Rockstar’s firing of 34 workers (31 at its Rockstar North studio in Scotland, 3 in Canada at Rockstar Toronto) has been the big topic of conversation around the studio at a time when it realistically should be more about why Grand Theft Auto VI was delayed. While Rockstar alleges that the fired workers were distributing and discussing confidential information, the fired workers, the IWGB (Independent Workers of Great Britain) and other Rockstar employees deny these allegations, claiming the fired workers were simply discussing work policies.
Since the dismissal of the 34 workers was made public last month, there have been demonstrations at Rockstar and Take-Two offices across the world, most notably at Rockstar North in Edinburgh and at Take-Two offices in Paris, London, and New York. On Friday, December 12, that stretched to Canada, where a small group of protestors, comprising representatives from the Communications Workers of America Canada (CWA Canada), local game developers, academics, and labour organizers, braved the cold to protest and make their presence known at Rockstar Toronto.
And make themselves known they did, as the small group of seven, not including myself and CBC’s Jonathan Ore, who were the only two press representatives there, “Definitely caused a bit of a stir at the office.” That’s how Declan Peach, a local game developer and former IWGB organizer who now works and lives in Toronto, described the demonstration to me on the train ride back into the city from Oakville.
“The fact that they closed the blackout blinds, I think, suggests that it was effective,” added Felan Parker, professor of media studies at the University of Toronto, whose research and teaching mostly relate to the video game industry, and who was also in attendance to show solidarity with the fired workers.
I followed and spoke to the group of protestors at the Oakville GO transit station in Oakville, a town within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), at midday on Friday, as they made the short walk from the station to Rockstar Toronto, putting up posters along the way, going to the studio with the intention of delivering some literature outlining their solidarity for those fired workers.
The CWA Canada representatives, Katherine Lapointe and Nasr Ahmed, had set up this demonstration as a show of solidarity. Following the protest, Ahmed spoke to Ore and me together about why he and Lapointe were there and the message they wanted this action to send.
“When CWA Canada and CWA’s direct-join video game workers union, United Video Game Workers, had heard about what had happened at Rockstar, we wanted to throw our full weight, our full solidarity behind these workers. But to also show the workers on the inside that they cannot simply discipline workers for talking about working conditions without a response from the broader community.”
Of the 34 fired workers, only three are based here in Canada; the other 31 are all based in the UK, and all of them are part of the unionization effort growing at Rockstar. Ahmed told us that the three workers fired from Rockstar Toronto were not actively engaging in efforts to unionize their studio, but that they were fired because they were “caught up in this” with the other 31, “simply for being in the UK-based organizing Discord.”
Even if the three fired workers from Rockstar Toronto weren’t actively engaging in getting their studio unionized, their involvement in that server suggests that they at least want to be in proximity to organizing efforts. Although they would not be involved in any of the UK efforts, it would make sense for them to be part of the UK-based Discord server to gain knowledge as to how they may want to lead their own organizing efforts, if that was indeed the reason they were involved in the server in the first place.
And that was the case, according to one of the three workers fired from Rockstar Toronto, who spoke to Wccftech under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. They confirmed their involvement in the Discord server they described as being run “by and for employees,” and confirmed that the founding members were all members of the IWGB. “We were there mostly to talk about working conditions. Sometimes we would socialize, but the only reason we would ever be there was to discuss working conditions among the studio. I will also mention that we had a very thorough vetting process.”
(A note on the server, I asked the source about reports that there were employees who remained in the server after leaving Rockstar. The source told me that if there were people still in the server after having left the company, they had “no idea” of their presence, adding, “everyone I’ve ever spoken to [in that server] was a current employee.”)
As far as the source knew, there had been no previous efforts at Rockstar Toronto to unionize. They joined the UK-based server to discuss working conditions and, one day, hopefully, see a union form at Rockstar Toronto and at every Rockstar studio.
While they did not lay direct claims of union-busting by Rockstar as others have, the source admitted that “The only common link between anyone who was fired is being a member of this community, and this community had the explicit purpose of trying to unionize all of the studios, at some point. The focus was on the UK, but the goal was to unionize all of the studios, so it has to be connected to that in some way, just because that’s the only common link.”
“It is definitely connected with that server in some way,” the source added. We’ve never discussed any product details there; all we ever discussed was our working conditions [in that server]. So it has to be connected to that in some way, because that is the only common link.”
Whether they intended to organize an immediate effort at Rockstar Toronto or not, they should not be fired for simply being close to unionization efforts, and Ahmed, like the IWGB, rejects the allegations of gross misconduct from Rockstar management entirely.
