Developers at Rockstar, who are working on what'll likely be the biggest video game release in history so far with GTA 6, have officially unionized to form the Rockstar Game Workers Union (RGWU) under the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). The formation and public launch of the union comes after it was delayed by Rockstar and Take-Two management firing 34 workers (31 in the UK, three in Canada) shortly after the union had initially reached the 10% membership threshold needed to be formed, which the IWGB alleges was a "blatant and ruthless act of union busting."
Announced via a press release and introduction video shared on the IWGB YouTube account, the union is going public now while legal proceedings following that alleged act of union busting are ongoing. While the IWGB and RGWU have not strayed from their accusations of union-busting by Rockstar management, Rockstar, for its part, maintains that the fired workers were dismissed for distributing confidential information.
All 31 workers fired in the UK were part of the RGWU, which is why their dismissal slightly delayed the union's formation since they suddenly found themselves below the 10% membership threshold. Obviously, their membership numbers did not remain stagnant, and they reached that threshold again "shortly after the dismissals," according to a press release from the union.
"These dismissals, which we believe to be the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting the UK games sector has ever seen, sparked protests across the globe, drew international media attention, and initiated a high-profile legal battle which will see its final hearing later this year," the RGWU said.
Over 200 Rockstar employees signed an open letter to management calling out the alleged union-busting on the same day that the IWGB filed legal claims against Rockstar for the dismissals. Though the first step of the legal proceedings did not go the way the union would've liked, as the 31 workers were denied interim pay, the case is by no means a done deal either way, and Scottish MPs who initially brought the case to UK Parliament and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are still keeping an eye on it.
Just this past month, the same Scottish MPs accused Rockstar of obstruction by failing to cooperate with disclosure requests and refusing to provide evidence, investigation reports, and denying the fired workers their right to appeal.
"These mass firings did not crush our union," the RGWU said. "In fact, we are larger and stronger than we have ever been. We passed the 10% membership threshold again shortly after the dismissals, and since then have continued to see more and more workers join us from every site around the UK."
Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two have officially commented on the union's formation.
The alleged distribution of confidential information has been traced back to a Discord server where current Rockstar employees (though there are reports that some members in the server were former staff) were discussing a change to the company's policies on Slack usage. The server was formed by unionizing Rockstar staff and IWGB members, helping to support the unionization effort.
Though it's still unclear how the case will resolve and whether Rockstar will be found guilty of union busting, what is clear is that this case has been a needless distraction as we get closer to the launch of GTA 6. That's not to say it'll stop anyone from grabbing their copy when it finally arrives, as practically nothing short of a world-ending disaster will likely stop GTA 6 from having the biggest launch a video game or any singular entertainment property has had.
One of the aforementioned international protests that was sparked in response to the dismissals took place in Rockstar Toronto, in solidarity with the three workers fired in Canada and the 31 workers fired in the UK.
Wccftech attended the protest and spoke to one of the fired workers from Rockstar Toronto, who stopped short of laying union-busting accusations at Rockstar, but did say, "The only common link between anyone who was fired is being a member of this community, and this community had the explicit purpose of trying to unionize all of the studios, at some point. The focus was on the UK, but the goal was to unionize all of the studios, so it has to be connected to that in some way, just because that's the only common link."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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