GTA 6 developer Rockstar has responded to accusations of union busting following the sudden firing of more than 30 people last week, claiming those terminations were due to the leaking of confidential information by the former employees.
A Rockstar spokesperson shared the following statement with Bloomberg: "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 our company policies. This was in no way related to people's right to join a union or engage in union activities.
Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive said at the time of the firings, which impacted employees across Rockstar's UK and Canada offices, that the workers were fired for "gross misconduct." However, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) told Bloomberg that the fired employees were either current union members or were planning to organize and blasted the move as "the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry."
Rockstar told a UK court in 2023 that the massive GTA 6 leak from the year prior had cost it $5 million as well as "thousands of hours of staff time," which would definitely warrant a tightening of security measures, but whether it's increased security that's at the heart of the recent firings or anti-union measures remains to be seen.
GTA 6 launches May 26 for PS5 and Xbox Series X.
