Rockstar Wins Initial Ruling in UK Tribunal: Fired GTA 6 Devs Denied Interim Pay Over Union Claims

Rockstar's dispute against 30 staff who were dismissed last year after the company alleged “gross misconduct” started up in a court in the UK last week. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) alleges that the staff were let go by Rockstar due to their involvement in the IWGB Discord and were either union members or attempting to organize a union at Rockstar.

Rockstar so far has denied any claims of the staff's union involvement being part of the dismissal, claiming they were let go after the staff “discussed highly confidential information, including relating to game features from upcoming and unannounced titles, on an insecure and public social channel” which included “employees of competitor game developers, a video games industry journalist, as well as dozens of anonymous, unidentifiable members”.

Judge Frances Eccles, who is overseeing the case, has denied a request for interim relief (which would have put the fired staff back on Rockstar’s payroll until the case ends). Eccles stated that the fired staff had to demonstrate a “pretty good chance of success”, that they would persuade the court that they were dismissed for starting a union, and that they had not yet demonstrated this.

As part of the ruling, the judge did note that both sides have made valid points in early proceedings, noting that some fire employees had “posted very little on the Discord server” while also pointing each person dismissed had “made comments which the respondent asserts were in breach of their contract of employment”, and that there were some employees who showed support for the union but weren’t dismissed.

We will keep you updated as the case plays out, in the meantime while we all wait for GTA 6, make sure you pop into TheGamerzTheory Discord!