- A judge has ruled against forcing Rockstar Games to pay the 34 fired workers severance pay after the IWGB accused the studio of union-busting
- The studio says it welcomes the decision and stands by its initial statement claiming the employees were fired for leaking company secrets
- IWGB President Alex Marshall says that despite the ruling, “Despite being denied interim relief today, we emerge from last week’s hearing more confident than ever that a full and substantive tribunal will find Rockstar’s calculated attempt to crush a union to be not only unfair, but illegal.”
Rockstar Games will not be forced to pay temporary relief until the 34th Grand Theft Auto 6 developers who were fired in October, a judge has ruled.
Following the layoffs last year, which Rockstar claims were due to employees leaking company secrets, The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) accused the studio of union busting. It continued to file legal claims against Rockstar and applied for relief earlier this month at the Glasgow Employment Tribunal.
Now, as reported by Kotaku, a UK employment tribunal has ruled against coercion GTA study to pay out interim relief and deliver the first blow in the ongoing dispute.
The decision read that the court was “unable to conclude that it appears likely that the court will find that the principal reason for the plaintiffs’ dismissal was their membership of the IWGB,” and the legal battle will continue.
In a statement to GamesRadar+, an IWGB spokesperson said the ruling “is disappointing but does nothing to dampen our hopes of winning justice when the full hearing takes place.”
“We come out of this hearing having glimpsed Rockstar’s flimsy defense and feel strengthened in our claims that these firings were not only grossly unfair, but clearly illegal,” the spokesperson added. “The judge stated in his order that: ‘There was no evidence that the respondent suffered any adverse consequences as a result of these postings’.”
The employees involved in the conflict were involved in a Discord set up by the IWGB to help with union organizing; However, Rockstar claimed that the 31 fired British developers were fired for leaking confidential information in the channel.
The IWGB later denied the allegations and accused Rockstar of union busting, which the studio has denied, and has now accused it of “covertly monitoring” employees at the channel by “impersonating” a union employee.
“Despite being denied temporary relief today, we come out of last week’s hearing more confident than ever that a full and substantive tribunal will find Rockstar’s calculated attempt to crush a union to be not only unfair, but also illegal,” IWGB President Alex Marshall said in a statement to Kotaku.
“The fact that we were granted this hearing speaks to the strength of our case, and during the two-day hearing, Rockstar consistently failed to support allegations made in the press or to deny that they acted unfairly, maliciously and contrary to their own procedures.”
The original ruling states that Discord included about 350 members, including former Rockstar employees, at least one of whom had previously published articles about the company online.
A Rockstar spokesperson pointed out that Discord also included current employees who shared union support who were not fired, and reiterated its original statement that the firings were due to leaks of company secrets.
Although it is unclear whether the situation is linked, GTA 6 was delayed shortly after the layoffs and is now set to launch on November 19, 2026.
“The Glasgow Employment Tribunal has rejected the union’s application for interim relief. We welcome the decision, which is consistent with Rockstar’s position throughout,” a Rockstar spokesperson told Kotaku.
“We regret that we were put in a position where redundancies were necessary, but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing.”
In December, British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer also said the British Parliament would investigate allegations against Rockstar of union-busting, calling the case “deeply troubling”.
The IWGB is currently representing the fired employees, and the legal battle, which charges that Rockstar’s conduct “constitutes union victimization and blacklisting,” will continue.
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