Rockstar and IWGB set out their arguments as tribunal opens

Rockstar and the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain have set out their arguments at an ongoing employment tribunal expected to run until October 16. Rockstar dismissed 34 staff last year citing gross misconduct and a leak of confidential information, while the claimants say they were dismissed over union activities. Legal filings obtained by Game Developer say the claimants allege a mole inside the union's Discord server fed information to HR manager and co-studio operations director Charlie Kinloch from as early as February 2024, flagging a rise in union recruitment in October 2025 before membership crossed the 10% threshold for UK statutory recognition. Rockstar disputes this, saying past leaks of unfinished GTA 6 footage require stronger protection of confidential information, describing the union's Discord server as three rooms of increasing size and openness, the largest with roughly 350 members by October 2025, and saying the dismissals stemmed from an irretrievable breakdown in trust and confidence rather than union organizing.