Rockstar UK staff accuse studio of crunch, opaque bonuses, and a widening gender pay gap

Three anonymous members of the Rockstar Game Workers Union have spoken to Game Developer, accusing Rockstar's UK offices of normalising crunch, using bonus payments as a control mechanism, and failing to close — and in fact widening — the gender pay gap. The allegations surface as the union pursues official recognition following a wave of high-profile sackings in 2025.

On bonuses, one employee described a system where up to a fifth of annual salary can be withheld with little explanation: "The reasoning given is often nebulous, inconsistent between departments, even inconsistent between team members within the same department, and sometimes hinges on completely subjective or retroactive criticisms." Another put it bluntly — if anything you do in a given year can affect your bonus, you end up "as pliable as possible to your boss's whims." On crunch, staff say Rockstar baked an opt-out of the UK's Working Time Regulations directly into employment contracts, effectively normalising more than 48 hours a week. The union ran a campaign to inform workers they could opt back in at any time, which eventually pushed Rockstar to simplify the process and drop the requirement to meet with HR first. Workers also allege crunch is applied unevenly — some teams are stuck in it permanently while others barely experience it, and the two groups often don't know the other exists. On pay equity, initiatives to address the gender gap were reportedly scrapped, and night-shift workers lost their additional compensation. The gap between median wages across genders has reportedly widened at Rockstar in recent years, running counter to the broader UK trend toward narrowing that gap.

Rockstar has faced labour criticism before — the punishing development of Red Dead Redemption 2 drew widespread attention to the studio's crunch culture back in 2018. The current situation is more legally charged: the union is fighting an ongoing case related to the 2025 sackings, and the push for voluntary recognition is still unresolved. All three employees who spoke to Game Developer chose to remain anonymous, citing fear of reprisal — which itself says something about the working environment they're describing.

Take-Two, Rockstar's parent company, responded with a statement pointing to "world-class work environments," competitive compensation, and employee retention "well above the industry standard," adding that it values "open and constructive" dialogue with staff. The union and its members are unlikely to find that response satisfying. With GTA 6 still one of the most anticipated releases of the year, the pressure on Rockstar to ship — and the pressure on its workers to deliver — isn't going anywhere.