An employment tribunal has today rejected an application for interim relief filed on behalf of the fired Grand Theft Auto 6 developers at Rockstar Games.
The Glasgow Employment Tribunal released the outcome of the hearing today, rejecting all applications for interim relief. “We welcome the decision, which is consistent with Rockstar’s position throughout," a Rockstar Games spokesperson told IGN. “We regret that we were put in a position where dismissals were necessary, but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing.”
Rockstar has insisted the employees it fired late last year were dismissed because they leaked game features for upcoming and unannounced titles in Discord, not because they were trying to unionize. 34 members of staff at Rockstar were dismissed, 31 in the UK and three in Canada, sparking protests outside the office of GTA 6 developer Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland, and outside parent company Take-Two’s office in London.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which had accused Rockstar of “union-busting,” asked a judge to grant the fired GTA 6 developers interim relief at a preliminary employment tribunal hearing held in the UK last week. Interim relief is a legal mechanism that can provide workers with support while they wait for a full hearing. If the interim relief had been granted, the workers would have been put back on Rockstar’s payroll and had their work visas reinstated where necessary.
In the ruling, Judge Eccles said that of the approximately 350 members of the IWGB Discord, over half were members of the IWGB, but some were no longer employed by Rockstar Games. One member was said to have written press articles about video games, including at least one that commented on Rockstar and the development of GTA. Judge Eccles added that because Rockstar dismissed three employees in Canada who were not members of the union, their union membership could not have been a factor in their dismissal.
According to information provided to IGN by a Rockstar Games spokesperson, the ruling indicates that Judge Eccles believes that the IWGB is not “likely” to show that union activity or membership was the reason for their dismissal.
Lord John Hendy KC, who represents the fired developers, argued it was not “gross misconduct” to share confidential information in a group containing external third parties, even as a matter of principle, but Rockstar insisted this claim was not credible. Lord Hendy KC also suggested there was ‘no leak’ of information, at best only a ‘risk’ of leak. However, Rockstar said that posting confidential information in a public forum constitutes a 'leak’ because that information was shared with people outside of Rockstar, including individuals who work at competitors and with journalists.
Rockstar has also denied having a “blacklist” of union members, stressing that at the time of the dismissals, the company did not know whether the claimants were union members, so could not have targeted them.
And, as it has said before, Rockstar employees themselves raised concerns to the company and granted representatives access to the “social” channel, not the Discord channel used for official union organizing. As IGN has also reported, Rockstar has claimed that the union channel mods didn’t know who was in the channel, and that it posed a leak risk.
As for the alleged leaked information, Rockstar believes it to be significant and related to game features around GTA 6. This includes specific game features, comments on the overall progress of GTA 6 development, timelines to launch, and company IT security protocols. Rockstar believes that if the comments in question had leaked they would have been big gaming news and might even have affected Take-Two’s share price. When Rockstar officially announced that GTA 6 would be delayed by six months to November 19, 2026, the market value of Take-Two plummeted $3.75 billion in a single day.
And Rockstar has pointed to its well-established zero tolerance approach to leaks, highlighting that it dismissed a Rockstar employee in Lincoln, UK in April 2025, who it alleged disclosed confidential information about GTA 6 to a third party who published the information to social media, and dismissed an employee in the U.S. in November 2023 and another in India in November 2025 for two separate acts of information leaking. Rockstar said that many of the claimants accepted in the Discord server that their comments might not have aligned with Rockstar’s policies on confidentiality and security, which it believes to be a sign they were aware of the company’s zero-tolerance approach.
The IWGB told IGN last week that while it was hopeful the judge would see things its way, even if interim relief were not to be granted, that wouldn’t mean Rockstar would not be found guilty of breaking the law if and when the case goes to trial.
“Whether or not interim relief is granted this week, we will continue fighting in the courts and on the streets until we see justice, for the fired Rockstar workers and for workers everywhere fighting for a fairer future,” the IWGB said at the time. IGN has asked the IWGB for a fresh statement in response to today’s ruling.
Union busting has consequences! UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the government will look into @RockstarGames's dismissal of 31 union members. pic.twitter.com/4EEM9NvcR7
The ruling comes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the case “deeply concerning," and pledged that ministers would investigate. The layoffs were raised by Rockstar North's local MP Chris Murray in the UK's Parliament during a session of Prime Minister's Questions that took place late last year.
"The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.
"Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"
"It's a deeply concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we're determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated."
Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
