GTA 6: Rockstar workers demand union recognition.

An association has called on Grand Theft Auto 6 maker Rockstar Games to resolve issues regarding working conditions for developers.

The blockbuster video game release in November is expected to be one of the most successful of all time.

The Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) video game workers union has called for official recognition of Rockstar, seeking to address pay transparency, flexible working arrangements and overtime estimates.

Last October, some of its members took legal action against the company, claiming they were illegally fired by union action. Rockstar strongly denied this and accused them of gross misconduct.

The IWGB said members at Edinburgh-based Rockstar, which has UK studios in Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds and London, began organizing in 2019 and had seen improvements in working conditions since then.

“Unprecedented” average salary increases and financial incentives were offered to “crunch” — a video game industry term for excessive, sometimes unpaid, part-time work involved in the release of a game.

Articles published around Rockstar’s last big game, Red Dead Redemption 2; The practice is widespread in the company, ExternalAlthough he denied claims that it had been implemented.

More recent reports from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, External The company tried to avoid excessive overtime on GTA 6.

The union said official recognition would allow it to open formal channels to discuss issues such as Crunch, transparency and working with Rockstar management.

UK workers can join a union without formal recognition, but membership of a legal union gives them extra rights and protections, the IWGB said.

Currently, the only UK studio with a recognized association is ZA/UM, developer of the RPG Disco Elysium.