Grand Theft Auto studio accused of ‘union busting’ after sacking workers

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) maker Rockstar Video games has been accused by a commerce union of sacking employees within the UK to cease them from unionising.

The Impartial Staff’ Union of Nice Britain (IWGB), which represents individuals working within the gaming sector, mentioned 31 staff had been fired from Rockstar’s UK studios on 30 October.

The union led rallies outdoors the corporate’s workplaces in Edinburgh and London on Thursday to protest what it described as “probably the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting within the historical past of the video games business”.

The BBC has approached Rockstar’s guardian firm, Take-Two Interactive, for remark, which has reportedly claimed employees had been sacked for sharing confidential data.

“Final week, we took motion in opposition to a small variety of people who had been discovered to be distributing and discussing confidential data in a public discussion board, a violation of our firm insurance policies,” a Rockstar spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement.

“This was on no account associated to individuals’s proper to hitch a union or have interaction in union actions.”

At giant online game studios, details about sport growth is tightly managed – with staff usually signing agreements to not share confidential data.

Rockstar’s upcoming GTA 6 is predicted to be one of many best-selling video games of all time, with followers clamouring for any information forward of its Could 2026 launch date – that means safety round any data can be heightened on the studio.

However union president Alex Marshall accused Rockstar of deflecting from the “actual motive” for firing employees – which the IWGB believes is their union involvement.

“They’re afraid of arduous working employees privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer office and a collective voice,” he mentioned.

“Administration are displaying they do not care about delays to GTA VI, and that they are prioritising union busting by focusing on the very individuals who make the sport.”

In keeping with the IWGB, the UK staff fired on the finish of October had been a part of a bunch discussing forming a union on the firm.

Mr Marshall mentioned its solely non-Rockstar staff had been union organisers.

Chatting with the BBC at a picket outdoors the Rockstar North workplace in Edinburgh, organiser Fred Carter mentioned he was standing alongside employees who had been sacked “with out warning” and “with out motive”.

“They have been fired, we imagine, as a result of they’re union members – which is a protected exercise within the UK,” he mentioned.

“We’re asking individuals to return out and assist us, to demand their jobs again and demand accountability from Rockstar.”

After clips from Grand Theft Auto 6 had been leaked on-line following a hack in 2022, Rockstar said it value the agency $5m (£3.8m) and 1000’s of hours of employees time to recuperate.

However Mr Marshall of the IWGB mentioned the corporate’s transfer to dismiss greater than 30 UK staff confirmed it had “chosen income over each staff and followers of their video games”.