The Grand Theft Auto 6 community has been starred for news. This is kind of infamous for Rockstar Games. They are known for their long droughts of no news, no information, no nothing. And GTA 6 is no different. There have been some interesting leaks I want to talk about in a separate video. We'll see when that comes about. But there's also been stuff like this domains associated with parodies of like Uber, WhatsApp. That isn't too surprising. Rockstar Games again known for this type of stuff. and even some of the uh debut trailer and such kind of indicated that was going to be featured in the game. There's also been a lot of stuff like this nothing burgers taken out of context. A new GTA 6 purchase tab for Xbox appeared on the web. This was there since day one. These are autogenerated by Xbox. Many people thought that this was pre-orders. Pre-orders are starting soon. That's not what happened. There's also been fake leaks going around. Again, the AI stuff nowadays, it just is common with any upcoming project, any upcoming game. GTA 6 notorious for it. So, you know, fishing out what's real versus fake, especially in regards to leaks, getting a lot more difficult by the day. But there was also the fact that we've heard the $100 debate. It has only continued. We've seen many other outsider developers chiming in on this. and even a Saints Row, original Saints Row devs, said that GTA 6 deserves to be $100. It would be a disaster if everyone tried to match them. The problem is that this AAA games industry surely enough would try doing that, especially of the staple franchises, the Call of Duties, Pokemon, FIFA's, all that. They're just looking for an excuse, and GTA 6 would be that. But we'll see with the price. That's a debate that has been ongoing. And and we even heard from Dan Howser, the you know, the founder of Rockstar Games. He left a couple of years ago. He's working at Absurd Ventures. Many people were wondering if he was associated with GTA 6. Is he, you know, did he do some work before he left? Well, speaking to IGN just about a month ago, he gave us our answer when he was asked about, you know, his excitement for GTA 6 >> for GTA 6 to come out on May 26th of 26. And for you to not have like every square inch of it seared into your brain, the first time you sit down to actually play it. Um, in a way, I mean, I think it's a great privilege to have worked on something that big and to, you know, I wrote the last 10 or 11 of them, so I think the world's probably had enough GTA from me. >> I don't know about that. >> Um, >> I think it's uh, you know, they're always a new story, so it's not going to be uh a story that I wrote or a character set that I developed. I think it's going to be uh exciting. The game will be great, I'm sure. >> So, >> yeah. And that was the big nugget that a lot of people picked up on is that he was not he didn't write anything for GTA 6. So this is a new era. This is very different. And he had a much longer conversation with Alex Freriedman. He's not known for stuff like this, but yeah, he had a 2-hour long podcast in which he indicated that GTA these Rockstar games were very personal to him. A lot of these stories. So again, very interesting uh the fact that GTA 6 is going to be told from a different perspective. But it is worth mentioning that I know there's been fears of like this is a different Rockstar, this isn't the same. Well, a former Rockstar employee recently said that 80% of Rockstar veteran developers are still involved in GTA 6. So, definitely seems like Aaron Garbett, Rob Nelson, Sam Hower, all those individuals that have been there for 20 or so years. This is still Rockstar pretty much. But it must be mentioned though, like I said, the community was extremely hopeful that we were going to be going full marketing. We're going to start seeing TV spots. We're going to see a bunch of gameplay finally. All kinds of stuff. There's some indication, at least that's what people thought from, you know, the PlayStation store in which we saw GTA Plus attached because yes, GTA Plus, we all know it's going to be a major source of revenue for Rockstar Games and they're going to push it hard for GTA 6 online. But all of this, you know, these hopes, these beliefs were all halted when we got this announcement. Grand Theft Auto 6 has been delayed again to the end of 2026. Rockstar Games putting out a statement. Uh they said the new date is Thursday, November 19th, 2026. They went as far back as they could into 2026. I think that's really interesting. We are sorry for adding additional time, but what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game and the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve. We want to thank you again for your patience and support. While the wait is a little longer, we're incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modernday Vice City. There was no, you know, pictures, no videos or trailers. Maybe by the time this video goes up, something like that will be out. It is worth mentioning that on Rockstar Games website, they still showing the May 26 date. They have not updated the actual GTA website, so maybe that's an indication something is coming. I don't know if it's a trailer number three, but it could be some new screenshots, something hopefully. Uh, it is worth mentioning though, when they delayed the