Three current Rockstar employees in the UK have accused the Grand Theft Auto 6 studio of effectively baking crunch into their contracts, overseeing a widening gender pay gap, and weaponising bonuses to make workers more compliant, in a new report. It comes as Rockstar gear up for the much-trumpeted console release of GTA 6 this November.

The employees in question are part of the newly founded Rockstar Game Workers Union, who are currently pushing for voluntary recognition by Rockstar. They've been speaking to Game Developer about life inside the studio, but have chosen to remain anonymous to avoid reprisal.

For clarity, the sources are not part of the group of devs who are currently taking legal action against Rockstar after being fired last year for "gross misconduct", in an alleged instance of "union-busting". We interviewed a few of those developers on the picketline.

Game Developer's sources make a range of claims. For starters, they accuse Rockstar of a lack of transparency, predictability or fairness around pay, alleging that a substantial portion of compensation takes the form of bonuses that can be either a "windfall" or "considerably less than expected for the year", as one source explained.

Apparently, bonuses can be docked based on "completely subjective or retroactive criticisms", sometimes dropping compensation below the market rate for adjacent industry work. According to one of the sources, "a fifth of your salary could be withheld without any justification or based on a single surprise factor." The source also says that career progression at Rockstar can be "completely discretionary". As a result of this and the inconsistent pay, workers may feel "they have to be as pliable as possible to their boss's whims".

Sources also claim that Rockstar's gender pay gap has widened, as initiatives to address this have been abandoned, and that nightshift workers no longer get any extra benefits. In general, one source alleged, "there are those receiving excellent pay for their work and are grateful, and there are certainly those that are woefully underpaid".

If all this seems pretty dire, the nastiest accusation, to my eye, involves how Rockstar management may dance around the topic of mandatory overwork. "Crunch is prevalent enough that the company built into our contracts, as standard, an opt out of the Working Time Regulations that stops your employer being able to ask you to do more than about 10 hours extra each week," a source told Game Developer.

"The union successfully ran a campaign to inform people they could opt back in to the regulations at any time," they went on, "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."

According to Game Developer's contacts, levels of crunching vary hugely between departments at Rockstar, with some teams unaware how hard their colleagues have it.

The union workers also accuse Rockstar of hypocrisy with regard to the curtailing of remote or hybrid working provisions, with company leaders still able to alternate between home and the office while their subordinates are drummed into full time office attendance.

The newly founded Rockstar union hope to haggle all this out with studio leadership, should Rockstar decide to formally recognise their existence. Meanwhile, Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive have sent Game Developer a statement about the accusations above. Here it is in full:

"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."