Grant Theft Auto developer fires employees over leaking secret information, denies allegations of union-busting

(Bloomberg) — Rockstar Games, the company behind the popular Grand Theft Auto series, said dozens of employees it fired last week leaked company secrets and disputed claims from labor leaders that it was disrupting workers’ efforts to unionize.

A Rockstar spokesperson told Bloomberg on Wednesday that employees shared company information in a forum that included non-employees.

“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 spokesperson said. “This had nothing to do with people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.”

The company, part of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., fired between 30 and 40 employees at its offices in the United Kingdom and Canada for what it described as “gross misconduct.” The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, the first organization to organize video game workers in the United Kingdom, told Bloomberg that all employees were involved in union efforts at Rockstar and called the layoffs “one of the most blatant and brutal acts of union busting in the history of the games industry.”

The union said the affected employees were all part of a private union chat group on Discord, and the only outsiders joining the chat were labor organizers.

In response to Rockstar’s claims, union president Alex Marshall said the game maker “fears hard-working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice. Management is showing that they don’t care about GTA VI’s delays and are prioritizing union-busting by targeting the people who make the game.”

Rockstar has always been strict about security. The company has taken extra precautions since a major leak in 2022 released dozens of videos containing unfinished footage of the company’s next game, Grand Theft Auto VI. In early 2024, Rockstar asked workers to return to the office five days a week, partly for safety reasons. At the time, the union called it a “reckless” move.

Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2026, and is expected to be one of the best-selling video games of all time.