Rockstar Games has addressed the recent wave of Grand Theft Auto 6 developer firings, sharpening its official explanation for why the staff were dismissed with more detailed allegations—all of which the union involved in the case denies. The central issue of the ongoing dispute is whether the GTA 6 developers were fired for trying to unionize or because they leaked company secrets.
The late October 2025 purge resulted in 34 terminations, with 31 employees based in the UK and the remaining three at the gamemaker’s Toronto studio. At the time, Rockstar said that the GTA 6 developers were fired for leaking company secrets via a private Discord server operated by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). The IWGB rejected that claim as baseless, retorting that the firings were a clear case of union-busting. A subsequent report by People Make Games interviewing an IWGB rep revealed select messages that may have gotten some GTA 6 developers fired, including an example of a staffer posting an auto-generated transcription of an email on Slack policy changes in possible violation of company policies.
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GTA 6 Devs Were Allegedly Fired for Leaking ‘Game Features From Upcoming and Unannounced Titles’
Rockstar has now suggested the firings had nothing to do with GTA 6 developers discussing its recent partial ban on Slack emoji use, while also rejecting allegations of union-busting activities. “Rockstar Games took action against a small group of individuals, across the UK and internationally, who distributed and discussed confidential information (including specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles) in a public forum, in breach of company policy and their legal obligations,” a company representative told IGN. “Claims that these dismissals were linked to union membership or activities are entirely false and misleading.”
Rockstar Says Union Discord Server Had a Journalist and Rival Developer as Members
Rockstar also alleges that the IWGB Discord server included a game journalist and an employee from another developer among its members. The company maintains that only staff who were found to have discussed confidential information were dismissed, noting that there are others who spoke favorably about union membership on the server but remain employed, as they were not found to have violated company policy. Rockstar also confirmed prior reports that the situation was brought to its attention by other employees who were members of the Discord server but were concerned by their colleagues’ actions after seeing the alleged leaks. The case was recently brought to the attention of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who described it as “deeply concerning” and suggested the British government is going to investigate the GTA 6 developer firings.
Rockstar Games took action against a small group of individuals, across the UK and internationally, who distributed and discussed confidential information (including specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles) in a public forum.
IWGB Union Rejects Rockstar’s Latest Allegations
IWGB Communications Officer Jake Thomas rejected Rockstar’s latest allegations. Addressing the claim that game features were leaked on the Discord server, he said the union is not even aware of what that could be referring to. Regarding the mention of a game journalist being involved, Thomas clarified that the individual in question had previously “written a couple of articles for a paper,” but is a union representative and game worker who participated in the server in that capacity. He added that the same applied to every member of the server’s Rockstar employee channel—where prospective union members were able to learn about union membership—who was not a Rockstar employee. In a separate statement, the IWGB said that “Rockstar’s latest statement is littered with falsehoods and disinformation,” accusing the company of trying to “reverse-engineer” a justification for firing GTA 6 developers by giving “multiple, conflicting reasons” for the October 2025 dismissals.