game to May 26 last time, they did tease that we look forward to sharing more information with you soon. They didn't say that this time around. I I do think that is rather notable with this whole thing, but yes, fears about Grand Theft Auto 6, what's going on behind the scenes definitely are setting in. And right now, investors are spooked. That's why some people believe that we're going to see some sorts of updates from Rockstar Games in regards to screenshots or something, especially because it yeah, it's it's fallen by about 7% right now, but it fell as low as about almost 10 or 11%. It's it sank. And that's I I think this is what people need to understand. Take 2 Interactive is largely Rockstar Games and Rockstar Games has not been delivering for a while now. Obviously, many of us, you know, think that Grand Theft Auto 6 is probably going to deliver, but the question is when will that be? Is it going to be November 19th, 2026? I think there's a lot of skepticism in the air. Even when the game was delayed last time, most of us assume that another delay was coming. And right now, I think there's a feeling in the air that more delays could be on the way. People need to understand the expectations. The hype for GTA 6 is just so much different than any other game. It is the most highly anticipated game of all time. And they have to get everything right. Not just the single player component, but also GTA 6 online that that needs to make billions upon billions of dollars in the years to come. And if they don't do that, this would be a colossal failure and Take 2 Interactive would sink. So yeah, the pressure is very much on. Now with all of that said, Take 2 Interactive, they have been going on full damage control in a number of interviews. This is Take 2 CEO Strauss Zelnik saying bad things happen when games are rushed. And again, he's really hitting home on the fact that they're focusing on polish. And I hope it is just that, but I almost feel like maybe GTA 6 Online, they're trying to put more extensive work into that. Delaying a game 6 months just for polish. I don't know. We've seen that with, you know, Cyberpunk 2077 infamously. Is it just the polish? I I guess only time will tell with this. He said this in an interview with IGN saying, "I'm highly confident in the new date." He loves that confidence. He says that every single time. But he continued saying, "There have been limited circumstances where more time was required to polish a title and make sure that it was spectacular." And this was his indirect response to fan criticism. When our competitors go to market before something was ready, bad things happen. And maybe one of those competitors he's talking about is Cyberpunk 2077. But hey, this AAA games industry is notorious for horrendous launches. It's not even just CDPR. This is an industry-wide problem, especially this year just with UE5 launches in general. But Rockstar Games has not escaped this. The GTA Trilogy definitive edition notoriously was a disaster. But outside of their, you know, outside of that with their mainline games, it's been pretty a-okay. Red Dead Redemption 2 had some problems, but it was for the most part well polished. And I think that expectation with GTA 6, I I think it is correct. It needs to be as polished as possible considering the expectations. But Stan like he did more interviews when we set a date, we really do believe in it. I love that. Um he says he said that statement. We said when we the last date, if a game requires more polish to be the best possible version of itself, then we will give that game more time. And that's exactly what happened. We feel really good about this release date. It's in the same fiscal year. It happens to be a great release window and naturally we're really supportive of Rockstar's approach and it must be mentioned that any game coming in the holidays are going to avoid you know Grand Theft Auto 6 at all costs assuming another delay doesn't happen. I would not be surprised in the slightest to see Call of Duty avoiding that November window and probably launching now in early October for the next installment, the yearly installment. Zelnik continued. He said, "It's not that far in advance if you look at when you need to deliver a game to get it out. Also, we need to start marketing activities in a significant amount of time ahead of release. What we want to do is give consumers as much certainty as possible. And again, we feel quite good about this date. And uh then he did another interview. Yeah. Take 2 says, we've never regretted a delay. He goes on to say, it's always painful when we move a date, but again, while we have done so occasionally in the past, ultimately we've never regretted it in retrospect. I would like to point out that we have some competitors that in the event where more polish was required and it required slipping a date, they chose not to slip the date and they did so at their peril. And one of his competitors, he could be talking about maybe not even just CDPR, but also Leslie Benzy's Minds Eyee, which was a probably the worst game of 2025. Actually, I think it is the worst game by far. Now, speaking at the latest investor call, which was also yesterday, GTA 6 aiming for perfection, he talked about the Metacritic scores. He also said about Rockstar, he thinks the culture is extraordinary