Behind the scenes of video game giant Rockstar Games, the atmosphere is no longer one of celebration. Since the end of October 2025, a series of massive layoffs has ignited the powder, triggering an unprecedented standoff between management and employees represented by the British union IWGB. At the heart of this storm: around thirty employees fired in the United Kingdom and Canada, and a question that agitates the entire video game community: is GTA 6 in danger?
Rockstar justifies this wave of dismissals as “serious misconduct”, claiming that the ex-employees would have distributed “confidential information” on a public forum. According to the company, this sharing took place via a Discord server bringing together both current employees and members of an external union. But this version of the facts is far from convincing all the observers, nor the people concerned.
Internal exchanges that trigger a storm
According to investigations carried out by the YouTube channel People Make Games, these internal discussions related to subjects very far from industrial secrets. Through authenticated screenshots, the media demonstrates that the exchanges were mainly aimed at discussing the rights of employees, their internal organization, and in particular policy changes linked to the use of Slack, the studio’s communication tool. No trace, according to their sources, of sensitive information relating to the development of GTA 6.
The IWGB union, very active in this matter, is not losing its temper. For him, there is no doubt that Rockstar tried to stifle a growing desire for union structure internally. The organization openly accuses the publisher of having wanted to “prevent the unionization of workers” and describes this massive dismissal operation as an “act of union repression”.
A climate of tension exacerbated since the 2022 leak
To understand the current tension at Rockstar Games, we have to go back to September 2022, when the studio was the victim of a massive leak around GTA 6. Since this event, management seems to have toughened its tone and drastically strengthened internal protocols. In April 2024, the company imposed a mandatory return to the office five days a week, a radical change after years of partial teleworking.
This more rigid climate could explain, in part, the way in which the Discord server affair was handled. The studio, scalded by past leaks, now seems disinclined to show tolerance in the face of anything that could even remotely resemble an internal threat. But for the employees concerned, the issue was not the safety of the game… but their rights.
GTA 6 affected indirectly, but seriously?
Officially, Rockstar has not communicated any information regarding a possible impact of this crisis on the development of Grand Theft Auto VI. However, recent events could well have repercussions in the medium term. Ua weakened team, a tense climate, heightened mistrust between management and staff…so many factors likely to slow down a project as colossal as GTA 6, for which the media pressure is already immense.
At a time when the slightest leak can ignite the networks, the slightest delay provoke cascading speculation, this crisis comes at the worst time for Rockstar. The studio’s social management is now scrutinized as much as its trailers. And all eyes are on the future: will Rockstar manage to emerge from this storm without compromising the most anticipated game of the decade?