With Rockstar Games’ announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6’s release date getting delayed having come shortly after the company fired over 30 of its employees, there have been questions about whether these were related incidents. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, however, the incidents reportedly don’t have anything to do with each other. Rather, the delay’s announcement happened because Take-Two Interactive had an earnings report today.
In his post on the ResetEra forums, Schreier noted that the firings wouldn’t have such a major impact on the game’s release just yet. Rather, these effects would be felt over the longer term leading up to the new November 19, 2026 date, with missed deadlines and loss of morale at the studio.
“This delay was not due to the firings last Thursday,” wrote Schreier on ResetEra. “While the fallout from those firings could certainly have a long-term impact on the project and lead to more missed deadlines in the future — due to those vacant roles, protracted legal battles, morale loss, etc. — the game did not slip six months because 34 people were fired a week ago. It was announced today because Take-Two reported earnings today.”
Reports of Rockstar Games having fired its employees first came up earlier this week, with the company stating that the firings took place due to “misconduct” by the employees. This action drew criticism from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which called the company out for what it believes to be efforts at union-busting.
“Rockstar has just carried out one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry,” said IWGB president Alex Marshall earlier this week. “This flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans and the global industry.”
More recently, an anonymous employee of Rockstar Games took to the GTA Forums to call the company out for the firings, noting that their colleagues were called to HR under the guise of a friendly chat before being fired without cause. They also noted that Rockstar had been partaking in spreading “a lot of disinformation and lies that are really concerning.”
“Let me make this clear! I never saw any discussion/leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord,” they wrote on the forums. “The only ever discussion was around unionisation efforts and the working conditions at [Rockstar Games]. The Discord wasn’t public. It was a private Discord group that only contained [Rockstar Games] employees and the IWGB Union officials.”
While there have been protests over the recent firings, Rockstar Games also recently announced that it needed more time to wrap up development on Grand Theft Auto 6, which ultimately led to the delay. It was previously slated for release in May 2026. Regardless of past assurances not panning out, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says he’s “highly confident” in the new date.
