The core arguments behind the Rockstar union busting trial - Game Developer

Both parties have set out their stall in legal documents obtained by Game Developer.

Last year, Rockstar fired 34 workers (31 union members and three non-members) across the UK and Canada over what it claims was gross misconduct related to the leaking of confidential information.

By contrast, those impacted alleged they were dismissed for engaging in trade union activity and accused Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive of committing one of the "most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry."

The dispute resulted in a legal battle between Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) members and Rockstar that is currently being heard at an employment tribunal in Glasgow, UK. The hearing is expected to run until October 16, 2026, but thanks to a pair of legal filings sent to Game Developer by Take-Two Interactive, we now know how both sides will be arguing their case.

Let's start with the fired workers (the Claimants). In their opening submissions, they describe Rockstar's decision to fire 34 employees on on October 30, 2025, as a calculated "decimation" of its workforce akin to the mutiny faced by Caesar at Placentia in 49 BC. They accuse Rockstar of intentionally targeting union leaders in order to destabilise the group.

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Notably, they claim Rockstar only made the firings after the union had passed the 10 percent membership threshold required for statutory recognition in the United Kingdom. How did Rockstar know that milestone had been reached and who to target? The Claimants say their employer planted a 'mole' in the union Discord server years prior to funnel information back to HR manager and co-studio operations director, Charlie Kinloch.

"The Respondent was clandestinely monitoring what was happening. Its disclosure shows that, from at least February 2024, Charlie Kinloch had been receiving information from a junior employee on trade union activity inside the Server," reads the filing.

"This 'mole' has been identified in the Respondent’s disclosure as [RD/p.2535]. In October 2025 another employee, (RD/p.2548), facilitated further monitoring of the Server. Over 21 months, at least 26 meetings or communications took place between Mr Kinloch and concerning the Server, roughly half of them initiated by Mr Kinloch himself [RD/pp.2549-2555]., and later, supplied screenshots and recordings, reported union meetings, training sessions and union membership numbers, and identified individual union activists."

That mole reportedly informed Rockstar that union recruitment had increased sharply as of October 2025, prompting the studio to begin seeking legal advice concerning the details obtained from the Discord server. Soon after, that 10 percent membership threshold was reached. The firings came weeks later.

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"The 10 percent threshold was subsequently reached. This was announced on the Server on 18 October, reported to Mr Kinloch on 20 October, and again on 22 October [RD/pp.2539-2540, 2548]. On 24 October Abid Ansari (vice president of information security at Rockstar) sought access to the Server and asked Mr Kinloch about the archive of screenshots and recordings which he had been compiling. Mr Ansari then obtained the contents of the Announcements and General channels [WS-AA/p.12/para.42; RD/p.2556]. By the evening of 29 October, managers were being supplied with lists of employees to be removed [RD/p.253]," the filing continues. "The dismissals began the following morning."

Describing how those firings unfolded, the Claimants say they were invited to a brief "catch-up" and were not provided with any advance notice or information regarding purported infractions. "Not only was no Claimant told what was the case against them, neither was any Claimant given an opportunity to answer it. Pre-prepared dismissal letters were handed to the Claimants in the meetings but they contained only generic allegations and did not identify any specific alleged wrongdoing or any evidence to support such allegations. Employees with years of service and clean disciplinary records were summarily dismissed. All were escorted from their workplaces," the filing adds.

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The Claimaints suggest the IWGB union server collapsed "immediately," with a large number of employees departing the platform within days. They claim union members also cancelled after the ousting of their colleagues. "Less than two weeks after the 10 percent threshold had been crossed, the Respondent had not only removed much of the union’s organising cadre from its workforce but, though fear, had achieved a reduction in membership to ensure that the 10 percent level would not be reached in the near future or at all," continues the statement.

In its own opening note, Rockstar (the Respondent) reiterated that it fired all 34 workers for misconduct and hammered Discord over perceived vulnerabilities. The studio explained it has become "hypervigilant" in recent years and instilled an "embedded culture of confidentially" in order to protect key trade secrets. In one instance, Rockstar suggested the design frameworks behind titles such as GTA VI are just as valuable as the formula behind Coca Cola.

