Fired Rockstar Workers Ask You Not to Boycott GTA 6

The Rockstar workers who were fired in October 2025 have a message for anyone thinking about boycotting GTA 6 on their behalf. They would rather you bought it. What they want instead is help with a legal fight that reaches its final hearing next month, five weeks of tribunal that sit almost exactly between the Extended Look on August 27 and the game's release on November 19. CONFIRMED, re-verified at the primary source. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain published the appeal on Tuesday 18 August 2026 at 08:36. Jack Hoxby, a member of the IWGB Game Workers Branch, is quoted verbatim: "We poured years of our lives into helping build this game. We don't want you to boycott it. We want you to help us fight for justice." And on what supporters should do instead: "Buy one of our T-shirts. You'll be helping to win justice for us and to defend the right of workers everywhere to come together and unionise." The union's post says the final hearing of the workers' legal proceedings begins in Glasgow next month, and asks supporters to buy union merchandise rather than boycott, so that when the game arrives in November they can enjoy it "knowing that you had the backs of the people who made it". Should I boycott GTA 6 over the Rockstar firings? The workers themselves say no. That is the whole point of the campaign they launched on 18 August, and it is unusual enough to be worth stating plainly, because the boycott framing normally arrives before the affected workers get a say in it. REPORTED (Kotaku, Zack Zwiezen, 18 August 2026). Kotaku carries the campaign's own line: "Don't boycott GTA 6. Win justice for the people who helped make it." The same piece quotes the workers describing the dismissals as "one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry", and describing themselves as "a small, grassroots union with limited legal capacity taking on a multi-billion pound company". Kotaku also states Rockstar's position, which is that the workers were fired for leaking information about GTA 6. We are attributing that to Kotaku deliberately. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two gave Kotaku a statement, and a line frequently circulated as Take-Two's response is one that neither our researchers nor our editor could retrieve in an actual page, so we are not printing it as a quote. How many workers were dismissed The figure varies by source and we could not reconcile it. The union's own count is 31 members dismissed in October 2025, stated in an IWGB post of 30 June 2026 that we re-verified at the primary source. Game Developer says over 30. Kotaku says over 30. So the honest way to write it is 31 by the union's own count, reported elsewhere as more than 30, and we are leaving it there rather than picking whichever number reads best. The tribunal runs for five weeks in Glasgow, sitting between the Extended Look on August 27 and the November 19 launch. What the tribunal has already decided CONFIRMED, re-verified. Game Developer's Chris Kerr, Senior Editor News, reported on 17 June 2026 that the trial runs from 10 September to 15 October 2026, and that the tribunal refused Rockstar's application to strike the blacklisting allegations out of the case. Those allegations now go to trial. That is a procedural ruling rather than a verdict, and the distinction matters. The tribunal has not found that anything happened. It has decided that the blacklisting claims raise questions serious enough to be heard rather than dismissed in advance. Ellie Dunstan, one of the dismissed workers, in that piece, verbatim: "Our case will now be heard in full and put to the test as it should be." Spring McParlin-Jones, chair of the IWGB Game Workers Branch, verbatim: "The tribunal has refused to let Rockstar off the hook, finding that serious factual questions remain about how these workers were identified, listed and dismissed." We are not going to editorialise on the merits. The case is not decided, both sides have a position, and a five week hearing exists precisely because the facts are contested. The union is also asking Rockstar for recognition CONFIRMED, re-verified at the primary source. IWGB's post of 30 June 2026 sets out a second front. The union has filed for voluntary recognition across five UK Rockstar sites: Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds and London. Its stated asks are pay transparency, flexible working and action on crunch. Alex Marshall, IWGB President, verbatim: "Many people assumed that Rockstar dismissing 31 union members last year would weaken organising at the company." Josh Walter, a Senior QA Tester at the Lincoln site, verbatim: "Rockstar leads the industry in the games we create. We believe it can also lead the industry in how it treats the people who make them." CONFIRMED NEGATIVE. A researcher checked the IWGB Game Workers blog for an outcome and found no August 2026 post at all. Its latest entries are dated 15 July 2026, 30 June 2026 and 17 June 2026. No recognition decision has been announced there, so as of 20 August we cannot tell you whether Rockstar has accepted the bid, rejected it, or said nothing. The calendar puts this in front of everyone Look at the dates side by side. The Extended Look premieres on 27 August. The tribunal opens on 10 September. It closes on 15 October. Grand Theft Auto VI releases on 19 November. The single largest marketing push in this industry's history will be running while a court in Glasgow hears whether the people who worked on the game were lawfully dismissed. That collision is exactly what makes the workers' position notable. A boycott campaign would have had leverage in those weeks. The people with the most cause to call for one have asked supporters not to, and pointed them at a merchandise store instead. What is and is not established Confirmed (IWGB, 18 August 2026, re-verified at the primary source): Jack Hoxby's appeal, verbatim, asking supporters not to boycott and to buy union merchandise instead. The final hearing begins in Glasgow next month. Confirmed (Game Developer, Chris Kerr, 17 June 2026, re-verified): the trial runs 10 September to 15 October 2026, and the tribunal refused Rockstar's application to strike the blacklisting allegations out. Quotes from Ellie Dunstan and Spring McParlin-Jones are verbatim from that report. Confirmed (IWGB, 30 June 2026, re-verified at the primary source): 31 union members dismissed in October 2025 by the union's own count, recognition filed across Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds and London, with asks on pay transparency, flexible working and crunch. Quotes from Alex Marshall and Josh Walter are verbatim. Reported (Kotaku, Zack Zwiezen, 18 August 2026): the campaign line, the union busting characterisation, the grassroots union description, and Rockstar's position that the workers were fired for leaking information about GTA 6. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two gave Kotaku a statement. Varies by source: the headcount. 31 by the union's own count, more than 30 per Game Developer and Kotaku. We could not reconcile the figure and are not printing a number we cannot stand behind. Confirmed negative: the IWGB Game Workers blog carries no August 2026 post, so no recognition outcome has been announced there and we cannot say how Rockstar has responded to the bid. Not printed: a widely circulated Take-Two line about the dismissals. It appears in search results, but neither our researchers nor our editor could retrieve it in a page, so it is not quoted here. Explicitly not claimed: that the dismissals were lawful or unlawful. That is what the tribunal is for, and it sits from 10 September to 15 October. We will report the outcome when the tribunal reaches one, with the sourcing shown, on our news page. If you are lining up somewhere to play from 19 November, our servers list is the place to start.