“ The official story from management is that they were, quote unquote, leaking sensitive information,” Ahmed said. “ But we know that this is patently false. They [Rockstar] have not provided any proof for these claims, either for the Canadian workers or the UK workers. At the end of the day, discussing workers’ rights and discussing working conditions is not against the law as far as I know, in either Canada or in the UK, which is exactly what these workers were doing.“
When I asked the fired worker from Rockstar Toronto about the details of their dismissal, they described a similar situation to what we’ve previously heard about how the firings took place in the UK.
“I was fired on October 30, 2025. The process was about the same as what you’ve heard from all the other UK people. They brought us into a room, we were told by an HR person there that we had broken the non-disclosure agreement and broken social media policy. Anyone in the UK or in Canada who chose to, not necessarily push back, but anyone who chose to question and press for evidence was refused, they [Rockstar] said that they couldn’t give anyone any evidence, and then they didn’t let anyone collect their things, they just gave them their essentials and shipped them home in an Uber.”
To the source’s recollection, Rockstar also declined to say why it could not provide evidence of the alleged misconduct. When I asked them directly as to whether Rockstar’s claims of discussing and distributing confidential information had any truth to them, the source said, “If there is, I am not aware of it; moreover, I would like them to show what there is, because when I read that, I was just confused as to what they were referring to.”
When we arrived at the very unassuming building where Rockstar Toronto commands the third floor, two security guards, one of whom identified themselves as part of Rockstar’s security and not part of the building’s operational security team, allowed us inside the building, but prevented us from taking the elevator upstairs.
“This is a haphazard attempt by Rockstar management to try and curb this,” Ahmed said about Friday’s events. “But we know that they’re not going to be able to curb this because this wave of organizing is not just a wave, it’s a tidal wave. It’s hitting the sector fast, and it’s hitting them hard, and, you know, I’m really disappointed that Rockstar is not welcoming efforts to organize with open arms, like some other companies have been so far.”
One of the protesting party members, Erin Carr, executive director of the Solidarity Place Worker Education Centre in Hamilton, who was there on his day off to support the fired workers and his longtime friend Ahmed, was one of the only two members of the protest who made it up to the third floor to try and deliver the letters.
“They were sort of nice enough,” Carr told us about the reception they got once they both made it to the third floor. “[They were] asking us to go downstairs, and we said we would like to be able to drop off the letters outlining the workers’ very valid concerns.”
Carr made it clear that the confrontation did not escalate in any way and described the scene as “just conversation” between him, the other protesting member and someone from Rockstar who Carr assumed was a manager.
“Once we made it up to the lobby and the, I’m assuming, manager, confronted us, you could see that the blinds were coming down. I mean, you couldn’t see much through the doors, but clearly they didn’t want the rest of the workers [to] know that we were outside supporting this cause,” he said. “We were pretty firm in our position that, you know, if you’re going to be sending someone out to take those letters, we would like to know who that person is, what their position is, etc, etc, and unfortunately, we can’t take your word that that’s actually going to happen. So we stood firm.”
No one from Rockstar Toronto was sent to retrieve the letters, and no one else from the party made it to the third floor. With the building’s holiday decorations already up, the party opted to leave the stack of letters under the Christmas tree standing next to the elevator. What happened to the letters afterwards is currently unclear.
The group then stood outside the building and across the street, and chanted “Say sorry! Be nice! Stand up for workers’ rights!” for a short time before heading home. Overall, it wasn’t a particularly grand demonstration, but it did accomplish one of the goals Ahmed said were part of the day’s effort.
“I think there’s multiple goals with this demonstration. Number one, and maybe most importantly, is showing solidarity with those workers that were impacted in the UK, where it was a very blatant form of union-busting, where those 30-plus workers were directly engaged in trying to form a union.“
“As far as my understanding goes, there is an active case in the UK trying to take Rockstar to court, and right now, there are solidarity efforts outside Rockstar locations all across the world. As far as I know, it’s been happening in Edinburgh, in London, in Paris, and most recently in New York. And we wanted to show them that this anger that they [Rockstar] have caused is global, and that includes here in the Greater Toronto Area as well.”
“But secondary, amongst this, we want to show those workers on the inside of that building that Rockstar is not able to do whatever they want without a response from the broader gaming community. So I can’t say that this will necessarily be the last action, but it’s certainly the first.”
And they definitely showed that they are there, and that they are willing to show up and support these workers. Like their 31 colleagues at Rockstar North, the three workers fired at Rockstar Toronto would like to be reinstated, Ahmed confirmed. “Let’s be clear, these are workers who love what they do. When workers engage in union organizing, it’s not to burn down the studio, it’s to make the studio better,” he said.
“It’s to make the games that they create, that they put their heart and souls into, better in the long run. Oftentimes, management does not have the betterment of the games in mind. When they go and do their day-to-day practices, it’s usually for shareholder value. These workers, on the other hand, that’s not their main goal. Their main goal is to put out the best product possible. And for those reasons, these workers would love to have their jobs back.”
