A new report says Grand Theft Auto VI is in the final stages of development and that Rockstar Games has notified staff that they need to return to the office beginning very soon.

Bloomberg reported (via IGN) that Rockstar is mandating staffers come back to the office five days per week starting in April. The report said this was due in part to concerns around security. GTA VI previously suffered a huge hack that led to video footage and images from the game being posted online back in September 2022. At the time, it was reported that the leak stemmed from an employee Slack account. GTA VI's first trailer, too, leaked early.

Rockstar's head of publishing, Jenn Kolbe, said in a memo to staff obtained by Bloomberg, "Making these changes now puts us in the best position to deliver the next Grand Theft Auto at the level of quality and polish we know it requires, along with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game."

Rockstar Games employees are reportedly not thrilled with this announcement. The Independent Workers' Union Of Great Britain (IWGB) released a statement citing commentary from workers who say being able to work from home is helpful for those with disabilities, care responsibilities, or health issues. Workers have also said the return-to-office mandate, which reportedly only has "rare" exception allowances, is bad for people who might have opted to move further away from an office to save money and have a better life.

GTA VI is being developed by multiple studios at the same time, including Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland and the company's network of studios around the world.

According to the union, Rockstar is moving ahead with its plan to mandate workers return to the office on April 15. The union also said Rockstar plans to cut off remote access to its technology from home. According to the union, Rockstar management has provided no evidence that working from home poses a security risk or might negatively impact productivity.

An anonymous Rockstar employee told the union that working from home has been "a lifeline for many of us at Rockstar." Another employee said, "This will mean missing out on spending time with our families. I am also aware of colleagues who have health issues preventing full time office work who are now left in limbo."

GTA VI is in development for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and is expected to release in 2025. For whatever it's worth, almost every Rockstar Games title in the past 10 years was delayed from its previously announced date. GTA 6, too, might have shifted already.

If it's true that GTA VI is in the home stretch of development, that doesn't mean anyone should it expect it come out early or even necessarily on time. GTA V was similarly in the final stages of development in 2011, though the game delayed multiple times and not released until 2013.

Rockstar Games is seeking "perfection" with GTA VI. The final stages of a game's development is often when the core experience is finished and the team works on refinements and polishing, among other things. Developers say this is a crucial element of a game's development and that it takes time to execute properly.

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