There seems to be a rumor going around that the SAG-AFTRA confirmed that the strike they had initiated, affecting several video game companies, would lead to delays for Grand Theft Auto 6. But this doesn’t really look like it is the case.
Most of the fans and influencers sharing this are referring to Inverse as a source. However, the Inverse article does not show, in any part of the article, that the SAG-AFTRA made a categorical statement that their strike was affecting Grand Theft Auto 6 in any way.
It seems part of the misunderstanding comes from this line in the piece:
“That could lead to further delays to everyone’s most anticipated games, such as Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto 6, slated for next year, which analysts have already deemed could be 2025’s biggest hit. Take-Two declined to comment.”
Inverse’s statement makes the logical explanation that there could be a delay. Of course, if the voice actors working on Grand Theft Auto 6 are in strike right now, they could hold up production of the game. If the game doesn’t have any lines or incomplete lines, Rockstar would not be able to release it.
But, once again, there is no statement there from SAG-AFTRA claiming they were holding up its production right now. To be clear, this was just another line in the article explaining the situation.
Inverse has a separate quote from the companies who were negotiating with SAG-AFTRA, claiming that they were close to a deal, and reached agreement on 24 out of 25 proposals. Those proposals included wage increases, and extended AI protections for acting jobs.
But, there seems to be a confusing line at the end of this piece too. Inverse ends their report by stating:
“Games that began production before late last year will not be impacted by the strike, according to the terms.”
The problem with this sentence is, if SAG-AFTRA did not agree to the terms of this agreement, than how can those terms affect what projects are impacted by the strike? We don’t really have full clarity on the situation, and that may be simply because there’s more information here that was not fully explained to us.
GTANet confirmed on Twitter that SAG-AFTRA was not claiming to have delayed Grand Theft Auto 6 on the official union’s website. While we don’t agree on their interpretation of the Inverse article 100 %, we agree with their conclusion that there’s no evidence that SAG-AFTRA claimed to be blocking this or any video game in development.
Whether SAG-AFTRA said it or not, it is possible that this could lead to some delay, and not necessarily because the voice actors aren’t done recording their lines. That work usually comes in the form of hour long sessions that last a few days. As a rule, these workers aren’t asked to stick around a project for weeks or months, when they can be called back if necessary instead.
The possible delay could come from just getting the terms of their employment itself in order. If there’s no agreement on how Grand Theft Auto 6’s voice actors will be compensated, that can stop Rockstar from getting across the finish line to publication. But that has nothing to do with the nitty gritty of video game development itself. Rockstar could delay the release of their game further, based on the progress of their own work.
For now, we still know that Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming in 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. We will wait and see if Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games, SAG-AFTRA, or any other entities chime in on that in the future.
