It was revealed in early 2026 that Rockstar workers had formed the Rockstar Game Workers Union (RSGWU) in collaboration with the IWGB (Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain) Game Workers. Now, the RSGWU has officially announced that it is seeking union recognition at Rockstar ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, which is widely accepted as the most anticipated video game of all time. The unionization efforts follow allegations of union busting and alleged unfair dismissals in 2025, which saw the firing of 31 Rockstar workers. Take-Two, Rockstar's parent company, says the affected employees were fired as a result of breaching confidentiality by sharing information about GTA VI in a public forum.

According to the IWGB, all of the workers dismissed in 2025 were in talks to join the union, and that is the true reason behind the firing. Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, argues that "GTA VI has reportedly already generated more than $3 billion in pre-order sales. Rockstar bosses can easily afford to sit around the table with the people whose hard work created these games, and give them a meaningful voice in their workplace." There has been no shortage of layoffs in the gaming space recently, with Sony's Bungie recently confirming that it would be laying off almost all the staff who worked on Destiny 2 and part of the Marathon team. Xbox Game Studios is allegedly planning a substantial round of layoffs in its in-house game studios, Ubisoft workers are striking in response to layoffs, and the fall of games like Highguard, and the ensuing layoffs , have been well documented as well. It may be the RSGWU's fears that Rockstar will conduct all-too-common post-launch layoffs after Grand Theft Auto VI launches, since the gaming industry is currently in a volatile state, and Rockstar is reported to have spent as much as $3 billion on salaries for GTA VI alone.