Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick, who heads the company Rockstar belongs to, has said he’s “not in the least” concerned that bad press over alleged union-busting will affect the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6.
The issue has been gathering steam in and around Rockstar since 31 people were fired at Rockstar North in Edinburgh – all coincidentally members of the IWGB Game Workers Union – for “gross misconduct”. Since then, an employment tribunal battle has raged between the IWGB Game Workers union and Rockstar with regards to whether this constitutes union-busting or not.
A Rockstar Game Workers Union was established earlier this year in response, and as of last month, it reportedly had “more members than it ever had before”. The issue even flared so brightly it was discussed by former UK prime minister Keir Starmer and in Parliament. It’s a controversial issue that shows no sign of abating.
It’s against this backdrop that Zelnick’s comments to The Game Business were made. “[We’re] not in the least [concerned],” he said. “How you develop the game is different from the nature of your labour relations. We are very proud of our labour relations. We have an extraordinary work force, 13,000 colleagues around the world, and we are proud of how people are treated and how people are compensated. We have the lowest attrition rate in the business by half, and Rockstar’s attrition rate is half of that. That’s vastly the lowest in the business. As I say, we are proud of our labour relations.”
Zelnick’s remarks came after Take-Two published its latest financial earnings report, around which he’s said a number of headline-worthy things. Zelnick has proclaimed that we’ll all be stream-playing games in three years’ time, which feels like an egg-on-your-face moment waiting to happen, and has given us our clearest explanation for GTA 6 not coming on a disc yet by revealing that Take-Two’s business is “well over 90 percent digital”.
Whether a union dispute and the sour taste it leaves in onlooker’s mouths can do anything to knock the needle of Grand Theft Auto 6 sales is, of course, an incredibly tall order. That game is expected to become the best-selling blockbuster game of all time, though it’s got a long way to go to reach Minecraft’s long-accrued 350-plus million sales. Then again, it’s not necessarily about slowing GTA 6 down so much as doing what’s right and treating people fairly – something which may ultimately be a matter for the courts, with the trial set to begin on 10th September this year.