and we're all pushing hard to seek perfection. I mean, the Metacritic scores of Rockstar releases are generally speaking, not generally, I mean, with very few exceptions, have been over 95. And that expectation is of GTA 6. It's going to be more than that. GTA 5, as you know, has been the standard bearer, not just for our company, but for the industry through three console generations, and to this day is still, I would argue, the most technologically advanced title in the marketplace, despite being more than a decade old. And that doesn't happen by accident. And uh Strauss Zelnik then went on to talk about, you know, GTA Online in one of these interviews. He he said that if you're, you know, not if you're still waiting for GTA 6, go play GTA Online, which another year of that component. GTA 5 online. Yeah, we continue to supply content to GTA Online. And in fact, we had terrific results there. And GTA Plus continues to grow its membership. In fact, it had 20% growth year-over-year. And GTA 5 has sold in more than 220 million units. And uh yeah, they're going to continue to jump on that train for a while now, it appears, especially because GTA 6 the wait's going to be a lot longer. Now, with all of that said, it it must be mentioned the fact that Strell Zelnik has been infamous for stuff like this. He loves to say that we're confident about dates. This was November 2024, highly confident about a fall 2025 release. And then he was highly confident about Grand Theft Auto 6 launching in May 2026. And now he's highly confident again. Very much so. Stralzic is the type of seasuit executive that is always going to tell you what you want to hear, even if it's not true. Take interactive Rockstar Games have much bigger problems. And that has become apparent this week, even before the delay announcement. Massive concerns emerged after this. Grand Theft Auto studio accused of union busting after firings. This is a report coming from Bloomberg. Take 2's Rockstar Games fired dozens of employees in a move that a British trade union said was designed to prevent the workers from unionizing. The company said they were fired for misconduct. The Grand Theft Auto maker uh terminated between 30 to 40 staffers across multiple offices in the UK and Canada notorious Rockstars headquarters is over there in the UK. Uh on Thursday, according to a spokesman for the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, all the employees were part of a private trade union chat chat group on uh Discord and were either members of the union or attempting to organize the company. That's a big no no. A lot of these companies do not want to see that stuff happening at all. Not really a surprise that they would go after this, but the you know them calling it, they call it down here that this was mis gross misconduct that they were fired for, that's what these companies are going to go for. Rockstar Take 2 notorious for being extremely, you know, active with shutting down efforts like this. So, this really isn't that surprising. Uh, this is what the union president said. Uh, Rockstar has just carried out one of the most blatant, ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry. This flagrant attempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans in the global industry. And again, a spokesman for Take 2 said that they are fired for gross misconduct. And this is really where the story only begins because outside of Rockstar Games, their offices over there in the UK, we have seen massive protests. This is Yeah, this happened just the other day. Protest outside of Rockstar Games. Many individuals absolutely livid with the state of this company. And there's many more screenshots, many uh individuals taking part in this. It's not just Rockstar Games. I think some people are looking too far into this background stuff. There is Rockstar game developers here, but also union and politicians and stuff because this is a political issue. Yeah. And then this was some of the pamphlets being sent out. We had somebody saying, "Say sorry, be nice. The union has your back. Grand theft uh employment." I think that's what that says. We had another individual. Let's see. We got some more videos. I will say it's always a bit sad, especially the online reaction. People just automatically believing a billion dollar corporation like this and yeah, we got union busting before redacted. I just will say that workers rights I wish this wasn't such a political issue, but it is unfortunately. And there's other screenshots, other images. Yeah, here's Yeah, the IWGB, that union, are currently protesting outside of offices of Take London. Yeah, they went all over. >> Yeah, another individual protest is currently taking place outside. We got union busting before redacted. Hey, Nico, it's your union. Let's go bowling. Grand Theft employment and all you had to do was follow the damn law, Rockstar. So, this is a massive situation that has been blowing up. And Rockstar Games Take 2 Interactive did respond about the gross misconduct. They accused these individuals of leaking information on a Discord. This is an article coming again from Jason Shrier. This is a Rockstar spokesman. He said, "Last week, we took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum." Again, probably talking about their pay and all that stuff, which if you worked