The controversial layoffs of dozens of Rockstar developers. What's behind the studio's layoffs ahead of GTA 6's release

Development of GTA 6 is entering the home stretch. Barring further delays, the game will go on sale on November 19th. Over the next year, every effort will be made to rid the project of bugs and bring it to perfection. Therefore, at a time when every employee is crucial to the team, news of employee layoffs is surprising. You can find all the latest information on this event in our article.

On October 30th, 34 Rockstar employees were fired at once. The official reason given was a serious breach of discipline, including the disclosure and discussion of internal data on public forums. The specifics of this layoff have not been disclosed. Insider leaks do occasionally appear online, but they typically involve minor details, such as domain registrations on Take-Two servers. The last major information leak occurred over three years ago, on September 18th, 2022.

Representatives of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) claim that the layoffs are due to the fact that all the dismissed employees were union members or had plans to form one. They could have demanded better working conditions in the future.

"Rockstar has just committed the most egregious and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry," said IWGB President Alex Marshall. He claims the former employees were members of a private Discord group, which included only union activists. There is no mention of any disclosure of classified information.

Rockstar has publicly denied these allegations. "The layoffs have nothing to do with people's rights to join a union or participate in union activities," studio representatives commented.

About a week after the layoffs, protests took place outside Rockstar North's offices in London and Edinburgh. Organized by the aforementioned organization, IWGB, the former employees were indeed able to attract public attention. It's worth noting that the posters are creatively designed—they feature references to the GTA series and Red Dead Redemption 2.

The protesters received support from the American union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). It represents the interests of the Grand Theft Auto 6 actors.

Anonymous sources aren't the most reliable, but in this case, we decided to turn to one for the full picture. He is a longtime Rockstar employee who speaks on GTAForums under the nickname "Organize." His identity has been verified by forum leaders.

According to this person, people were summoned for a brief meeting, accused of serious disciplinary violations, handed an envelope with a written explanation, and practically forcibly ejected from the office. No evidence of information leaks was provided. Furthermore, the involvement of trade union representatives was prohibited, which is contrary to UK labor laws. Those who were not present at their desks were given the unpleasant news by phone. The layoffs were carried out without pay. Among those laid off were artists, designers, animators, programmers, producers, and testers. Some of them may lose their work visas, which allowed them to work in the UK.

The closed Discord chat had approximately 250 members. This represents more than 10% of the total workforce, which allowed them to begin negotiations with management regarding the rigid work schedule, overtime, and inadequate pay. They have already discussed the possibility of forming a union within the studio. Following the layoffs, those employees who remain at the company fear they will also be laid off. They are now trying to avoid personal contact and drawing unnecessary attention to themselves, lest they end up on the street. The developers no longer seem to be considering any unions or improved working conditions.

The union intends to ensure that everyone forced to leave Rockstar is reinstated.

We are not naming the specific reason for the layoffs; we are merely presenting the opinions of both sides. However, publishers' concerns about union activity appear to be justified. The fact is that the development of virtually any major game involves crunch, with employees working 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, during thosecrunch lasts for a long time. It's a truly difficult period, often leading to burnout, depression, and personal problems.

Many publishers accept crunch as part of the development process and even include it in their plans. Rockstar's executives clearly believe they can't avoid it this time either. And for unions, such working conditions are unacceptable. They could file a grievance and, as a result, create difficulties for the company just before the most important event of recent years — the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6.

It's worth noting that at the end of October, another scandal involving layoffs erupted. This involved layoffs at Build a Rocket Boy, the studio that released the disastrous MindsEye. The company is led by Leslie Benzies, a former producer on many Rockstar games, including GTA 5. We covered this story in a separate article.

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What do you think about Rockstar's layoffs? Will they affect the quality of GTA 6? Share your thoughts in the comments!