Rockstar Accused of "Ruthless" Union Busting After Firing Dozens; Company Blames "Misconduct"
Just when you thought the GTA VI hype train was safe, Rockstar goes and steers it straight into a labor dispute.
This is a hell of a story. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Rockstar Games just fired between 30 and 40 staffers across its UK and Canada offices.
The company, via its parent Take-Two, is claiming the terminations were "for gross misconduct."
But a British trade union, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), is painting a very different picture. They are calling it, and I quote, "one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry."
So, "Misconduct" or "Union Busting"?
Here's the explosive part from the IWGB. They allege that every single employee who got the axe was part of a private trade union chat group on Discord.
The union says these were all members or people who were actively trying to organize at the company.
A spokesperson for Take-Two shot back, telling Bloomberg the firings were "for gross misconduct, and for no other reason."
It’s the classic corporate "he said, she said" scenario, only in this case, one side is now out of a job.
The Irony is Thick Enough to Cut
The whole situation is just dripping with irony. I saw a comment on Reddit that perfectly captured the absurdity of it all.
A user named SunflowerSamurai_ wrote: "After a long day of union busting, there’s nothing I like more than sitting down to write a video game script full of scathing satire about corporations and capitalism."
And that’s the rub, isn't it? Rockstar built its entire multibillion-dollar empire on savagely mocking the very corporate greed and soulless capitalism that it's now being accused of practicing. You just can't make this stuff up.
A "Fort Knox" Mentality
This isn't Rockstar's first public clash with its employees. The IWGB also went after the company early last year when it forced all workers to return to the office five days a week.
Rockstar claimed that move was partly for security, which, to be fair, is understandable after the mother of all leaks in 2022. But firing everyone in a union chat? That feels less like security and more like a purge.
With Grand Theft Auto VI slated to release in May 2026 and practically guaranteed to print billions of dollars, the last thing Rockstar needs is a full-blown labor war. But it looks like they might have just started one.