Copyright Polygon
As the world preoccupies itself with what the delay of Grand Theft Auto 6 means for the gaming industry, a messier fight is underway right outside Rockstar. On Nov. 6, a crowd of people amassed at Rockstar's Edinburgh office to protest the recent firing of over 30 employees. Many of these protesters were holding up signs calling out Rockstar management or referencing Grand Theft Auto in some way. The protesters appear to be a mix of ex-staff, union representatives, and supporters of the cause. According to Rockstar, the group of workers who were recently let go had apparently leaked company secrets, Bloomberg reports. Former workers, however, dispute this narrative. During the protest, a representative of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) held up a megaphone to read an anonymous statement from an ex-staff member. The anonymous source says that they were fired without warning, evidence, or a chance to speak for themselves. "All because I talked with colleagues in a private union chat," the statement claimed. "We weren't leaking anything or trying to harm the company...we were trying to understand our workplace and make it better." Elsewhere, on a fan-led GTA Forum, a post by a supposed current employee detailed apparent workplace conditions at the famed studio. Though the account was anonymous, forum moderators say that the poster verified their identity to them privately. The post supported the story put forth by the IWGB regarding fast terminations, with added details about the people involved. As this post tells it, some of the affected staff had been at Rockstar for nearly two decades and had no history of infractions or poor behavior during that time, only to be dismissed without warning or explanation. The post noted that senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers, and producers were all let go, some of whom had worked on multiple noteworthy Rockstar games. The apparent Rockstar worker did note that employees had been discussing internal matters on a Discord server with more than 200 people, but reiterated that the discussions were kept private. The only people in the Discord, the post asserted, were other Rockstar employees and union organizers helping them fight for better conditions. The post doubled down on the idea that union efforts were primarily being done for the betterment of the company as a whole. Key issues outlined here were crunch, pay, and inflexible working arrangements. Crunch in particular is not only an industry-wide problem, but also one that Rockstar Games has been public about. In 2018, a Kotaku report outlined the apparent 100-hour work weeks that workers were undergoing at the time in order to meet deadlines for Red Dead Redemption 2. A 2018 profile of Rockstar founder Dan Houser showed the creator openly discussing throwing out a vast array of completed work, alongside a tendency to provide hundreds of versions of media like commercials. Though Rockstar management told Kotaku that crunch at that intensity had "only" lasted about a month, two years later Rockstar management vowed to improve the culture at the company to its workers. The memo that was sent out to employees promised better working arrangements, more leadership training, better communication overall, and safe avenues to voice concerns. The hope was to cut back on extended overtime. Now, five years later, the company is working on what might well become the biggest game of all time — and much like troubled development projects before it, has now been delayed multiple times. Though Polygon cannot verify the identity of the employee who posted on the GTA Forums, most of what they said aligns with previous reports about workplace conditions at Rockstar. The employee said that the people let go recently held key positions that could not easily be replaced, and would thus likely impact even GTA 6's new release date. Rockstar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement made to IGN, an IGWB rep said that the recent firings show that Rockstar management do not care about delays to the game. "Morale in the studio is at rock bottom," the apparent employee wrote on GTA Forums. "When we should be excited about what's to come over the next year we are now totally deflated and our trust and confidence in others is totally shot." The post also noted that recent firings have left remaining workers fearful to so much as acknowledge what is happening right outside studio doors. Though the fight between staff and management continues, there are efforts aside from the real-world protest meant to support staff who were recently let go. A fundraising campaign where the public can donate money notes that proceedings will go toward mounting a legal defense against Rockstar, and to continue asserting pressure on the company. "This is a seismic event for the gaming industry and the trade union movement, and we can only fight back with your support," the fundraiser reads.
