Rockstar tells GTA 6 tribunal of drone spying and blackmail; IWGB says it hit the union, per Eurogamer

Rockstar Games told an employment tribunal in Glasgow that it protects GTA 6 with "the security posture of a Wall Street Bank," according to opening statements Eurogamer published on September 11, 2026. The final hearing over the dismissal of 31 Rockstar North employees had begun the day before, and Eurogamer said both sides shared their statements with it in full.

Rockstar's statement painted a picture of a company under constant pressure. It said visitors to its offices "must" sign NDAs, external storage devices are "banned" and photography is "strictly forbidden". It said it had fitted privacy films to its building because drones were used in attempts to photograph through office windows, and that a hacking group had tried to blackmail it "in the last few weeks". It also said it keeps five full-time investigators and a director looking out for possible data leaks.

The IWGB, which represents the fired staff, told a different story. It said Rockstar had been "clandestinely monitoring" the union's private Discord server through a "mole" since "at least" February 2024, yet acted only days after membership hit the 10 percent of the workforce needed to seek recognition under UK law. In the union's words, Rockstar "struck at the union because it had become capable of exercising collective power."

Rockstar said the reason for the dismissals was misconduct it found on that Discord, which it said destroyed trust and confidence. It said "whistleblowers" inside the server contacted the company, and that it then saw insulting remarks about Rockstar and talk of confidential game features. It argued it would have been "insanity" to wait until the union reached the threshold and then sack 31 members within 48 hours. The IWGB said the servers were invite-only, checked through Rockstar's own Slack and used for union business. Both sides agree the largest room held nearly 350 people.

These are claims each side made as the hearing began, not findings. Eurogamer said the hearing was expected to last five weeks, and no ruling had been made when it reported. Since then, the site's story on the UK union vote has noted Kotaku's report that closing submissions were expected on November 17 and 18.