32-player sessions for GTA 6’s online mode are revealed in court documents

Confidential information about Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most anticipated games of the decade, was made public unexpectedly. Documentos presented in court at Reino Unido revealed that Rockstar Games carried out internal tests for the title’s online mode with capacity for 32 simultaneous players, a detail until then kept secret by the developer.

The revelation was not part of an official announcement, but rather an outcome of a labor lawsuit filed against the company. The case, tried in Glasgow, in Escócia, involves allegations of anti-union practices after the dismissal of dozens of employees, and the court documents, which were made public, contained sensitive information about the game’s development.

The exposure of technical data occurred when Rockstar argued that former employees had shared confidential details on a private server on the Discord platform. The transcripts of these conversations, submitted as evidence in the process, ended up exposing the tested capacity for the multiplayer component of GTA 6, generating wide repercussions among the gaming community and the specialized press.

The origin of the labor dispute

The legal action began after the dismissal of 34 employees in October 2025, the majority working at the headquarters of Rockstar in Edimburgo. The dispute is led by the British union Independent Workers’ The company, in turn, argues that the dismissals were motivated by serious misconduct, specifically the discussion of confidential internal information in an unauthorized environment managed by the union.

During the hearings, the company’s director of publications, Jennifer Kolbe, defended the company’s position, stating that even seemingly harmless comments or short phrases can compromise commercial secrets and reveal crucial stages in the development of such a valuable project. Rockstar maintains that the confidentiality policy is strict and essential to protect its intellectual property, and that violation of these rules justifies the measures taken, regardless of the intention of those involved.

The messages that leaked the information

The central point of Rockstar’s arguments in court were the messages exchanged by employees. In one of the conversations presented as evidence, one of the testers mentioned the logistical difficulties of organizing a full testing session with 32 participants for the new project. Essa simple mention was enough for the company to classify the message exchange as a leak of sensitive data.

Another employee responded in the same conversation, questioning the difficulty mentioned and suggesting that the structure of the test teams (QA) should be capable of setting up such a session without compromising the development schedule. Para to Rockstar, this interaction confirmed not only the number of players, but also gave clues about the scale and internal organization of the tests.

The company also cited other messages, including one just 15 words long about quality of life updates to the game, interpreting it as a possible indicator of the project’s progress. Essa the company’s rigorous approach to internal communication was what, paradoxically, led to the public exposure of the information it tried so hard to protect.

Capacity compared to the current scenario

The revelation that GTA 6 was tested with 32 players offers a concrete, although not definitive, parameter about Rockstar’s ambitions for its new online universe. The number represents a slight increase compared to its predecessor, GTA Online, which since its launch in 2013 supports sessions with up to 30 players and two spectators, a configuration that has remained stable for more than a decade. Embora the community expected a greater technological leap, with rumors pointing to lobbies of 64 or even 96 participants, the confirmation of 32 players aligns the title with many open world games, prioritizing the density of interaction rather than the volume of participants. It is important to note that internal testing does not necessarily reflect the final product, and the threshold can be adjusted. The industry landscape shows varying numbers, with games like Fortnite supporting 100 players and Call of

Debate on privacy and surveillance

The method used by Rockstar to obtain messages has also become a point of debate. Documentos’s lawsuit indicated that a human resources director accessed Discord’s private server using another employee’s login credentials, a practice that raised serious concerns about corporate surveillance and worker privacy.

This issue escalated to the point of being mentioned in the British Parlamento, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer, during a question session, promised that the case would be analyzed at ministerial level. The situation is being closely monitored by labor organizations, who see the outcome of the case as a possible precedent for labor relations in the growing Reino Unido games industry.

Game leak history

This is not the first time that information about GTA 6 has reached the public through unofficial channels. The game’s development has been marked by significant leaks, including the release of dozens of videos from an initial development version and, more recently, the early publication of the first official trailer on social media, which forced Rockstar to bring forward its release to control the narrative.

However, the revelation of the capacity of the online mode is different, as it did not come from a digital security breach, but from the documentation that the company made public in a legal process. The attempt to protect confidential information ended up being the mechanism for its exposure, illustrating the challenges of managing industrial secrets amid legal disputes.

Expectations for the multiplayer component

Network stability is one of the biggest technical challenges in developing large-scale multiplayer games. Manter a fluid and seamless experience for dozens of players in a dynamic open world like GTA requires extremely advanced infrastructure optimization. Rockstar’s track record suggests a preference for quality of experience over record numbers of players.

The continuous service model, which turned GTA Online into a longevity and revenue phenomenon, will likely be replicated and improved in its successor. Isso means that the game can be released with a set of features and limits that will be gradually expanded through regular updates in the following years.

So far, the company has maintained a strategic silence on the specific details of the cooperative and competitive mechanics that will be present in the new online mode. Seguindo the pattern of its previous releases, it is likely that more concrete information will only be released when the release date gets closer.

With the global launch scheduled for November 19, 2026 on new generation consoles, Rockstar Games remains focused on finalizing and polishing what promises to be one of the biggest releases in entertainment history. Take-Two Interactive, the controlling company of

Repercussions on the games industry

The case transcends the universe of GTA and highlights a growing tension between large development studios and the organization of their workers into unions. Demissões justified by discussions in private channels raise an ethical debate about the right of employees to free association and communication without the risk of retaliation. Profissionais from the sector around the world advocate the need for work environments where they can discuss their conditions without fear.

The accidental exposure of confidential technical data in a legal process also serves as an important warning to other companies. From now on, studios and publishers will certainly review their confidentiality protocols and the way they deal with sensitive information in legal disputes, seeking to prevent their own legal arguments from turning into leaks. The trial is still ongoing, and new hearings could bring even more elements to the public discussion, with possible implications for the entire industry.