GTA 6's release date delay comes at an already tumultuous time for developer Rockstar Games, which is currently being accused of punishing employees for trying to organize a union, but the two events are reportedly unconnected.
Bloomberg's Jason Schreier jumped online to set the record straight after swaths of fans speculated that GTA 6 was delayed because Rockstar Games recently dismissed over 30 employees.
"This delay was not due to the firings last Thursday," he writes 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."
Instead, Schreier says news of the delay came out when it did because parent company Take-Two reported its financial earnings at the same time.
Even so, Rockstar Games' controversy is sure to cast a long shadow between now and GTA 6's new launch date of November 19, 2026. The studio claims all impacted employees were let go because they were leaking "confidential information" in a public forum.
UK worker group IWGB previously called the firings "ruthless" and a blatant attempt at union busting, the practice of trying to squash workers' unionization attempts, since all fired employees were involved in union activities.
And, just yesterday, protests broke out in front of Rockstar North and Take-Two's London offices, where one former employee alleged that she was dismissed "without warning, without evidence, and without a chance to speak for myself."