"Guarding the secrets of the unique gameplay and design [of GTA VI] are akin to Apple protecting the iPhone or Coke protecting its formula. Information about new game features or development must not become public before release date," reads the filing. "The Claimants themselves describe working on ‘highly sensitive and important systems’ and this is also part of the explanation for the Respondent adopting the security posture of a Wall Street bank. The standards and expectations regarding information security and privacy are exponentially beyond that of most employers."

It claims the fired workers were "well aware" of that culture of confidentially—and noted that it faces regular "assaults" on its security systems, including some successful attacks that resulted in high-profile breaches, damaging press coverage, and billions being wiped off Take-Two Interactive's share value.

"The Respondent is subject to regular assaults on its security and systems. It has had to put privacy films on its buildings after drones were used to try and photograph through office windows. Staff have been harassed online. The Respondent employs a full-time team of five investigators and a director to monitor for and investigate potential data leaks. Its employees face phishing and social engineering attacks seeking to trick them into giving up passwords and login credentials. Some of those attacks have been successful, including a 2022 leak of dozens of videos of unfinished development footage of GTA VI," reads the filing.

"That was obtained through phishing which gave a hacker access to an employee’s computer and from there material shared on the Respondent’s own internal Slack communication channels."

Rockstar claims Discord is a vulnerable platform that could enable similarly damaging leaks. It has encouraged the tribunal to view the digital space as a series of physical rooms, some of which are filled with hundreds of people—many of whom might be unidentifiable because they're "wearing masks." It notes that Discord was blocked by its own security systems and was being accessed by Claimants on their personal devices.

Here's how Rockstar is attempting to frame the platform:

Discord is effectively a series of chat rooms, and the best way of understanding what the Respondent walked into, and why it reacted as it did, is to liken it to physical rooms.

There were effectively three rooms. The first room (Room A) is now known to have been a small room for IWGB Union Committee members only, or the members of specific working groups38. That room remained locked until long after the dismissals and was only seen by the Respondent when the Claimants were ordered to disclose its contents, which they did on 3 August 2026. At the time of the dismissals the Respondent knew Room A existed, but did not know who was in it or what happened in it.

The second room (Room B) is now known to have been larger than Room A, and open to any IWGB members for union related messages. Again, the Respondent had no access to that room at the time of the dismissals. Again, at the time of dismissals the Respondent knew Room B existed, but did not know who was in it or what happened in it.

The third room (Room C) was huge. When the Respondent gained access to it in October 2025 it had almost 350 people in it – including the Claimants. When the Respondent walked into Room C in October 2025 it was impossible to identify the majority of the 350 individuals. Most used online aliases rendering them anonymous. It was like walking into a room where some people are identifiable but hundreds are wearing masks.

Rockstar seems particularly focused on 'Room C,' and claims that room was filled with over 300 people including former employees, competitors, and a journalist who were all being handed a "huge quantity of information" by the Claimants. Carrying the metaphor of the physical room, Rockstar said 'Room C' was "surrounded by doors" that could be used by inhabitants to funnel information—such as game features it claims were being "candidly" discussed within—out into the public domain.

It also argued those it fired were "openly and vituperatively disparaging and defaming" Rockstar and parent company Take-Two.

"A named manager was called a 'cunt', the company hierarchy were called 'cowardly corporate fucks', managers were called 'arseholes', 'narcissistic', 'abusive' and 'bastards'. A sequence of HR announcements were mocked as 'like a shit advent calendar' and management was told to 'get fucked'. The company was slated as 'structurally cracking', 'sliding downhill into corporate hell' and having 'overspent its budget' with investors said to be 'losing confidence'," the filing reads. "At any moment a screenshot or forwarding of any one of these messages by any one of the 350 users, or the publishing of an article about them by the journalist, could have generated enormously damaging publicity and hit market confidence and the Take-Two share price."

Rockstar claims it moved to fired the 34 workers due to an "irretrievable breakdown in trust and confidence" caused by the above incidents, and refutes the dismissals were related to union activity by pointing out that it also fired three non-union members based in Canada who were engaging in similar misconduct within the union Discord.

Senior Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com

Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton.

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