At the end of October, Rockstar fired more than 30 employees with ties to a developer union. Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain called it "the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry," while Rockstar alleged the firings were due to leaks of "confidential information" and completely unrelated to union activity. As affected workers protest the firings, additional allegations about what happened are coming to light from the now-former GTA 6 devs.
YouTube channel People Make Games, which covers developer stories from around the industry, reports in a new video that the Rockstar Games Workers Union, which is supported by IWGB, had recently recruited 10% of the Rockstar workforce in the UK. That's a significant milestone, as it's one of the requirements to apply for statutory recognition in the country, which would allow the government to, essentially, force Rockstar to recognize the union.
The effort to do just that then reportedly coincided with Rockstar parting ways with various employees over claims of "gross misconduct." Specifically, the company claimed that the fired employees were "distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum." 31 employees at Rockstar North, the Edinburgh-based studio that leads development on the Grand Theft Auto series, were let go alongside three employees at Rockstar Toronto who were also tied to union activity.
According to IWGB president Alex Marshall, that "public forum" was a private Discord server, and the "confidential information" was discussion about working conditions at the company. The employees "weren't on these big, open, public forums spouting secrets on the company," Marshall tells PMG. "This was on a finite union Discord in which people were discussing their material conditions at the company, and they should be legally protected to do that."
We've reached out to Rockstar for additional comment and will update this story if we learn more.
An IWGB organizer identified only as Fred in the video says the group is currently seeking the reinstatement of the fired workers, including compensation for lost pay, as well as "clear accountability for the way these dismissals have been handled – these very clear unfair dismissals without procedure, without evidence. Clear accountability from the company and a commitment to following employment law in the UK in the future."
Appeals have reportedly been submitted to ask Rockstar to voluntarily meet those demands, and organizers are hopeful for an amicable resolution. "This is egregious and to be honest, shocking," Fred says. "I have never seen a thing like this, not just in the game sector, but in UK trade union organizing in the last 20 years. This is the moment where they can make that right. These are workers who just want to go back to work to work on a game that they love."
