Staff at GTA 6 developer Rockstar will quickly get to vote on recognizing a union.
The union, IWGB Union at Rockstar, is for Rockstar’s UK-based builders. Rockstar North, based mostly in Edinburgh, Scotland, is one in every of Rockstar’s greatest outfits within the UK, and the lead developer on GTA 6.
The negotiating course of between the union and Rockstar administration took months, and the union, if acknowledged, would give staff a stronger seat on the desk for key points like pay and bonuses, extra time, generative AI insurance policies, work-from-home setups, and conditions involving layoffs.
The IWGB Rockstar Sport Staff Union would turn into the most important within the UK online game sector, if it is voted in.
The voting period–November 12-26–overlaps with the discharge of GTA 6 on November 19.
On the similar time, an employment tribunal over claims that Rockstar fired builders for making an attempt to type a union is coming to an in depth, with ultimate arguments set for November 17 and November 18. Greater than 30 IWGB members have been let go from Rockstar within the UK in October 2025, with the union saying Rockstar fired them for making an attempt to type a union. Rockstar, for its half, mentioned the staffers have been dismissed for leaking key particulars about Rockstar’s upcoming video games.
IWGB mentioned the Rockstar case for unionization is an particularly essential one within the UK as a result of the profile of Rockstar North–the developer of what’s anticipated to be the most important recreation of all time–could result in a extra widespread unionization push throughout gaming.
Rockstar publishing boss Jennifer Kolbe instructed Bloomberg lately, “We go the place the crew goes. So if they need a union, they’ll have a union.”
Rockstar Sport Staff Union Committee member Shanti Easton-Metal mentioned the studio has “the prospect to creating gaming historical past” with the upcoming unionization vote and the tribunal resolution.
“As all our arduous work, talent and creativity are skilled by GTA 6 gamers for the primary time, our voices will now be heard for the primary time too,” Easton-Metal mentioned. “When administration decisions are saved hidden, we are able to’t correctly tackle points just like the gender pay hole, the uneven and ever-changing insurance policies on extra time pay, or the considerations many co-workers maintain round job safety post-release.”
IWGB Union president Alex Marshall added, “For anybody who cares concerning the video games trade or the individuals who preserve it working, this vote is simply as historic as the sport launch. However for staff at Rockstar, it’s so rather more private: it’s essentially a selection about whether or not you get to have a say in how your day-to-day life is organized.”
Whereas the film trade in Hollywood and past are largely unionized, the identical is just not true for video video games. Unions are much more uncommon, however that is altering considerably, as increasingly more builders within the US and worldwide are unionizing. For instance, greater than 1,900 staff at Blizzard lately reached a unionization contract with Microsoft, with staff successful issues like assured raises, guardrails on AI, and extra.