Things are currently extremely intense at Rockstar Games. The firing of several employees here, the sudden release delay of GTA 6 there. The chaos is further amplified by an internal report from a developer painting a bleak picture.
What is happening at Rockstar Games? It all started with the report that the studio under Take-Two has fired between 30 and 40 employees for “gross misconduct”.
Many of those affected stated that this accusation was baseless and that they had been let go for wanting to strengthen their working conditions through a union. Public protests followed outside the Rockstar headquarters.
On November 6th, the news broke online that GTA 6 would be delayed from May 26, 2026, to November 19, 2026. The official reason: they needed additional time to bring the game to a level that fans expect and deserve. The recent firings were not mentioned at all.
Report from a “verified employee”
What does the new report reveal? In parallel with the announcement about the release delay of GTA 6, dexerto.com reports on the statements of a “verified employee” from Rockstar North on gtaforums.com.
This employee first reports how the firings of his colleagues were conducted.
Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were individually invited by the HR department for a short friendly chat, under the friendly pretense: “Hey, do you have time for a quick conversation?” During this chat, they received an envelope with a brief letter informing them that their employment was terminated due to “gross misconduct” regarding contributions in Discord.
When asked, they could not provide any evidence, and none were mentioned in the letter either. No further information or reasons were given. They were denied the right to union representation in the disciplinary hearing (which violates UK labor law) and were escorted out of the studio in less than 5 minutes.
According to the source, many employees in key positions were also affected, some of whom had been working at Rockstar for over 18 years – including experienced artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers, producers, and even executives.
For this employee, it is clear: these veterans cannot be easily replaced, which will impact the adherence to upcoming project deadlines. In other words: further delays seem probable from his perspective.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the recent actions have reportedly had a severely negative impact on the remaining employees.
Those of us who are lucky enough to stay for now work in fear! Fear when we talk while making tea, fear that we will be next, fear of being recklessly fired, too much fear to step outside the studio and talk to our colleagues (or even just greet them) who are protesting outside, for fear of reprisals. […]
Morale in the studio is at an all-time low, even though we should actually be looking forward to what is coming next year. Now we are completely demotivated and our trust in others is completely destroyed.
Every industry veteran you ask will confirm that you cannot work effectively in a creatively challenging environment like this. However, how this will actually affect the new release date of GTA 6 or the quality of the game remains to be seen.
Until the mega blockbuster is actually out, many developers and publishers looking to release a game at the end of 2026 or early 2027 will surely sleep restlessly. More on the current mood in the industry can be found here: The delay of GTA 6 is bad news for fans, but one group suffers even more from it
