Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games have been busy. GTA 6 was delayed yesterday, news that broke alongside Take-Two’s quarterly earnings call. And just last week, Rockstar fired between 30 and 40 employees, claiming later that they were “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum” against company policy. The fired employees, however, say they were participating in a union-related Discord chat, and that their firing was “blatant” and “ruthless” union busting.
Amid all this, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is defending the company’s culture and labor record, saying Take-Two is “incredibly proud” of its labor relations.
Speaking to IGN yesterday ahead of the earnings announcement, Zelnick pointed me to Take-Two and Rockstar’s existing public statements when I asked if he had any response to the allegations of union busting, and reiterating that “we fully support Rockstar.”
So then I asked Zelnick, what is Take-Two’s stance on unions, generally? Zelnick did not reply to that specific question. But here’s what he did say:
“Here’s what we have a stance on. We value every one of our colleagues greatly. We have 13,500 colleagues worldwide. We’re so proud of our culture. In the last few years we’ve been recognized over 15 times as an employer of choice… we’ve been certified this year as a great place to work in the U.S. and UK, Forbes recently called us one of the world’s best employers, and further… our attrition rate is half or less of the industry average. To be specific, our global attrition rate is just over 6%, in the UK it’s less than 4%. The industry average is over 12%, and Rockstar is even lower than our average.”
“So, you know, the proof is in the pudding, and the food is good, and I think our culture is extraordinary. And we strive to be the most creative, most innovative, and most efficient company in the business. So that’s how we look at it. We’re incredibly proud of our labor relations.”
[A Take-Two spokesperson later clarified Rockstar’s global attrition rate is 4%, and in the UK it is “half that number.” IGN followed up to ask for the source of the over 12% industry average attrition. The spokesperson clarified it was for “entertainment and tech” and that the source was Take-Two’s own internal research: “we use a variety of related data platforms/sources to compile.”]
Zelnick’s response comes amid ongoing uproar over the firings, with affected employees and supporters picketing outside Rockstar and Take-Two’s UK offices yesterday. According to the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the only non-Rockstar people inside the private union Discord were union organizers. IWGB boss Alex Marshall issued IGN the following statement:
“Rockstar continue to deflect from the real reason for these dismissals: they are afraid of hard working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice. Management are showing they don’t care about delays to GTA 6, and that they’re prioritising union busting by targeting the very people who make the game.
“In recent years, Rockstar executives have benefited from £443 million in tax relief, while showing total disregard for the law or the livelihoods of their staff. At every turn, they’ve chosen profits over both workers and fans of their games. The only non Rockstar employees in the union Discord channel were union organisers.”
Rockstar maintains that the firings were for “gross misconduct, and for no other reason.”
This isn’t the first instance of labor unrest at the company. Last year, the studio asked employees to come to the office five days a week, citing a desire for both increased productivity and security following a massive leak of the in-development GTA 6 in 2022 and the day-early release of GTA 6 Trailer 1 the following year. The decision was criticized by workers affiliated with the IWGB, who said Rockstar broke promises with the forced return to office, and accused the studio of refusing to engage with workers on the issue.
GTA 6 is now scheduled for release on November 19, 2026.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