The anonymous source confirmed that they had knowledge of the demonstration ahead of it taking place, and while they don’t know how the studio reacted to it internally on the day, they said they appreciated the show of support, particularly because they and their fired colleagues could not be out there themselves.
“Honestly, it made me happy to see that there was support for us, that there was a lot of people who cared about our situation enough to try and advocate for us. It made me feel nice that there were people advocating for us when none of us could have been there to advocate for ourselves, and it felt empowering to see the community all rally behind us.”
Which was honestly one of the biggest takeaways from the protest. Again, it wasn’t a big demonstration; the protestors did not stand outside chanting for hours, nor were they a particularly large group. But they were all there because they felt it was important to be there, to stand up in advocacy for those who can’t do it themselves, because they felt it was the right thing to do, and, especially for everyone present that day who works in video games, they all know how vulnerable they are if they don’t advocate for their rights.
“There needs to be some addressing of the issue of the power disparity between a huge workforce of people who are super desperate to get a job in their passion,” said Jim Munroe, co-creator of Toronto Games Week, who was there to support the fired workers. “Games is a passion-based industry, and if you don’t have any guardrails or any ways of dealing with this power differential between the people who are in charge of hiring and firing and the people who are doing the work, you get a lot of abuses that just happen naturally.“
“So there needs to be some way to address it. Unions are one way, and I think it’s a good thing to start seeing in this time, especially when the precarity of tech workers at large is really being made apparent by the enormous amount of layoffs, as the bosses are kind of drooling at the idea of replacing people with server farms running AI.”
It’s also worth noting that when I asked Munroe, Parker, and Peach as we took the GO train back into the city, if they were there supporting workers they directly knew at Rockstar Toronto, they admitted that they didn’t know anyone currently working at the studio. Fighting to protect the rights of people you don’t even know is one of the strongest shows of community support, and exactly what this kind of effort is about.
“I’ve known people who have worked, gotten burnt out, and left that particular studio,” Munroe added, though he admitted he did not know anyone currently working at Rockstar Toronto. “I mean, there’s an enormous amount of churn of people, not just at Rockstar, but in the triple-A game studio world in general. It’s not surprising, but in general, I do identify with the people who work really hard to get into a position where they get to do their dream job, getting there and feeling like ‘Oh, there are lots of amazing things about it, but there’s also weird dynamics in the workplace that can really make them feel repressed and unlikely to want to speak out, because their livelihood is depending on it now.”
Ahmed also made the case that labour issues in the video game industry is something all Canadians should be rallying behind, which is why a letter campaign has been underway to try and make local politicians aware of what’s happening, similar to how local UK politicians have spoken up. Ahmed told us there has been no response as of yet, but that they have over 300 signatures after only starting the campaign days before the demonstration this past Friday.
“At the end of the day, these are companies that are taking millions of dollars in taxpayer money in incentives, right? These are highly subsidized studios that are setting up shop not only in Ontario but all across the country, because multiple provincial have set up environments for these companies to grow and be subsidized to set up shops here. At the end of the day, if you’re going to be taking Canadian taxpayer dollars, you have to respect Canadian jobs, and right now, Rockstar is showing that they are not respecting Canadian jobs, and that is our message to these politicians, whether they are Conservative, Liberal, or New Democrat.”
“If politicians want to be sure that their constituents are protected as these companies are being bought and sold at this dizzying pace, then they need to have a voice at work. They need to have a seat at that table while these big international moves are being made.”
As for what’s next for the three workers fired from Rockstar Toronto, our source indicated that they were considering legal action, but due to the differences between UK employment law and employment law in Ontario, they were opting to “wait and see” how the situation continues to unfold before filing anything similar to what has happened in the UK. But of course, they’d rather not have to do any of that.
“We just want our jobs back, man,” the source told me with an exasperated breath. “We poured our souls into this game, we loved our team, we loved our work. We poured our souls into this game, and we discussed our working conditions amongst ourselves because we believe in the potential of what Rockstar is. They’ve shown a willingness to change in the past, and because of that, I believe that they have the potential to be a leader in the games industry, in terms of what is good for workers. They’ve shown they can change in the past; they can change again.”
“We’ve poured our heart and soul into this project, and we just want to get back to work and keep going at it because we were good at what we did. Every single one of us was talented; we wouldn’t have gotten into Rockstar if we weren’t talented, if they didn’t see our potential, if they didn’t see how talented and how good we are at what we do, we wouldn’t have gotten in in the first place. We just want to get back to work on the game. We poured our heart and soul into it, and to be let go just for discussing our working conditions amongst ourselves and wanting the company to be better, it’s heartbreaking.”
Wccftech reached out to Rockstar for a comment on the protest, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
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