A former Rockstar Games QA worker at the center of the studio's union busting controversy has opened up about whether he'll ever play Grand Theft Auto 6, a game he spent years helping build. The short answer: probably not.
Jack Hoxby, one of roughly 30 developers fired by Rockstar Games last year amid allegations of union busting, told the BBC he genuinely doesn't know if he can face sitting down with the game. "I definitely don't think I will buy it," he said. “I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to, personally.”
Pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI are now open, you can pre-order here.
The human cost behind the hype
Hoxby's words carry weight that no trailer or pre-order announcement can paper over. He acknowledged that friends who still work at Rockstar will likely receive copies, and others in his circle will buy it. But for him, it's a different calculation entirely.
"I will probably play it at some point, but it is hard to say," he added. "I might get to it and try and sit down and play it, and it'll just be too, like, you know - I just won't be in the mood to play it. It'll probably just bring back too much."
That's a gut-punch of a quote from someone who poured years into a project that millions of players will pick up without a second thought about how it got made.
What happened at Rockstar
The firings took place last year after the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) accused Rockstar Games of illegally dismissing workers who were either union members or actively involved in unionization efforts. Around 30 developers based in the UK and Canada were let go.
Rockstar maintained the dismissals were related to leaks of "confidential information," though the studio never publicly specified what that information was. The IWGB pushed back hard, calling the move a direct attempt to crush organizing activity before it gained momentum.
The fallout didn't stay behind closed doors. Fired developers staged protests outside Rockstar offices, and the situation escalated to the point where UK parliament members raised the issue directly, questioning what steps could be taken to support the affected workers.
A launch shadowed by a legal battle
Here's the thing: GTA 6 is arriving as one of the most anticipated game launches in history, and it's doing so while its developer faces an active employment tribunal. That's an unusual position for any studio to be in, let alone one releasing a game with this level of global attention.
The trial timeline overlapping with the November launch window means the conversation around worker treatment at Rockstar isn't going away. For players who want the full picture before they decide whether to buy in, the GTA 6 pre-order guide covers what's available now on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
What this means for gamers is a choice that goes beyond which edition to pick up. Hoxby and the other fired developers aren't asking anyone to boycott the game, and he himself hasn't ruled out playing it eventually. But the story of how GTA 6 was made, and who got pushed out along the way, is part of the record now.
For everything else confirmed about the release, the full GTA 6 guides collection has the latest on launch details, platforms, and what to expect at release.
