UK MPs Blast Rockstar for Stonewalling Union-Busting Case

"Silence and closed doors." That's how three Scottish Labour MPs are describing Rockstar's response to an ongoing legal dispute over the firing of 34 workers last October, in what has become one of the most politically charged labour disputes the games industry has seen in years.

The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents the dismissed staff, says Rockstar has failed to cooperate with basic disclosure requests, refused to provide full evidence and investigation reports, and denied workers their right of appeal. According to a press release issued today by the MPs, the studio's behaviour throughout the legal process has been anything but transparent. Rockstar has maintained that the employees were fired for gross misconduct, claiming they broke confidentiality rules by sharing private information via Discord. The IWGB insists the Discord server was set up to discuss union efforts, and that every fired UK worker was a member of the union.

Chris Murray, MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, said he has "held concerns with both the handling and motivation" behind the dismissals since his first meeting with affected constituents. "Constituents have lost their jobs, their income, with one constituent even forced to leave the country due to the removal of their visa sponsor," Murray stated. He added that Rockstar's justification for the dismissals "has varied throughout this process," which, look, is exactly the kind of inconsistency that makes a company's position harder to defend publicly. Tracy Gilbert, MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, called it "extremely disappointing" that Rockstar has "refused to properly engage with staff, representatives and trade unions." A third MP, Dr. Scott Arthur of Edinburgh South West, said that after visiting Rockstar's offices late last year, the principles of openness and fairness he discussed with senior management "are not being consistently upheld in practice."

This isn't a story that appeared out of nowhere. Back in December, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the dismissals "deeply concerning" during Prime Minister's Questions, and a ministerial investigation was initiated. More than 200 employees at Rockstar North signed a letter to management condemning the firings. An employment tribunal earlier this year ruled that the dismissed workers did not qualify for interim financial relief, with Judge Frances Eccles noting that three employees fired in Canada were not IWGB members, which she said undercut the argument that union membership was the sole reason for dismissal. A full tribunal hearing both sides' evidence is still to come.

What Rockstar Claims Happened

The specifics of what triggered the firings remain contested. Rockstar says the employees leaked features for upcoming and unannounced titles in the Discord server. The IWGB's version, supported by an in-depth investigation by People Make Games, is that the staff discussed an internal Rockstar management message about changes to the company's Slack policy. Sharing and discussing that internal policy is what Rockstar allegedly used as legal justification. The gap between "leaked unannounced game features" and "discussed a workplace communication policy" is enormous, and the full tribunal will need to determine which account holds up.

I've covered a lot of studio controversies over the years, and the pattern here is familiar: a major publisher goes quiet, lawyers up, and hopes the news cycle moves on. What's different this time is that elected officials aren't letting it move on. Three MPs putting their names on public statements accusing one of the biggest game studios in the world of obstructing a legal process is a serious escalation. Dr. Arthur's statement explicitly framed this as a test case for the UK government's expansion of workers' rights, saying MPs "have a duty to challenge unfair employment practices and unjust dismissals." When a labour dispute gets folded into a government's legislative agenda, the stakes change completely.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was recently asked about the situation and responded by defending the company's culture, saying the Rockstar parent company was "incredibly proud of our labor relations." That's a corporate non-answer to a question that deserves a real one, especially when the accusation on the table is that your subsidiary won't even hand over documents or grant appeal hearings. Being proud of your labour relations while three MPs publicly accuse you of stonewalling workers is a contradiction that PR polish can't resolve.

All of this is playing out while Rockstar prepares to release Grand Theft Auto 6, expected to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S this November. The studio's silence on the labour dispute stands in stark contrast to the frenzy surrounding that game, where fans are so starved for information they're tracking foot traffic at a café near Rockstar North to predict trailer drops and harassing content creators and their families for scraps of news. Rockstar clearly knows how to control a narrative when it wants to. The fact that it's choosing total silence on the union case, while 34 people's livelihoods hang in the balance, tells you where its priorities are.