GTA Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firing Workers

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents people working in the gaming sector, said that 31 employees were fired from Rockstar's UK studios on October 30.

 The union held rallies outside the company's offices in Edinburgh and London on Thursday, calling it "the most blatant and brutal act of union busting in the history of the gaming industry."

"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," a Rockstar spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement.

 "This was in no way related to people's right to join a union or engage in union activities."

At large video game studios, information related to game development is tightly controlled—employees often sign agreements not to share confidential information.

 Rockstar's upcoming GTA 6 is expected to be one of the best-selling games of all time, and fans are eager for any news before its May 2026 release—which means the studio will be tightening security around any information.

 But union president Alex Marshall accused Rockstar of distracting from the "real reason" for the employees' dismissals—which the IWGB believes is their involvement in the union.

"They are afraid of hard working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice," he said.

 "Management are showing they don't care about delays to GTA 6, and that they're prioritising union busting by targeting the very people who make the game."

According to the IWGB, the UK workers fired at the end of October were part of a group discussing forming a union at the company.

 Mr Marshall said its only non-Rockstar employees were union organisers.

 "We refute that confidential information was shared publicly," IWGB said in a statement.

 Dr Paolo Ruffino, senior lecturer in digital curation and computational creativity at Kings College London, said it was a "textbook" case of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) being used by gaming firms.

 "They're used at every level in gaming, creating a culture of secrecy that makes investigating working conditions nearly impossible," he said.

 "The real question is whether these dismissals were about leaked information or protected union activity - a distinction UK employment law requires but which NDA allegations make difficult to prove."