GTA VI Devs Accuse Rockstar of Gender Pay Gap, Mandating Crunch, and No Bonus Transparency - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 July 2026 / 5,296 Views
Three members of the Rockstar Game Workers Union (RGWU) that have chosen to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisal in an interview with Game Developer have accused the developer of failing to address gender-based pay inequity, mandating crunch, and weaponizing bonus payments against employees.
The three people are accusing Rockstar failing the people responsible for developing Grand Theft Auto VI, which is expected to have one of the largest video game launches in history.
They have claimed a lack of transparency around pay and bonuses, and a decent portion of compensation packages for employees are in the form of bonuses that fluctuate wildly. This means the compensation received will often fall below the market rate when compared with adjacent industry work.
"When the bonus is particularly good, it can be a windfall, but often the bonus is disappointing and one can end up being paid considerably less than expected for the year. The reasoning given for this is often nebulous, inconsistent between departments, even inconsistent between team members within the same department, and sometimes hinges on completely subjective or retroactive criticisms," said one source.
"The main problem is that [bonuses and progression are] all completely discretionary for the company, and they are under no obligation to show their working. Employees want good pay, and if literally anything they do that year could affect it, they will naturally feel they have to be as pliable as possible to their boss's whims. Imagine [how you might feel if] a fifth of your salary could be withheld without any justification or based on a single surprise factor."
The sources claim the median gender gap pay has actually increased at Rockstar and any effort to address it have been scrapped. It was also claimed that nightshift employees no longer receive any extra benefits to offset their unsociable hours.
One source added, "There are those [within Rockstar and Take-Two] with hundreds of millions of pounds, there are those receiving excellent pay for their work and are grateful, and there are certainly those that are woefully underpaid for their effort and the incredible profits gained. Especially when you consider that the company gets hundreds of millions in tax breaks for their UK workers."
Rockstar has also attempted to normalize crunch, according to the sources.
"Crunch is prevalent enough that the company built into our contracts, as standard, an opt out of the Working Time Regulations [a UK employment right that can be voluntarily relinquished by employees] that stops your employer being able to ask you to do more than about 10 hours extra each week," said one source.
"The union successfully ran a campaign to inform people they could opt back in to the regulations at any time, which resulted in Rockstar management simplifying the process and removing the obligation to meet with HR. Part of the problem with crunch is that there is not an agreed definition, and now it seems the company thinks that offering specific and limited compensation as an incentive for overtime means it no longer qualifies as crunch."
Another sources stated, "For us workers, we have no say in who our superiors are. We must try to work with them regardless and hope that they are more interested in engaging with their employees to build some mutual trust moving forward."
"If it seems like a big risk to unionize, it is worth remembering that plenty of non-union members lose their jobs unfairly every year, the difference is that it happens with no scrutiny. And if you think organizing will not make a difference, it already has," said a source.
"Since October, there have been unprecedented average wage increases in represented studios, for the first time ever there is actually some financial incentive for crunch, and several other policies are changing after years of frustration. The timing is not coincidental—organizing works."
A Take-Two Interactive spokesperson provided the following statement, "We strive to make the best games possible by giving our talented teams world-class work environments and ongoing career opportunities. We have fostered a culture which is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness, and where we support and reward the team across all levels of the business through competitive compensation and benefits policies.
"We are proud that as a result, our employee retention is well above the industry standard. We have received a request from a union seeking to discuss voluntary recognition. We value an open and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and will arrange to meet."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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they should quit and go find a better employer if true, if i was treated unfairly im out of there!
TLDR version of article: "Unions are great, everyone should unionize" says unnamed union rep, err I mean unnamed overworked/underpaid employee.
I always stand with the workers and unions!
Gaming at this point is nearly only bad news everyday all the time.
Insane times.
GTA6 has been in development for 8-12 years...
If they had to crunch to get it across the finish line, I can only assume a lot of people in the group project weren't carrying their own weight
Doesn't seem like a RockStar issue to me, rather your fellow coworkers
Rockstar said the game didn't start full production until 2020.
They're notorious for crunch culture.
I mean its definitley both but the thing is, we say that Western Studios aren't allowed to crunch but we praise the Chinese studios for allowing it. I mean after all this time and two delays, they need to get this thing out. Also, from the tone of the piece, I got the idea that these three people were apart of the QA department. Just something I noticed.
Also, Rockstar's final statement here seems very promising.
