It seems like we're about to find out if the old adage that 'all publicity is good publicity' rings true for Rockstar Games as well. Grand Theft Auto 6 is mere months away from becoming the biggest entertainment launch in history, but Rockstar Games finds itself in hot water over the abrupt firing of more than 30 employees who have attempted to organize a union.
The entire fiasco went public last week when news broke that Rockstar had terminated between thirty and forty employees, all of whom worked in UK and Canadian offices. According to the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, every fired employee had one thing in common: membership in or connection to a private trade union Discord chat group.
The IWGB didn't mince words in characterizing what happened. They called it one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry. On the other hand, Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, initially offered minimal explanation. Now, Take-Two has provided additional detail in a statement to Bloomberg.
“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 statement read. The company is insisting that this has nothing to do with people’s right to unionize.
IWGB president Alex Marshall issued a forceful response to Take-Two's latest statement, painting the Company and Rockstar in a negative light for targeting the act of organizing itself, even going further by saying they don't care about delays to GTA 6 and that they're prioritizing union-busting by targeting the very people who make the game.
TLDR; IWGB is accusing Rockstar of willingly risking GTA 6 if it means preventing employees from unionizing.
