GTA 6 developers Rockstar respond to Keir Starmer’s concerns

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 12/12/2025

Rockstar Games insists Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 developers were fired for leaking “confidential information” despite the UK government’s concerns.

On October 31st, over 30 employees were fired by Rockstar Games, to which said employees accused the publisher of “union busting.”

This ongoing issue was then brought up in UK parliament this week, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer labelling the situation as “deeply concerning.”

GTA 6 has been delayed a second time, leaving a 13-year wait between the two major AAA titles.

UK Government and Keir Starmer question Rockstar

During Prime Minister’s Question Time on December 10th, Labour MP Chris Murray brought up the Rockstar situation following multiple protests.

The MP of Edinburgh, where one of Rockstar’s studios is based, says he had meetings with Rockstar which “failed to reassure” his union-busting concerns.

He then asked Starmer whether he agrees that “All companies, regardless of size, must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union.”

Starmer responded by calling it “a deeply concerning case” and insisted:

“We’re determined to strengthen workers’ rights and ensure they don’t face unfair consequences for being part of a union.”

Starmer then said that ministers will further investigate the case and keep Murray updated.

Rockstar addresses UK government’s concerns

Despite public concerns from the Prime Minister, Rockstar has doubled down on claiming that the firings were not an attempt to union-bust.

Speaking to IGN, Rockstar maintained that the dismissed employees had “distributed and discussed confidential information in a public forum.”

The Rockstar Spokeperson stated:

“Rockstar Games took action against a small group of individuals, across the UK and internationally, who distributed and discussed confidential information (including specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles) in a public forum, in breach of company policy and their legal obligations. Claims that these dismissals were linked to union membership or activities are entirely false and misleading.”

IWGB refutes latest Rockstar statement

However, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, IWGB, responded with its own statement and heavily rejected Rockstar’s claims:

“Rockstar’s latest statement is littered with falsehoods and disinformation – they have given multiple, conflicting reasons to explain why the workers were fired, as if attempting to reverse engineer a rationale for the dismissals.

“Once again, they have chosen to mischaracterise workers speaking about their working conditions in a private forum as ‘leaking information.’ 

“It is hard to understand this statement as anything but a desperate attempt to deflect from the global scrutiny they have come under over the last month.

“From the UK Prime Minister in the House of Commons, to the game developers across the world erupting in protest – all eyes are on Rockstar and their lawless attack on the people who make them their billions.”

However, Rockstar then fired back again with another comment provided to IGN, which read:

“As we suspected and as evidenced by the response to our statement, they have no idea who was in this Discord.”

There are fears that the employee cuts could delay the highly anticipated GTA 6 once again.

The uncertainty is affecting the entire gaming industry as GTA 6’s eventual release could derail other AAA releases.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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