With Grand Theft Auto VI expected to generate billions of dollars for Take-Two’s shareholders, a very different story is unfolding behind the scenes: the people recently laid off are begging the company – and the public – to reckon with the “human cost” of those decisions. Protests over the dismissal of 34 employees are still going strong outside Rockstar’s Edinburgh office, and staff anger shows no sign of fading.

Rockstar’s latest controversy is growing more serious by the day. The dismissal of more than 30 workers last October has triggered public protests outside the Edinburgh headquarters and fueled criticism of what many see as a completely unjust situation. The company insists it fired these employees for misconduct and for leaking confidential information related to Grand Theft Auto VI, while those affected maintain they were targeted because they were organizing a union. Tensions are rising, and the developers are now asking everyone to take seriously the “human cost” of the maneuver carried out by Take-Two’s subsidiary in recent weeks.

Dexerto joined several of the laid-off developers during a new demonstration in front of Rockstar’s Edinburgh offices. Surrounded by signs declaring that “unions don’t break”, former staff members accused the company of unfair dismissals and of imposing damaging working conditions in the run-up to the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI. In their view, the current conflict is a symptom of deeper structural problems inside the studio, just as pressure around the next big release, GTA 6, continues to mount.

The affected workers describe Rockstar as “a gigantic international corporation, a machine that creates billions in value for its foreign shareholders in an industry rife with labor exploitation, unfair practices, and unreasonable working conditions”. They also argue that the company has been cashing in on “hundreds of millions in tax breaks that were originally designed to promote British values”.

“Grand Theft Auto VI is going to make billions, there is no doubt about it. Investors will get richer, fortunes will be made, but I want people to think about the human cost. Burned-out people, destroyed careers, shattered lives,” the former Rockstar developers say. They stress that the problem does not stop at Take-Two’s doorstep: similar situations are playing out at other studios across the industry, which, in their view, proves how urgently stronger protections for workers are needed.

Life Plans That Have Come To An End

One of the former employees, who had spent four years in Rockstar’s QA department before being abruptly let go, recounts what his life was like in the months leading up to his dismissal. “At first I was scared, hesitant to get involved. Like many of my colleagues in QA, I always felt I was a bit more expendable and less valued than people in other departments,” he explains. “I thought that by joining the union, I would be turning myself into an easy target. No one should ever feel that way when they are trying to organize in their workplace.”

“The 34 of us affected by this are no different,” he continues. “We all had plans that depended on keeping our jobs at Rockstar. We had plans for financial stability. My friends who were laid off had plans to support their families and children. They depended on health insurance they could no longer take for granted. They had plans that did not include the possibility of being deported from the country we now call home.” “One of our friends, in particular, had plans that did not include being summarily fired while on paternity leave, just nine days after the birth of his second child. This is the human cost of this decision – the human cost that was never taken into account when the decision was made so brazenly and recklessly, because it is not the kind of number you can simply plug into a spreadsheet.”

Things have changed inside Rockstar as well. According to one developer who was not directly affected by the wave of layoffs, the team is now working “in fear”, and morale has hit rock bottom. Meanwhile, their colleagues protesting in Edinburgh continue to work with the IWGB union to fight for their reinstatement. More than 200 employees have already signed a letter supporting the idea that those who were dismissed should be allowed to return to their former positions.

Source: 3djuegos