40 staffers in the UK and Canada earlier this week. All of the recently terminated employees were part of a union-related Discord chat group and were working on organizing staff, according to the trade union.
Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, tells Bloomberg that Rockstar “has just carried out one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry. 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."
We've heard reports of overwork and harsh conditions at Rockstar Games before, particularly ahead of the release of previous blockbuster titles, such as Red Dead Redemption 2. In a 2018 New York Magazine profile, Rockstar founder Dan Houser said members of his team “were working 100-hour weeks” on the game, though he later clarified he was only talking about some senior members of the writing team over a short period.
Rockstar has so far denied the allegations, telling Bloomberg that it “terminated a small number of individuals for gross misconduct, and for no other reason.”
In May, Rockstar Games announced the release of Grand Theft Auto VI would be pushed from the end of this year to May 2026, saying it needed “extra time” to ensure the game’s quality. Its predecessor, GTA V, generated over $1 billion in sales during the first week of its release, setting a high bar for future sequels.