A group of former Grand Theft Auto 6 developers accusing Rockstar Games of union busting and currently engaged in a legal battle with the studio doesn’t want players to boycott the game.
In a video posted by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, fired members of the union made clear how they would like fans to support them in their ongoing legal dispute with Rockstar.
“We’re going to make this easy for you,” the former devs state. “Don’t boycott GTA 6. Win justice for the people who helped make it.”
As the devs go on to explain, they all worked on GTA 6 for years and poured their “hard work, skill, and creativity” into making it. Rather than boycotting their work, they want people to experience what they helped build.
“But that doesn’t mean we want you to let Rockstar off the hook,” the devs said.
Instead, workers are calling on supporters to help in other ways, like buying a custom t-shirt. The proceeds will go towards supporting fired workers and their legal case.
That legal saga began on October 30, 2025, when 31 Rockstar employees at the studio’s UK office were fired without warning or explanation. All of the employees in question were members of the IWGB, and were helping to organize a studio-wide union at Rockstar. Despite the firing of many of its organizers, the union survived and is currently asking Rockstar to voluntarily recognize it..
The fired employees accuse their former studio of union busting, while Rockstar alleges the developers were fired for “gross misconduct” that included leaking confidential company information in a public forum. Rockstar denies the firings were related to union membership or activity.
A preliminary tribunal upheld the right of the workers to bring “blacklisting” allegations (the act of compiling information and discriminating against workers involved in union activity) against Rockstar in court, with the trial set to begin on September 10.
It’s perhaps for the best that former workers aren’t calling for a boycott, as it seems many players have already preordered GTA 6. Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two called GTA 6’s preorder numbers “unprecedented,” but doesn’t want to reveal them out of concern that they could be “misleading.”
With less than 100 days until release, we still have a lot of questions about GTA 6. An extended look at GTA 6 will debut on August 27 and will likely provide some answers.
