Following the abrupt dismissal of more than thirty Rockstar Games developers across the company's UK and Canadian offices in late October 2025, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) staged a coordinated programme of demonstrations outside Take-Two Interactive's London headquarters and Rockstar North's Edinburgh studio. The protests, framed by the union as a response to "the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry," brought the previously low-visibility issue of UK games-industry labour organising into the national press only six months before the scheduled launch of Grand Theft Auto VI (Beckwith, 2025; Quach, 2025). The actions, which combined static pickets, chanting, social-media amplification on TikTok, and parallel legal claims at Employment Tribunal, mark the first time a major Western AAA studio has faced sustained street-level industrial action from an organised trade union representing developers (IWGB, 2025).
Rockstar's October 2025 terminations affected staff who had been participating in a private Discord channel used for trade-union communication, with the union alleging that all dismissed workers were either IWGB members or were actively organising colleagues to join (Quach, 2025). Take-Two Interactive publicly framed the dismissals as a response to "gross misconduct" involving the distribution of confidential information in a public forum, a characterisation the IWGB rejected as a retrospective rationalisation (Beckwith, 2025). The union's position was that internal organising conversations conducted in a closed, members-only channel constituted lawful trade-union activity protected under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and that the dismissals therefore amounted to unlawful victimisation and de facto blacklisting (IWGB, 2025).
The first major action took place on 6 November 2025, when the IWGB organised simultaneous demonstrations at two locations. In London, members gathered outside Take-Two Interactive's UK office in the morning, with union members chanting the slogan "What's disgusting? Union busting" while distributing leaflets to passing office workers and journalists (Beckwith, 2025). A second protest, scheduled for 1pm to 2pm the same afternoon, assembled outside Rockstar North's Edinburgh studio on Holyrood Road, the historic home of the Grand Theft Auto development team. IWGB president Alex Marshall told Metro that the London action "saw so many people from across the games sector and beyond stand up in defiance against this disgusting attempt to crush worker unity," adding pointedly that the demonstrations were "only just the start" and warning Take-Two that protesters would "not stop coming back until we get justice for these workers" (Beckwith, 2025).
The IWGB's campaign deployed a multi-channel strategy that combined physical pickets with viral digital organising. TikTok videos of the Edinburgh and London protests, posted via the union's @iwgbunion handle, accumulated significant engagement and drew solidarity messages from workers at other UK studios. By 13 November 2025, the union had escalated to legal action, issuing claims against Rockstar Games for unfair dismissal and trade-union detriment at the Employment Tribunal, while simultaneously coordinating an open letter signed by more than 220 current Rockstar employees demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 31 dismissed staff (IWGB, 2025; Quach, 2025). This staff letter was particularly significant because it indicated that the union's grievance was not confined to a fringe of activists but enjoyed substantial support inside the studios themselves, including from non-union employees concerned about the precedent the dismissals set.
The protests succeeded in attracting political attention. By May 2026, three Edinburgh Members of Parliament—Chris Murray, Dr Scott Arthur and Tracy Gilbert, all Scottish Labour—had issued a joint statement through the IWGB demanding "transparency and full cooperation" from Rockstar, criticising the company for refusing to engage properly with internal appeal processes and for offering shifting justifications for the dismissals (Beckwith, 2025; Quach, 2025). The continued visibility of the dispute, sustained by repeat protest actions outside the Edinburgh studio over the months following the initial demonstrations, demonstrates that street-level union action, when combined with legal claims and media engagement, can keep a labour dispute live in the public eye even against a corporate opponent with substantial PR resources.
The IWGB protests outside Rockstar's studios represent a watershed moment for organised labour in the UK games sector. They demonstrate that a small, independent union can impose meaningful reputational costs on one of the world's most valuable entertainment companies in the immediate run-up to the launch of its flagship product, and they have established a template—combining physical pickets, social-media amplification, legal action, and political lobbying—that other game-worker organising drives are likely to emulate.
Beckwith, M. (2025) 'GTA 6 studio faces two protests after "shameless" firing of 30+ staff', Metro, 6 November. Available at: https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/06/gta-6-studio-faces-two-protests-shameless-firing-30-staff-24633044/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
IWGB (2025) IWGB Issues Legal Claims Against Rockstar Over Unfair Dismissal of Staff. Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain. Available at: https://iwgb.org.uk/en/post/iwgb-issues-legal-claims-against-rockstar-over-unfair-dismissal-of-staff/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Quach, K. (2025) 'IWGB accuses Rockstar Games of "union busting"', The Register, 3 November. Available at: https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/03/rockstar_games_fires_staff_in/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Scottish Games Network (2025) 'Rockstar North Faces Union-Busting Allegations as 200+ Staff Condemn Dismissals', Scottish Games, 18 November. Available at: https://scottishgames.net/2025/11/18/rockstar-layoffs-open-letter-200-staff/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).