Near the end of October 2025, Rockstar fired over thirty devs in the United Kingdom and Canada over what it called “gross misconduct.” The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain accused Rockstar of union busting for laying off workers who were organizing with the union. Both sides have held firm since the initial accusations, and now the battle has gone to court in the UK.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Rockstar and the IWGB went before the court earlier this week, where the latter requested that the fired workers be given “interim relief” while the legal drama plays out. If granted, that would place the affected workers back on Rockstar’s payroll and allow some to keep their visas that were reliant on their jobs. The court will reportedly decide on the matter before the end of the week.
The IWGB pledged to continue fighting for the workers regardless of the court’s decision, while Rockstar reiterated its position that the workers broke the company’s policy.
“We have consistently made clear that we took necessary action against a group of individuals across the UK and Canada who discussed highly confidential information, including relating to game features from upcoming and unannounced titles, in an insecure and public social channel,” a Rockstar spokesperson told IGN. “This was a breach of long-standing and well-understood confidentiality policies. This channel contained at least 25 non-Rockstar employees, including employees of competitor game developers, a video games industry journalist, as well as dozens of anonymous, unidentifiable members. Meanwhile, employees who posted union-supportive messages, but who did not breach confidentiality policies, were not dismissed.”
There is some question as to whether the alleged break of confidentiality had anything to do with Grand Theft Auto 6. A report from November 2025 noted that the employees in question shared details about Rockstar’s rule changes for Slack, which eliminated most of the personal and non-work channels. That story also stated that Rockstar’s internal security is so tight that employees can’t even check their work emails unless they are in the office.
This case may boil down to whether Rockstar can prove that the employees shared sensitive details that violated their terms of employment. The case has drawn a considerable amount of attention worldwide. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and MP Chris Murray have both pledged to look into it, but the legal battle may take a long time to play out.
