Union leader: Fired GTA 6 developers weren’t leaking Rockstar secrets — they were discussing working conditions on a private Discord and “should be legally protected to do that”

At the end of October, Rockstar dismissed more than 30 employees who had ties to a developer union. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) called the move “the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry,” while Rockstar said the terminations were the result of leaks of “confidential information” and were not connected to union activity. As the affected workers protest, additional allegations from now-former GTA 6 developers have emerged.

YouTube channel People Make Games, which documents developer experiences across the industry, explains in a new video that the Rockstar Games Workers Union, supported by the IWGB, had recently signed up roughly 10% of Rockstar’s UK staff. That level of support is a key threshold for applying for statutory recognition in the UK — a process that can lead the government to require an employer to officially recognise a union.

The push for recognition reportedly coincided with Rockstar terminating employees for alleged “gross misconduct.” Company statements say the departures were tied to employees “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum.” According to reports, 31 staff members at Rockstar North — the Edinburgh studio leading development on the Grand Theft Auto series — were dismissed, alongside three employees at Rockstar Toronto who were also involved in union organising.

The Rockstar Workers Fired Before They Could Finish GTA 6 – YouTube

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IWGB president Alex Marshall told People Make Games that the “public forum” Rockstar referenced was actually a private Discord server where employees discussed workplace conditions. “These people weren’t posting company secrets on public, open forums,” Marshall says. “This was a closed union Discord where members discussed their working conditions — conversations that should be protected by law.”

We have reached out to Rockstar for further comment and will update this article if they respond.

An IWGB organiser identified only as Fred in the video says the union is demanding reinstatement for the dismissed staff, back pay for lost wages, and “clear accountability for how these dismissals were handled — these plainly unfair terminations carried out without due process or evidence. We want the company to commit to following UK employment law in future.”

Organisers say they have submitted appeals asking Rockstar to meet the demands voluntarily and are hopeful for a constructive outcome. “This is egregious and, frankly, shocking,” Fred adds. “In my 20 years of trade union organising in the UK I have never seen anything like this. Rockstar now has the chance to make it right. These are workers who simply want to return to a game they care about.”

“Rockstar, you’re disgusting”: Fired GTA 6 devs protest outside studio offices after dozens of unionising employees were accused of leaking “confidential information.”

 

Source: gamesradar.com