Rockstar continue to claim firings were about preventing GTA 6 leaks, as union push to get devs interim relief

A preliminary employment tribunal hearing has seen the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) request that a judge grant interim relief to the 31 UK-based GTA 6 developers fired by Rockstar, reportedly following discussion of changes to Rockstar’s company Slack policies by staff on Discord. The union, which filed legal claims against the company over the dismissals last year, continue to assert that they were a form of union busting. Rockstar, meanwhile, have released a fresh statement claiming that the root of this is simply stopping info about GTA 6 from leaking.

If this interim relief requested by the IWGB as they represented the fired devs during the preliminary hearing at Scotland’s Glasgow Tribunals Centre on January 5th is granted, the workers would receive support designed to prevent them running into financial problems while both sides wait for the date of a full hearing to be set. In this case, if the relief’s granted, the staff will be put back on Rockstar’s payroll and have any necessary work visas reinstated during the time it takes the full hearing date to be penned in.

As outlined on the website of the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), deciding whether to grant interim relief involves an employment tribunal looking into the facts of what the fired employee claims and making a judgement as to whether they’re likely to win at the full hearing. “Likely to win means having a ‘pretty good chance’, not just ‘more likely than not’. Interim relief applications are usually about complex issues, so meeting the ‘pretty good chance’ threshold can be difficult,” ACAS write.

The preliminary hearing’s also see both the IWGB and Rockstar share their versions of the story again in statements to IGN. “No matter the outcome of this interim hearing, we remain confident in the strength of the case we have brought against Rockstar Games,” the IWGB said, once again accusing Rockstar of union busting. “We reiterate our firm belief that Rockstar broke the law when it summarily dismissed 31 of our members, and we look forward now to the day we face them in court for a full and substantive tribunal hearing.”

Rockstar, meanwhile, once again denied the union’s union busting accusations, asserting that this has all been about preventing GTA 6 leaks. In this case, the company specified to IGN that it believes that info about GTA 6’s features, comments about how its development is progressing, and timelines to its launch were at risk of going public and potentially affecting Take-Two’s share price.

“We regret that these dismissals were necessary; however, confidentiality is fundamental to everything Rockstar Games does. Global interest in our games is unparalleled,” Rockstar said. “Even the smallest leak of any information relating to our products and practices can cause major commercial and creative damage — as we have seen in the past — and damage the experience of our loyal players and dedicated team. This was never about union membership. We have always taken a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized releases of information — and we always will.”

Amid that slightly flex-heavy chatter, the studio also denied firing any staff who “posted union-supportive messages, but who did not breach confidentiality policies” and said they don’t keep a “blacklist” of union members.

We’ll see whether the fired devs request for interim relief’s granted, as this story which has attracted attention from UK politicians – including Prime Minister Keir Starmer – rumbles on.