SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents nearly 200,000 actors, musicians and more have released a statement in response to a recent news story involving Rockstar Games. Many of those who perform in Rockstar Games titles, including GTA 6, are part of SAG-AFTRA.
Last week, it was alleged by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) that Rockstar had fired around 40 developers from their UK and Canadian offices for an attempt to organise a union. The IWGB called this “the most ruthless” and “most brazen act of union busting the games industry has ever seen.”
Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two responded by saying the developers were sacked for “gross misconduct, and for no other reason”. This was not elaborated on. The IWGB are continuing to pursue the reinstatement of the affected employees.
SAG-AFTRA Statement
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA released a statement on the official Twitter account:
“SAG-AFTRA stands in solidarity with the IWGB Game Workers Union exercising their right to organize following reports of union-busting at Rockstar. Our members’ union performances on Rockstar games are an integral part of the success and legacy of games like Grand Theft Auto.”
This is some deal given how large of a union SAG-AFTRA is. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops. Over the past few days, many GTA fans have taken Rockstar’s side whilst industry professionals have continued to push back against the apparent actions taken by Rockstar.
During the recent actors and voice actors strikes, SAG-AFTRA confirmed GTA 6 would be unaffected. Projects were only part of the strike if they started production after September 2023. GTA 6 started development around late 2018 according to former developers that have worked on it. This is a lot less time than most people think.
What do you think of the situation? Let us know down in the comments section below. In other GTA 6 news, gameplay of it could face restrictions on YouTube following an update to the platforms policy. Learn more here.
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