at any of these companies, they all consider that confidential information. This isn't like, oh, they're giving out GTA 6 details. Uh this was in no way related to people's right to join in union or engage in union activities. But regardless, you have both sides accusing with no actual proof of any of this. And like I said, Rockstar Games, very harsh company, Take Interactive, they've sent private investigators to people's house. So this doesn't surprise me if this was an effort to dismiss a union uh buildup. And yet now we have an active Rockstar Games developer that went on the GTA forums and said all about what's going on behind the scenes at Rockstar Games and how the future there's just a lot of uncertainty moving forward. So again, this is the GTA forums organized as the account name. Hey everyone, Rockstar employee of many years here. This has since been verified by a GTA forums admin saying before anyone piles on, this has been confirmed by me. And this individual had a lot to say about what's going on behind the scenes at Rockstar Games. And they responded, you know, the accusations that they were leaking information. And then they say, "I want to remain anonymous due to retaliation from the company." Again, Rockstar notorious for being latigious with stuff like this. So, not surprising that they wouldn't want to go public with their name. I have been reading a lot of the discussion on here and elsewhere about the firing of more than 34 of my colleagues last week and have seen a lot of disinformation and lies that are really concerning particularly concerning how so many folks are willing to believe the company's excuses. Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were each individually messaged by HR for a short friendly meeting under the friendly guise of, "Hey, are you free for a quick chat?" Upon and then they go on to say, "Upon attending this meeting, uh, they were handed an envelope with a short letter stating that their employment had been terminated for gross misconduct regarding posts made in Discord. They failed to provide any evidence when asked, nor was any stated in the letter and did not divulge any other information or reasoning and no other reason. They refused their right to union representation in the disciplinary uh meeting which is against UK employment law and were frog marched out of the studio with the meeting lasting less than 5 minutes. for colleagues who were not in the studio that day that they received a phone call from HR that lasted less than two minutes telling them they were fired and uh that they had received the same letter as above. I'm aware of one employee who had a panic attack at the moment and HR hung up on them during the the attack not caring at all about their well-being. These are corporations. They do not have a heart. Uh these colleagues of mine were hard workers who spent many years at Rockstar and critic roles. And this is the big thing when people dismiss stuff like these. These this is the talent. These are the individuals that make these games with colleagues who have been at Rockstar for more than 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines. And that's the big thing. If you are concerned about Grand Theft Auto 6, upset about the delay, it this has not been impacted yet, but it will be felt now. And this has been said, this isn't just 40 people. It's actually up to over two to 250. That is massive, especially because Rockstar North, the headquarters of the main studio working on this game, is over there in the UK. Uh, these are very senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers, and producers, including lead developers. All super talented people who are proud of their work over multiple Rockstar titles, and all they wanted was the best for Rockstar and their fellow colleagues. Some of these members were off sick, recovering from surgery or on paternity leave, fired without pay, losing their careers, and putting them in hardship in the leadup to Christmas, and even potentially losing their visas to work in the UK. And then, let me make this clear, I never saw any discussion leaking of Rockstar projects and the union discord. The only ever discussion was around unionization efforts and the working conditions at Rockstar. And and Rockstar and take two eyes, that's probably more than enough to say that's confidential information and you guys were leaking it. You're out. Unfortunately, the Discord was not public. It was a private Discord group that only contained Rockstar employees and the IWGB uh union officials. This was union busting and nothing else. Everyone fired was a union member. They were also predominantly from those who were on the union organizing committees of each UK studio. Just one week before, the union had reached 200 members, taking us over the 10% threshold required to seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining, allowing us to negotiate directly with management. That that's not happening. Obviously, they have fired over 34 of us now. And obviously, because they didn't fire the full 250 or so, they can probably just say, "No, no, it really was gross misconduct, even though this was them sending a message. It's very obvious." Uh, there was over 250 of us in that union employee Discord group. There is fear that if they get away with this, they'll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again. And those of us who were lucky and remain for remain for now work in fear. Fearful when talking to each other at a tea prep. Fearful that we're next in line or easily got rid of. Too scared to go outside the studio and talk to our colleagues outside protesting and fear of reprisals. