Gaming

Sacked GTA VI Developers Tell a Tribunal Rockstar Kept a Union Watch List

By Omar aka Crypt0 · Sep 13, 2026

The biggest game launch of the decade is about to share its release window with a landmark labor verdict. In a Glasgow employment tribunal this week, a dismissed Rockstar developer testified that he believes the studio kept a watch list of employees after they signed a petition about remote working, The Times reported. The tribunal runs from September 10 to October 15, which means a ruling could land just weeks before Grand Theft Auto VI releases on November 19.

The details from Friday's testimony are striking. Dayne Oram, one of 34 people dismissed in October 2025, told the tribunal that around 150 Rockstar employees had signed a petition about returning to the office, handed to the company in the spring of 2023. Asked whether signing the petition was the reason for his dismissal, Oram said it was connected to his other activities and was maybe the start of the company keeping an eye on things. Pressed on how a 2023 petition list could connect to 2025 dismissals, he replied: this forms the basis of a watch list of people to keep an eye on for further activities.

Rockstar's lawyer pushed back hard on the logic. Thomas Cordrey noted that 141 of the 154 people who signed the petition kept their jobs, asking how the list could even be the starting point. Oram's answer was that it was the starting point and was used to watch people for activities considered distasteful. It is a remarkable exchange to read: a lawyer arguing the numbers, a worker arguing the pattern, and a judge who will have to decide which one tells the truer story.

The case stretches back further than this week's headlines. In December, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the union busting allegations deeply concerning and said Parliament would investigate. An earlier tribunal declined the workers' request for interim relief, so pay remains paused while the case proceeds, but the union stressed that decision says nothing about the final outcome. The full hearing will now test every claim in the open, with the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain representing 23 of the dismissed workers.

Rockstar's position has stayed consistent throughout. The company says individuals across the UK and Canada were dismissed for gross misconduct after sharing confidential information on a Discord server, a matter it describes as separate from union membership or activity, and that it will defend the claims vigorously. The Discord channel at the center of the dispute had around 300 members discussing the company, and the tribunal heard that moderators sometimes removed posts targeting individual managers while leaving broader venting in place.

Here is why this case matters beyond one studio. Nearly 1,900 Blizzard workers just ratified a contract that puts AI bargaining in writing, and game industry unionization has been accelerating for three straight years. The Rockstar tribunal is the highest profile test yet of where the line sits between protecting trade secrets and protecting organizing rights. However the judge rules, the decision will become the reference point every studio and every union cites next.

For players, the human angle is worth holding onto. GTA VI preorders are already thought to be worth hundreds of millions, and the game will likely be a triumph. But the people who built it deserve a fair hearing too, and they are getting one in Glasgow this month. A great launch and fair labor practices can absolutely coexist, and this tribunal is helping the industry figure out how.

Sources

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