Rockstar defends dismissal of 31 GTA 6 staff at tribunal

Rockstar Games appeared before an employment tribunal on September 10, 2026, to answer claims regarding the firing of 31 staff members in October 2025.

The Glasgow Employment Tribunal opened the hearing regarding allegations presented by the Independent Workers of Great Britain. The union claims that staff working on GTA 6 faced unlawful blacklisting for organizing activities, losing their positions without formal disciplinary procedures or rights of appeal.

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The studio stated that the dismissals stemmed from the unauthorized posting of GTA 6 technical features on Discord rather than union involvement. A total of 34 employees lost their jobs, including 31 staff members in the United Kingdom and three in Canada. The measure prompted street demonstrations outside Rockstar North in Edinburgh and parent firm Take-Two in London.

Rockstar Games issued an official statement.

“Rockstar Games’ position has been clear and consistent throughout. Individuals across the UK and Canada were dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity. We reject the claims and will defend them vigorously before the tribunal.”

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Legal arguments at the tribunal run through October 16, 2026, concluding four weeks before the scheduled release date of GTA 6. Dismissed employees demand reinstatement or financial compensation alongside a formal declaration of unfair dismissal. The union stated that managers summoned personnel into private rooms to deliver immediate dismissals before building security escorted them off the premises. Staff working remotely received phone calls lasting roughly two minutes before systems administration revoked their account access. The union added that former employee Will Mesilane had his work visa cancelled and was reported to the Home Office, forcing his relocation to Australia without an appeal process.

Jason Lewis, a former employee and union member, commented on the situation: “For almost a year, the truth about what happened to us has been buried by Rockstar and surrounded by speculation. Now we finally get the chance to put it on the record. None of us imagined that talking to each other about our working conditions would turn our lives upside down and catapult us into the centre of a global media storm. As the world prepares for the release of GTA 6, we are reliving the heartbreak of being thrown out of a project we poured so much of our lives into. We lost our jobs, our income, our community and the chance to see the game through to release after spending years helping to build it. It was devastating.”

Lewis continued: “We have fought tooth and nail to get to this point, not just to be able to win justice for ourselves, but to draw a line in the sand for any employer that thinks it can attack workers for unionising. It has been an emotional journey and it is not over yet, but we can now see the finish line, and justice at last feels within reach.”

Rockstar Games rejected any connection between the dismissals and labor organizing, stating that managers had no knowledge of union activity among the affected workers at the time. Company filings state that the Discord messages revealed technical features, progress reports, launch milestones, and cybersecurity protocols. The studio asserted that public dissemination of such materials risked severe financial damage to parent corporation Take-Two. Studio executives recalled that when Rockstar officially announced a six-month release delay pushing the launch of GTA 6 to November 19, 2026, the overall market valuation of parent company Take-Two plummeted by $3.75 billion in a single day.

Studio records show the firing of an employee in Lincoln in April 2025 for distributing confidential development materials to an external party on social media, alongside separate terminations in the United States in November 2023 and India in November 2025 for similar disclosures.

Rhys Elliot, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, stated that the studio maintains exceptionally strict operational secrecy. Company officials argued that the Discord room in question was accessible to hundreds of individuals, including staff from rival game developers and press members. Representatives of the Independent Workers of Great Britain dispute that claim, stating that the channel operated as a private forum.