Rockstar Games Confirms 'GTA VI' Leaks Were Real
A judge rejected temporary financial relief for ex-staff who were fired for leaking confidential information.
Summary
- A UK employment tribunal has denied interim pay for 34 former Rockstar Games developers while their unfair dismissal case proceeds
- Rockstar maintains the staff were fired for leaking confidential information about upcoming projects in a union Discord server, while the IWGB union frames the move as anti-union retaliation
- The ruling is a procedural setback for the workers but keeps the wider legal and cultural fight over unionisation and leaks at one of gaming’s biggest studios very much alive
The clash between Rockstar Games and dozens of fired Grand Theft Auto VI developers has become one of the defining labour battles in modern gaming. At the centre is an IWGB-hosted Discord server where staff mixed organising chat with talk about workplace conditions and, according to Rockstar, sensitive information about unannounced titles. The tribunal’s refusal to grant interim relief means those former employees will not be put back on payroll or regain visa protections while their unfair dismissal claims are argued in full.
For Rockstar, the case is about enforcing an entrenched zero-tolerance stance on leaks after years of GTA VI speculation and high-profile information breaches. The studio argues it dismissed staff across the UK and Canada for sharing confidential details with a channel that included ex-employees, a journalist and potential competitors, insisting the firings were unrelated to union membership. The IWGB paints a very different picture, describing a rushed mass dismissal that bypassed standard investigations, disciplinary hearings and appeals, and alleging covert monitoring of a private organising space. With protests, political scrutiny in the UK and GTA VI itself delayed into late 2026, the outcome of the full tribunal now carries serious weight for how power, secrecy and worker rights collide at the top of AAA gaming.
