The legal troubles surrounding the venerated Grand Theft Auto studio, Rockstar Games, continue to pile up.
Several Rockstar employees (who wished to remain anonymous) stated in an interview with Game Developer that they accuse the company of failing to address gender-based pay inequity, encouraging "crunch culture" in the United Kingdom, using bonus payments against its workforce, and many more issues the company fails to address.
For starters, these employees claim that their compensation packages that Rockstar Games hands out change constantly with little to no justification. This lack of consistency means Rockstar Games' payment rates usually fall below the market rate when compared to other jobs.
"When the bonus is particularly good, it can be a windfall, but often the bonus is disappointing and one can end up being paid considerably less than expected for the year."
Anonymous Rockstar Game Workers Union member
The employees also stated the median wages for different genders have vastly widened, and plans to correct that imbalance have been cancelled.
Plus, they say Rockstar Games regulary shift goalposts whenever someone talks to the company about getting a promotion to make it harder for them, and that night shift workers no longer receive extra benefits when working during the late hours.
The anonymous employees say that these issues combined have created an "imbalanced and unjust" environment within Rockstar Games where people aren't getting rightfully paid for their hard work, especially for an upcoming, high-budget game like Grand Theft Auto 6.
"There are those [within Rockstar and Take-Two] with hundreds of millions of pounds, there are those receiving excellent pay for their work and are grateful, and there are certainly those that are woefully underpaid for their effort and the incredible profits gained. Especially when you consider that the company gets hundreds of millions in tax breaks for their UK workers,"
Anonymous Rockstar Game Workers Union member
To make matters more complicated, these anonymous employees informed Game Developer that RockStar Games has been attempting to normalize crunch culture by baking it into the contracts of its UK staff, forcing them to work many overtime hours for little reward.
"Crunch is prevalent enough that the company built into our contracts, as standard, an opt out of the Working Time Regulations [a UK employment right that can be vountairly relinquished by employees] that stops your employer being able to ask you to do more than about 10 hours extra each week,"
Anonymous Rockstar Game Workers Union member
Combine this with the potential threat of many Rockstar Games developers being laid off after Grand Theft Auto 6 launches, and union-busting allegations, and it's no wonder that its workers are attempting to unionize to protect their jobs.
When Take-Two Interactive, Grand Theft Auto's publisher, was approached regarding these unionization attempts, one of its spokesmen replied "We strive to make the best games possible by giving our talented teams world-class work environments and ongoing career opportunities. We have fostered a culture which is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness, and where we support and reward the team across all levels of the business through competitive compensation and benefits policies. We are proud that as a result, our employee retention is well above the industry standard. We have received a request from a union seeking to discuss voluntary recognition. We value an open and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and will arrange to meet."
Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to monitor for further developments regarding this chaotic shakeup within Rockstar Games and more news regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, which will be releasing on November 19, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
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