Rockstar Employees Will Vote on Union Recognition During GTA 6’s Launch Window
The Nov. 12 to 26 ballot spans GTA VI's scheduled preloading start and Nov. 19 console launch, with approval giving workers a formal voice on workplace decisions.
Rockstar Games employees in the UK will vote on recognition of the IWGB Rockstar Game Workers Union from Nov. 12 through Nov. 26. The ballot begins on the scheduled start o f Grand Theft Auto VI preloading and runs across the game’s scheduled Nov. 19 console launch.
The agreement being voted upon, the union added, will “grant workers a say over issues including pay and bonuses, overtime, redundancies, flexible working, and generative AI policies.” https://t.co/1W1Uzf7Nvs
— IWGB Game Workers (@IWGB_GW) October 27, 2026
Staff will cast an anonymous online ballot on a recognition agreement negotiated by management and union representatives. Employees have organized since 2019, requested formal recognition in June at Rockstar offices in Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds and London, and began talks over recognition terms in July.
If approved, the agreement would formally recognize the union and give workers a say on pay and bonuses, pensions, parental leave, overtime, redundancies, flexible working and generative AI policies. The IWGB says approval would create the UK’s largest formally recognized union in the games industry.
We're proud to share that in a few weeks' time, Rockstar staff will get to have their own say over union recognition. From pay and pensions to parental leave and overtime, this recognition agreement is a chance for workers to be involved in the decisions that shape their lives.
— RSGWU (@rsgworkersunion.bsky.social) 2026-10-27T18:51:05.715Z
Committee member Shanti Easton-Steel has pointed to transparency, the gender pay gap, changing overtime policies and job security after the game’s release as concerns employees want to address. She has argued that workers have difficulty tackling those problems when they cannot see how management reaches decisions that affect them.
Rockstar has not commented directly on the ballot. In Bloomberg’s look at Grand Theft Auto VI’s development, head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe said, “We go where the team goes. So if they want a union, they will have a union.”
The ballot also overlaps an employment tribunal case over Rockstar’s 2025 dismissals. Legal filings reviewed by Game Developer put the number of dismissed workers at 34 across the UK and Canada, including 31 union members. Twenty-three former employees are challenging their dismissals in Glasgow.
The IWGB alleges the dismissals were tied to union activity. Rockstar says the workers were dismissed after confidentiality breaches involving a Discord server and denies firing anyone for union activity. Lawyers for former employees also allege the company monitored organizing and singled out union members after membership crossed a threshold relevant to formal recognition. Rockstar argues that confidential material was shared in a Discord channel accessible to people outside the company. The studio’s 2025 explanation for the dismissals focused on the alleged confidentiality breaches.
Closing submissions in the tribunal are expected on Nov. 17 and 18, during the ballot and just before the game’s launch. The hearing ran beyond its original October timetable, and the tribunal has not announced when it will issue a decision.
Which workplace issue in the proposed agreement deserves the clearest employee voice? Follow the ballot and tribunal case alongside Grand Theft Auto VI’s launch on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam and Telegram.
