LogInThe controversy around the most anticipated game went from 0 to 11 in a matter of days.
In less than a week, the controversy surrounding the industry's most anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto VI, along with its developer Rockstar and publisher Take-Two, has gone from virtually non-existent to the only thing everyone's talking about, with uncertainty over Rockstar's latest layoffs and GTA 6's unexpected delay sparking a single question across the gaming community: "Just what on earth is going on out there?"
Rockstar
For context, the controversy traces back to last Friday, when it was reported that Rockstar had laid off 30-40 employees. The reason for the firings was initially unclear, with The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) saying the workers were dismissed for attempting to unionize and Take-Two stating the firings were "for gross misconduct, and for no other reason."
In a follow-up statement, a Rockstar spokesman clarified that the "gross misconduct" referred to distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum in violation of company policy and was not retaliation for unionization – a claim the IWGB rejected and disputed.
And that would likely have been the end of it – some siding with the union, others with Rockstar, both sides still anxiously waiting for GTA VI – but mere hours ago, the debacle was given a second wind when the developers shared an unexpected announcement that the title would be further delayed to November 19, 2026, in order to "finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve."
Even though GTA 6's second delay was expected by about 40% of the community and defended by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who said the company has never regretted postponing releases – a rushed game is always bad, a delayed game is eventually good, we all know the quote – this particular delay, combined with the preceding layoffs kerfuffle, still had a negative impact on the game's creators, with Take-Two's stock dropping around 18% shortly after the announcement – even though the company's Q2 2026 financial report, released around the same time, showed growth across all key metrics.
Job cuts, delays, and weird stock price movements happening simultaneously have naturally grabbed all the attention, shifting focus from GTA 6 itself to the people making it – a situation only worsened by Rockstar and Take-Two's total secrecy.
Fortunately, there was one developer who broke the silence, taking to GTAForums to reveal the real reasons behind the recent firings and shed light on what's happening at Rockstar right now.
According to the dev, confirmed by GTAForums admin Spider-Vice to be a legit Rockstar employee, 34 workers – including veteran GTA creators, senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers, producers, and even some leads – were contacted by HR via message or call and told they had been terminated for "gross misconduct," with no explanation of what that meant in the letters or calls.
Going by Rockstar's own subsequent explanation as to what that term entailed, the anonymous employee noted that they never saw any discussion or leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord – the "public forum" mentioned by Rockstar's spokesman – and the only conversations were about unionization efforts and working conditions. Moreover, the Discord group in question was private, containing only Rockstar employees and IWGB Union officials, so even if some information was accidentally shared, the chances of it leaving the group were minimal.
The dev adds that the workers who were in the Discord group but weren't fired now "work in fear," worried they could be next. Many are so scared that they avoid leaving the studio or even acknowledging colleagues protesting near Rockstar's Edinburgh office, fearing potential reprisals.
"This was Union Busting and nothing else," the post reads. "Everyone fired was a Union Member, they were also predominantly from those who were on the Union Organising Committees of each UK studio.
Just one week before, the Union had reached ~200 members, taking us over the 10% threshold required to seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining. Allowing us to negotiate directly with management on the key issues that affect us: worsening crunch, inadequate pay, and inflexible working arrangements.
They have fired over 34 of us now. There were over 250 of us in that Union/Employee Discord group. There is the fear that if they get away with this, they'll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again.
Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. 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."
As of this writing, Rockstar and Take-Two have yet to respond to the GTAForums post. The unfortunate reality is that it's entirely possible they never will, brushing all the events of the past week under the rug, fully aware that they can say or do virtually anything and still sell millions of copies and generate billions of dollars with GTA 6 because, well, it's GTA 6.
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