Rockstar staff set to make historic decision during GTA 6 launch as major vote confirmed

If you're a member of staff at Rockstar Games, chances are you're a little busy right now with the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI. It's been 13 years since the last full GTA game was released, and while we've had various remakes, rereleases, and a never-ending slew of updates from GTA Online, you're ravenous for another game to sink the next decade of your lives into.

Although GTA VI was delayed from its original fall 2025 release, and then pushed to May 2026, it's now locked in for November 19.

We already know when you'll be able to preload GTA VI, but away from the game itself, Rockstar is preparing for something that could be equally important.

Recognition of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain at Rockstar North in Edinburgh will be put to an employee vote between November 12 and 26.

Months of negotiations took place between the IWGB and Rockstar, notably following the clash of 31 workers being fired in October 2025. We previously reported that the staffers were let go amid accusations that they'd been leaking company secrets, which led to immense backlash.

The IWGB filed legal action over the 'unacceptable and unlawful' dismissal, maintaining that Rockstar refused to negotiate and accusing it of union busting.

As well as 220 staff signing a petition in support of the fired workers, the UK government even stepped in to call for discussions about protecting the rights of workers.

The IWGB vote will also overlap with the closing submissions of the employment tribunal, which are set for November 17 to 18.

A potential deal looks to give workers a say on issues ranging from pay and bonuses to overtime, flexible working hours, redundancies, and generative AI policies.

Casting your minds back, the record-breaking release of Red Dead Redemption 2 was somewhat marred by claims of a 'crunch culture'. Although Rockstar tried to debunk co-founder Dan Houser's comments about staff working 100-hour weeks in the run-up to RDR2's release, and said the average working week was no more than 60 hours, former and current developers at various studios pushed back against the company's official stance.

In terms of the IWGB vote, Rockstar has suggested it's willing to work on union recognition, with Rockstar Head of Publishing Jennifer Kolbe telling Bloomberg: “We go where the team goes. So if they want a union, they will have a union."

Calling the IWGB Union vote "just as historic as the game release," Alex Marshall, President of the IWGB Union, added: But for workers at Rockstar, it is so much more personal: it is fundamentally a choice about whether you get to have a say in how your day-to-day life is organised."

Bloomberg notes that Rockstar had 2,441 employees when RDR2 was released, but has now climbed to 4,711 staff spread across 12 offices.

Rockstar union committee member Shanti Easton-Steel similarly cheered the vote, telling Aftermath it comes down to "ensuring employees at Rockstar get honesty and openness surrounding the decisions that affect them."

Hoping for a more transparent future, Easton-Steel concluded: "When management choices are kept hidden, we can’t properly address issues like the gender pay gap, the uneven and ever-changing policies on overtime pay, or the concerns many co-workers hold around job security post-release.”