Rockstar and fired Rockstar North staff begin final tribunal hearing in Glasgow

The final employment tribunal hearing between Rockstar Games and 31 fired Rockstar North employees has begun at the Glasgow Tribunals Centre. The workers are represented by the IWGB union, and the hearing is scheduled to run until October 16, just over a month before Grand Theft Auto VI launches.

The IWGB wants the dismissals declared unfair and the workers either reinstated or compensated. According to Eurogamer, Rockstar faces allegations of unlawful dismissal and blacklisting, after it tried to get the case thrown out earlier in the year. Rockstar's position has not changed. In a statement to PC Gamer, the company said:

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.

A note before the details: what follows from the opening statements is each side's argument, not a finding by the tribunal. Eurogamer says it received both statements in full.

Outside the tribunal

Supporters rallied outside with IWGB banners and placards, including "what's disgusting; union busting" and "404: Rockstar's respect for workers not found". Rachel Crawford, a fired Rockstar programmer who worked on GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, spoke to the crowd. "The modern workplace runs on fear... But today, we are fighting fear," she said, as reported by PC Gamer. Crawford said she was fired on October 30, 2025, without warning and without a clear explanation.

IWGB president Alex Marshall said the union believes "Rockstar has tried to get away with Grand Theft Employment Rights." The union and the fired workers are not calling for a boycott of GTA VI. They are asking supporters to donate to an IWGB crowdfunder for the legal costs instead.

The union's case

In its opening statement, the IWGB said Rockstar had been "clandestinely monitoring" the union's private Discord through a "mole" since "at least" February 2024. It argued that Rockstar only acted days after membership reached the 10 percent threshold needed for legal recognition, and that the company "struck at the union because it had become capable of exercising collective power".

The union also described how the dismissals were carried out: staff were invited to short "catch-up meetings", handed dismissal letters prepared in advance and escorted out without a chance to defend themselves. Both sides agree the largest Discord room held nearly 350 people.

Rockstar's case

Rockstar's opening statement leaned heavily on security. The company said it adopts "the security posture of a Wall Street Bank" and compared its secrecy to Coca-Cola guarding its formula or Apple protecting its technology. Visitors sign NDAs, remote work is "severely restricted", external storage devices are "banned", photography is "strictly forbidden" and personal devices are "blocked" from its systems.

It listed the pressure it says it is under. Privacy films went on the building after drones were used to try to photograph through office windows, and Rockstar said outside parties had tracked how often employees went for coffee and how often pizza arrived at the offices.

Rockstar said it employs a full-time team of five investigators and a director to monitor and investigate leaks. It cited the 2022 leak of "dozens of videos of unfinished development footage" of GTA VI, which it says followed a phishing attack, and said a hacking group tried to blackmail it in recent weeks. After that hack became public, Rockstar said, $2bn was wiped from its parent company's share value "within a few days".

On the Discord itself, Rockstar said it found a journalist and former employees, along with disparaging remarks about the company. It said "two discussed an online 32 player format which was highly confidential at that time", and that members speculated about a delay to Autumn 2026 before it was announced.

Rockstar also rejected the union's timeline. It argued it "would have been insanity itself" to wait until the IWGB reached the threshold and then dismiss 31 union members within 48 hours if union-busting were the motive, and called the workers' case "literally incredible".

Wider pressure

The case has reached beyond Glasgow. Eurogamer notes it was debated in the UK Parliament, and that Keir Starmer, then Prime Minister, called it "deeply concerning". A Rockstar Game Workers union has separately made further allegations about crunch, gender pay gaps and the use of bonus payments as a weapon. None of those claims are part of a ruling.

The hearing is set to conclude on October 16.