Rockstar GTA 6 firings case reaches final tribunal hearing in Scotland

The final hearing in the employment tribunal brought by 31 fired GTA 6 developers against Rockstar Games opened in Scotland on 10 September, and the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain and the former staff marked the first morning with a rally outside the venue. Eurogamer reported that the proceedings opened to rallies and rousing speeches from people the site described as having been marched out of the company's offices last October. The line the outlet carried into the hearing was "Today, we are fighting fear".

Rockstar has not moved off its defence. In a statement released as the hearing began, the company reiterated that it rejects the claims made by the union and will defend itself vigorously, as Rock Paper Shotgun reported on the same morning. The outlet described the statement as the studio sticking to its guns. Rockstar has held that public position since the dismissals, and the opening day produced no signal of a settlement or a narrowing of the dispute.

The hearing is listed to run from 10 September until at least 15 October, a window of more than five weeks. That schedule indicates the tribunal is not a short procedural appearance, and the "at least" in the listing leaves open the possibility that it extends past mid-October.

The union and the fired staff set out their position earlier in the week, announcing in advance that they would host the rally outside the tribunal venue on the morning of the opening session, and the rally went ahead as advertised. The gathering gave the case a public dimension beyond the courtroom, with the claimants and their union addressing supporters as the final stage began.

The substance of the claims remains the largest gap in the public record. Neither of the reports summarised here sets out the specific grounds the union and the 31 developers are advancing, or the remedy they are seeking, so the hearing itself will be where that detail surfaces. The confirmed record is narrower: 31 developers were dismissed last October, the union is backing their claim, and the final hearing has now started in Scotland.

Both sides enter the final stage dug in publicly. Rockstar's statement commits it to a vigorous defence, while the claimants have chosen an organised, visible presence outside the building. That gap has not narrowed since the dismissals last year, and the evidence each side intends to rely on is not yet public.

The case concerns developers who worked on GTA 6, Rockstar's flagship title, which places the dispute inside the studio's production cycle rather than in a back-office function. Neither report indicates whether the tribunal's proceedings touch on the game's release schedule or on staffing levels elsewhere at the studio, and Rockstar has not addressed those questions publicly beyond its statement.

The tribunal's ruling and the date it arrives are unknown. With the hearing listed to run at least to 15 October, no decision is expected before that point, and any further action would follow the ruling rather than the hearing itself. The 31 developers' case now rests on more than five weeks of argument in Scotland.