Rockstar UK workers to vote on union recognition with AI policy role

More than 1,600 Rockstar Games employees in the United Kingdom are due to vote on union recognition from Nov. 12 to 26, in a ballot that could create what the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain calls the country’s largest recognised union in the games sector.

The proposed recognition agreement would give workers a say over pay and bonuses, overtime, redundancies, flexible-working arrangements and policies on generative AI. The ballot period runs through Rockstar’s planned Nov. 19 launch of “Grand Theft Auto VI.”

The bargaining unit would cover nearly every role at Rockstar’s UK studios below director level. It would not extend to the company’s worldwide workforce, which stood at 4,711 people across 12 offices as of August, including large studios in the United States and India.

Rockstar workers and management have been meeting on a recognition deal since July, according to Kotaku. Workers had sought voluntary recognition before the launch of “Grand Theft Auto VI,” but the question instead moved to a formal vote.

The Rockstar Game Workers Union, which is affiliated with the IWGB, was publicly formed on May 28. Its prospective scale would make it a significant UK games-sector organisation, although it would remain smaller than the roughly 1,900 workers covered by union contracts at Microsoft-owned Blizzard in the United States.

Those Blizzard agreements require the company to discuss, evaluate and bargain over workplace AI use. They also set terms on pay, hybrid work, grievances, layoffs, remote-work accommodations and severance, illustrating the range of workplace issues that can be addressed through collective bargaining, though the Rockstar ballot concerns a separate UK recognition arrangement.

Separately, Rockstar dismissed 34 workers across the UK and Canada in October 2025. The IWGB alleged that union activity was a factor, while Rockstar said the dismissals were for gross misconduct and were unrelated to union membership or activity. A Glasgow employment tribunal is hearing unfair-dismissal claims brought by 23 former staff represented by the union, with proceedings expected to continue into November.