Fired Rockstar Games staff have protested outside the UK offices of parent company Take-Two and developer Rockstar North, denying accusations of leaking company secrets and calling for their reinstatement.
Gatherings organized by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) were held outside Take-Two House in London and Rockstar’s office at Barclay House in Edinburgh, Scotland today, November 6, after up to 40 staff were fired for allegedly “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum.”
Clips of the protests published to social media show heavy criticism of Take-Two and Rockstar’s actions, with fired staff holding signs and reading prepared statements calling for their reinstatement and back pay compensation.
Rockstar: tries to bust unions🦹♀️
Us: Hold my controller 🎮🔥🔥
We’re fighting back 💥💥
IWGB organized a protest in front of the @RockstarGames parent company Take-Two Interactive in London todayWe’ll make sure the credits are rolling on their corporate greed ❌️@IWGB_GW pic.twitter.com/y6LFqBNVH7
— IWGB (@IWGBunion) November 6, 2025
Calls for reinstatement and back pay compensation pic.twitter.com/g8zlUFiCno
— GTABase.com (@GTABase) November 6, 2025
Last week, the Grand Theft Auto 6 studio reportedly fired between 30 and 40 employees in a move that the IWGB claimed was “blatant” and “ruthless” union busting. At the time, Rockstar parent company Take-Two issued a statement insisting the firings were for “gross misconduct, and for no other reason.”
According to Bloomberg, the fired workers were all UK and Canadian employees who were also part of a private trade union chat group on Discord, and were either union members themselves or trying to organize a union within Rockstar. The IWGB claimed the staff were fired explicitly due to union activities.
A new Bloomberg report carried a fresh statement from Take-Two, in which the company insisted the fired staff had leaked company secrets in a “public forum.”
“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,” the Take-Two statement read. “This was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.”
According to the IWGB, the only non-Rockstar people inside the private union Discord were union organizers. IWGB boss Alex Marshall issued IGN the following statement:
“Rockstar continue to deflect from the real reason for these dismissals: they are afraid of hard working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice. 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.
“In recent years, Rockstar executives have benefited from £443 million in tax relief, while showing total disregard for the law or the livelihoods of their staff. At every turn, they’ve chosen profits over both workers and fans of their games.
“The only non Rockstar employees in the union Discord channel were union organisers.”
A dismissed employee at Rockstar reads a statement: pic.twitter.com/wkIDU28NRJ
— ben (@videotechuk_) November 6, 2025
One fired member of staff protesting today said what had happened to them was “deeply unfair,” claiming they were dismissed “without warning, without evidence, and without a chance to speak for myself.”
The fired staff member continued: “All because I talked with colleagues in a private union chat. We weren’t leaking anything or trying to harm the company. We were supporting each other, trying to understand our workplace and make it better. To lose my job for that is deeply unfair. No-one should be punished for being part of a union or for speaking honestly about their work.”
Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens political party and MSP for the West of Scotland, took to social media to back the protests, saying: “Reinstate them now, then get around the table and give your staff the pay and conditions they deserve for making you billions.”
The @scottishgreens stand with the dozens of workers sacked by @RockstarGames for exercising their right to organise a union.
Reinstate them now, then get around the table and give your staff the pay and conditions they deserve for making you billions. pic.twitter.com/jENH89QNYg
— Ross Greer (@Ross_Greer) November 6, 2025
The protests come ahead of the expected release of GTA 6 in May next year. While limiting its pre-release marketing to just two trailers and a series of screenshots so far, Rockstar has put a focus on security after suffering a massive leak of the in-development GTA 6 in 2022, and the day-early release of GTA 6 Trailer 1 the following year. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called the 2022 leak “terribly unfortunate… and we take those sorts of incidents very seriously indeed.”
He added: “There’s no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing, and certainly the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort, but it is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters relating to cybersecurity.”
Last year, the studio asked employees to come to the office five days a week, citing a desire for both increased productivity and security. The decision was criticized by workers affiliated with the IWGB, who said Rockstar broke promises with the forced return to office, and accused the studio of refusing to engage with workers on the issue.
Image credit: Ross Greer / Twitter.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