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. And all look, if you're excited for Grand Theft Auto 6, we're hoping this game hopefully comes out November now in 2026. This should be concerning. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. We're seeing many developers laid off. These some of these being lead developers. That is a concern moving forward. And there is a believe that we could see more delays to 2027. And while we should be excited about what's to come, of course, there should be excitement. And this is the crazy thing. I've talked to actual Rockstar developers and over the last couple years there's been a lot of developers saying that things have been improving behind the scenes. This is a massive setback for a studio that has been under fire for years of over its culture. And yeah, this is a Rockstar Games developer speaking out about the work environment right now and how morale is at an all-time low and many people believing a statement like this and the many developers that are no longer attached to this, there could be further delays. And it is worth mentioning though, Rockstar Games is composed of about 5 to 6,000 developers, but still these are core developers over there and the UK studio Rockstar North. Those are going to be massive talents that are going to be missed. So, we'll see what happens in the future. But definitely there's many people believing that 2027 could be on the table for Grand Theft Auto 6. But, and it is worth mentioning that Jason Shrier did respond to this report. He confirmed that the delay of GTA 6 released today has no connection to the recent layoffs. He said specifically the delay was not due to the firings last Thursday. 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 uh protracted legal battles, morale loss, etc. The game did not slip 6 months because 34 people were fired a week ago was announced today because Take 2 reported earnings today, of course. And we did see take two interactive respond to variety about this saying these two matters are entirely separate and the reasons that we've given for each. And I think to conflate the two would not only be misleading, it would be highly erroneous. So these are two entirely separate issues. So the current delay nothing to do with these developers and what's going on, but it could have an impact moving forward pretty much. But as it stands right now, yeah, Rockstar Games has delayed Grand Theft Auto 6 while also talking about the massive impact. Again, it's just crazy. GTA 5 has sold over 220 million copies and that's the expectation people need to understand. That is the expectation. Those are the numbers they have to beat for GTA 6. That's what investors expect. So you have to understand the immense pressure that are that is on this project. And there's been a lot of reactions. We even saw Cyberpunk 2077 responding to the delay talking about their infamous jokes about no more delays are happening. And surely enough delay did happen for Cyberpunk. And uh we did see many individuals talking about the history of Rockstar Games. Again, they are infamous for this. Fall 2017 for Red Dead 2, then it was delayed to spring 2018. Then it was delayed to October 26, 2018. Although, I would say things do feel a little bit different this time around. Maybe it's because we already had a date and now they're setting a new date. We'll see what happens. A lot can definitely change over the next number of months. But we also did see people joking about it. GTA 6's production. That's a funny one. And then we also saw me and my bro by the time GTA 6 releases. So that is where Grand Theft Auto 6 currently stands. Things, the morale, the hype is definitely at an all-time low. I would expect Rockstar Games probably going to have to say something. We're going to see some screenshots, maybe a new trailer, maybe even by the time this video goes up. Or maybe not. As of recording this video, this has now gone live on their website. They quietly did this. This was something people were latching on to because of what happened with the last delay. you know, Rockstar wasn't quick to update their stuff, but they quietly did this. So maybe a long silence is indeed here, and they're not actually going to say anything before the year ends. And if we're if that is the case, we might be waiting until mid2026 before we see anything new from them. I was thinking maybe some screenshots, maybe something to pass over. But yeah, it really is the Grand Theft Auto 6 community is down bad right now. And uh this just very unfortunate, but I can't even say I'm too surprised. Anyway, a lot going on behind the scenes at Rockstar Games. A lot of concern setting in. Many people believing 2027 is on the table. Are you of that mindset? Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section below. But thank you for watching. Make sure to leave a like if you did enjoy this video or if you found any informative value. Consider subscribing for more videos like this. I'll see you later.