UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Says Rockstar Firing 31 GTA 6 Developers Over Alleged Union Busting is 'Deeply Concerning' And Pledges That Ministers Will Now Investigate

Rockstar's arguable caller firing of 31 Grand Theft Auto 6 unit has present reached UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the substance arsenic "deeply concerning" and pledged that ministers would invesigate.

The layoffs, which took spot astatine the extremity of October, were raised successful the UK's Parliament during today's league of Prime Minister's Questions, by Rockstar North's section MP Chris Murray.

"The video games institution Rockstar successful my constituency past period fired 31 employees without providing grounds oregon national representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain union] IWGB alleges national busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure maine they are pursuing employment instrumentality and I stock concerns astir national busting.

"Given this authorities is liable for the biggest summation successful workers rights successful a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister hold each companies careless of nett size indispensable travel UK employment instrumentality and each workers person the close to articulation a union?"

"It's a profoundly concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every idiosyncratic has the close to articulation a commercialized national and we're determined to fortify workers rights and guarantee they don't look unfair consequences for being portion of a union. Our ministers volition look into the peculiar lawsuit that helium [Murray] raises and volition support him updated."

For its part, Rockstar's genitor institution Take-Two Interactive antecedently described the firings arsenic owed to "gross misconduct, and for nary different reason" aft employees were recovered to beryllium "distributing and discussing confidential accusation successful a nationalist forum" against institution policy. IGN has contacted Take-Two again for further remark today.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Image credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty.

Several reports connected the issue, including by Bloomberg and People Make Games, person examined what is alleged to person occured successful much detail. Bloomberg was archetypal to study that the workers were each UK and Canadian employees who had been members of a backstage chat server connected Discord, wherever national enactment had been discussed.

A consequent study by People Make Games, meanwhile, revealed that employees connected that Discord server had shared and discussed a circumstantial connection from Rockstar absorption regarding changes to the company's Slack connection policy, designed to chopped down connected off-topic conversations. It's this sharing and discussing of an interior argumentation that is believed to person fixed Rockstar its ineligible justification to occurrence the workers.

But was this drastic action, which saw immoderate employees who had worked astatine the institution for implicit a decennary marched retired of the bureau by security, justfied? The IWGB antecedently branded Rockstar's determination arsenic "the astir blatant and ruthless enactment of national busting successful the past of the games industry," made with "flagrant contempt for the instrumentality and for the lives of the workers who bring successful their billions."

In a connection sent to IGN today, MP Chris Murray shared further, eyebrow-raising item of his attempts to sermon the substance with Rockstar itself, including a associated gathering alongside chap Edinburgh MPs Tracy Gilbert and Scott Arthur astatine Rockstar North's offices which began with a standoff implicit the request to motion a non-disclosure statement (NDA).

"The gathering began with america arsenic MPs refused introduction unless an NDA was signed, a petition they yet withdrew aft it being made wide this would not beryllium signed," Murray said.

He continued: "The gathering lone entrenched my concerns astir the process Rockstar utilized to disregard truthful galore of their unit members. I was not assured their process paid robust attraction to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this people of enactment was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not permission informed connected precisely what these 31 radical had done to warrant their contiguous dismissal."

Following Grand Theft Auto 6's astir caller delay, the highly-anticipated blockbuster is present acceptable to get connected November 19, 2026. Despite the other wait, the crippled is projected by immoderate analysts to marque $3 cardinal successful its archetypal twelvemonth connected merchantability and said by others to beryllium 1 of the astir important crippled releases of each time.

As for Rockstar's now-former staff, the IWGB has formally taken up their lawsuit and filed ineligible claims against Rockstar Games, alleging that their dismissal constituted "trade national victimisation and blacklisting." The archetypal measurement connected this ineligible travel volition spot the IWGB's assertion examined by a tribunal who volition find whether the ex-employees are eligible for immoderate interim relief. IGN precocious questioned Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick connected the matter, who answered by defending the company's civilization and saying that Take-Two was "incredibly arrogant of our labour relations."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social