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Rockstar president of writing Michael Unsworth may have left the company

Unsworth had a heavy hand in the writing of Max Payne 3, both Red Dead Redemptions, and GTA 4 and 5.

TJ Denzer

August 28, 2023 8:20 AM

The Game Awards

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It seems there might be another major staff shakeup over at Rockstar as we close out August. The company has had some major players in the company’s history leave over the last few years, and now Rockstar president of writing Michael Unsworth may be among them. Unsworth seems to have indicated that he may have parted ways with Rockstar in recent days. He was known for having major parts in penning the stories of the Red Dead Redemption series, GTA series, and Max Payne 3.

Word of this Michael Unsworth’s supposed departure from Rockstar was first spotted by GTAForums user Rucke, who noticed that Unsworth had recently updated his LinkedIn profile to show that he was no longer an active employee of Rockstar. While Rockstar itself has not formally made any announcements on the matter either on its Newswire website or Twitter, Unsworth’s LinkedIn does indeed indicate that he no longer works there.

If Unsworth is out at Rockstar, it’s another of several high-tier talent to exit the studio in the last few years, especially among the lead writers of the company. In 2020, lead writer and producer Dan Houser left Rockstar, and fellow veteran writer and producer Lazlow Jones would join Houser in leaving later in the year. Even before that, former Rockstar North lead Lezlie Benzies not only left Rockstar, but sued the company for unpaid royalties.

Despite all of this, Rockstar has confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development and it continues to quietly develop the project while updating Grand Theft Auto Online. Unsworth provided massive contributions to Rockstar and it remains to be seen if he’ll be in Grand Theft Auto 6’s credits, but nonetheless, it seems he’s on his way to something else.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.