GTA 6 delay fears rise as fired employees protest outside Rockstar office for alleged union busting

Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive have come under fire recently over axing a number of employees for supposed “gross misconduct.” Now, those who were let go are protesting outside Rockstar North’s office in Scotland to be reinstated with compensation. The former employees feel they did nothing wrong and were not given an opportunity to tell their side of the story.

For context, as many as 40 employees based in the UK and Canada were fired on October 30. At the time, this was categorized as a “union busting” move by Rockstar, but the company then defended itself, stating that these workers were fired for leaking information and not for unionizing. In a statement to Bloomberg. Rockstar shared that it took action against a “small number of individuals” found to be “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum.”

Now, the former employees are asking to be reinstated with compensation for wrongful termination. A fan account called GTABase.com on X has been sharing updates from the protests outside the Edinburgh office and the former employees are maintaining that they did not leak any information. Their perspective is that they were communicating with fellow workers about how they can make the workplace better.

Protests have also started outside Take-Two’s office in London with the hope that the company will respond in favor of the fired employees.

Possible GTA 6 delay?

Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) president Alex Marshall spoke about the firings and said that management at Rockstar does not care about delays to GTA 6, and that it is targeting the people working on the game. The full quote is as follows:

Rockstar continue to deflect from the real reason for these dismissals: they are afraid of hard working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice. Management are showing they don’t care about delays to GTA VI, and that they’re prioritising union busting by targeting the very people who make the game.

In recent years, Rockstar executives have benefited from £443 million in tax relief, while showing total disregard for the law or the livelihoods of their staff. At every turn, they’ve chosen profits over both workers and fans of their games.

As to what this means for GTA 6, remains unclear. It is unknown in what capacity these fired employees were involved with the game and if these protests and discussions will eventually lead to a delay. For now, Rockstar or Take-Two have not commented on the situation. The game is slated for a May 2026 release and there have been several reports of possible delays in the past.