Artist tells Rockstar to "Go f**k yourself" after lowball offer to use band's music in GTA VI

WTF?! With over 200 million unit sales, Grand Theft Auto V has made a lot of money since it arrived all those years ago – over $8.5 billion in gross revenue, according to estimates. Despite Rockstar's riches, it offered a band's three writers just $7,500 each to use their track in GTA VI "forever."

Grand Theft Auto VI is still around a year away from release, assuming the game isn't delayed, but there's little doubt it will be an enormous success that adds many more millions to Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive's fortunes.

However, it seems the developer is trying to keep GTA VI costs under control. Martyn Ware, singer of the 80s English synth-pop band Heaven 17, said Rockstar Games offered him and the band's two other writers $7,500 each to use the group's most famous song, the very catchy 1983 hit Temptation, in the game.

"I was recently contacted by my publishers on behalf of Rockstar Games [about] the possibility of using [the song] Temptation on the new Grand Theft Auto 6," Ware recently tweeted.

"Naturally excited about the immense wealth that was about to head my way, I scrolled to the bottom of the email re the offer…IT WAS $7,500."

Ware, who was also one of the founding members of another famous 80s synth band, The Human League, said the offer will give the studio a license to use Temptation in GTA VI "forever," and the offer doesn't include any sort of royalty payments. "'Ah, but think of the exposure…,'" Ware continued "Go f**k yourself."

Ware has since confirmed that each of Heaven 17's three writers would have received $7,500 each, but reaffirmed that the offer is still unacceptable.

The big issue at play here is likely the music's licensing rights. Ware describes Rockstar's offer as a "buyout of any future royalties from the game." By owning the full rights to the music tracks used in GTA VI, Rockstar wouldn't have to renegotiate their use in any future releases. This could avoid the situation we saw in the remastered GTA Trilogy when the game was taken off sale so Rockstar could remove certain files, which likely included music that was no longer licensed.

In August, we heard that GTA VI is still set to launch in fall 2025. There have been recent rumors of a delay to 2026, but Rockstar employees have reportedly confirmed this isn't true. Still no word about a PC version, though.