Former Rockstar staff urge followers to not boycott newest GTA installment
Workers fired by Edinburgh-based sport builders Rockstar have urged followers of the Grand Theft Auto sequence to not boycott the newest installment of the sequence – asking followers to as an alternative help their authorized battle towards the agency.
Round 30 former staff of Rockstar will tackle the video games giants in a listening to in Glasgow subsequent month – the newest improvement within the lengthy operating battle between IWGB members and Rockstar.
The hotly-anticipated GTA VI, which is the newest instalment in Rockstar’s massively profitable Grand Theft Auto online game sequence, is about to be launched in November.
Jack Hoxby, IWGB Recreation Employees Department member fired by Rockstar final yr, stated: “We poured years of our lives into serving to construct this sport. We do not need you to boycott it. We would like you to assist us combat for justice.
“Since Rockstar fired us out of the blue final yr, we’ve seen an unimaginable outpouring of help from avid gamers and staff around the globe.
“Some individuals have requested whether or not they need to boycott GTA VI to protest on our behalf. However there’s a greater technique to help us and maintain Rockstar to account.
“Purchase certainly one of our T-shirts. You’ll be serving to to win justice for us and to defend the appropriate of staff in all places to return collectively and unionise.
“That method, when GTA VI comes out in November, you possibly can take pleasure in it figuring out that you simply had the backs of the individuals who made it.”
Thirty-one Edinburgh-based staff have been fired on the video games giants final yr. Union officers known as the transfer ‘union busting’, while Rockstar stated the employees had leaked confidential info.
In November 2025, greater than 200 employees at Rockstar North signed a letter urging senior administration to reinstate the employees and condemning the ‘union busting’.
That adopted protests at Rockstar North’s Edinburgh headquarters, with dozens of affected staff and their supporters taking to the road exterior, and likewise at websites in Paris, London and New York.
The fired staff have been all members of, or within the means of changing into members of, the IWGB union, which specialises in impartial staff.
Fred Carter, an IWGB organiser, stated: “By deciding to fireplace greater than 30 union members, Rockstar have carried out an Amazon-style act of union-busting unprecedented within the video games business. It is a firm that advantages from greater than £440 million in UK tax aid, whereas displaying a callous and blatant disregard for each the livelihood of staff and the letter of the legislation.”
Rockstar have claimed in a public assertion that the 31 members of employees have been fired for leaking info in public channels. However the IWGB has refuted that declare, saying that staff solely communicated in non-public and legally-protected commerce union channels.
Already obtainable for pre-orders, Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for launch on November 19, with market analysts predicting it to turn into one of many fastest-selling video video games of all time.