Rockstar Cites Informant in Union Discord

Rockstar said in a court submission that it received information from three members of a Discord used by unionized workers, including one source who had been active for more than two and a half years. The server included employees connected to GTA 6 development and had been established by organizers from the IWGB Game Workers union. The revelation is part of the employment dispute that followed the dismissal of 34 employees, most of them based in the UK, in October 2025.

The informant inside the Discord

Both sides filed their opening submissions with an employment tribunal in Glasgow this week. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the filings contain more than 100 pages of claims and responses, with thousands of pages of evidence expected to be discussed in the coming weeks. Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive sent the documents to the outlet and Game Developer, among others.

The former workers’ submission says employees affiliated with the IWGB created the Rockstar Game Workers Union Discord Server in 2022. Their lawyers argue that there had previously been no official workplace channel where concerns could be discussed independently of management. By the time of the October 2025 dismissals, the server reportedly had around 340 members.

According to the dismissed workers, Rockstar HR director Charlie Kinloch had received information about union activity in the server from a junior employee since at least February 2024. Their filing alleges that at least 26 meetings or communications concerning the Discord took place over 21 months. Roughly half of those contacts were allegedly initiated by Kinloch himself.

The former employees say the source supplied screenshots and recordings, reported union meetings and training sessions, shared membership figures and identified union activists. They also allege that the source told Kinloch on October 7, 2025, that the union was 12 members short of the statutory recognition threshold, equal to 10% of the workforce. The union reportedly reached that threshold on October 18, with Kinloch learning about it two days later.

Rockstar’s account overlaps with part of that story, although the company describes the sources as whistleblowers. Its lawyers mention three Discord members who reported security concerns to the company. According to Rockstar’s submission, one of them had been providing information to management for more than two and a half years.

How Rockstar obtained access

The company says that a server member supplied management with login details between October 13 and October 16, 2025. Before then, Rockstar claims it was largely unaware of events inside the Discord apart from occasional information provided by its main source. The former workers’ account adds that vice president of information security Abid Ansari logged in and downloaded material from the Announcements and General channels.

The two sides offer sharply different descriptions of the server’s security. The workers say it was invite-only, access-restricted and supported by a verification process that used Rockstar’s internal Slack platform before participants received access. They also maintain that no confidential information from the server is known to have entered the public domain.

Rockstar argues that the material remained vulnerable through several possible routes, including a deliberate disclosure, the loss of personal devices, phishing, social engineering or an attack on Discord itself. The company points to the presence of its informants as part of its argument that information could leave the restricted environment. This disagreement is central to whether the server represented a security risk serious enough to justify the dismissals.

Rockstar’s filing divides the Discord into three areas: one for IWGB committees and working groups, another for union members and a third containing almost 350 people. The company says an initial review found 26 participants who were not employees and ten former staff members. The workers respond that former employees were restricted to specific channels and were not present in the two channels Rockstar initially accessed.

The dispute behind the dismissals

Rockstar fired the 34 employees for alleged gross misconduct, arguing that activity on the Discord placed confidential information at risk. The former employees and their representatives took the company to court, claiming the dismissals were intended to stop the union from gaining enough members for formal recognition under UK law. Recognition would allow the union to negotiate issues including pay, working hours and holidays.

The two parties also disagree about the nature of the server’s discussions. Rockstar maintains that internal information and projects were exposed to security risks, while the workers say the posts mainly concerned workplace policies necessary for union organizing. They further state that no posts were witnessed disclosing GTA VI’s release date, a trailer date or comparable confidential launch information.

The former workers allege that the dismissals had an immediate chilling effect on the organization. Their submission says server participation fell from around 390 to 261 people within days, with 136 departures and only nine new members joining. Eleven Rockstar employees also reportedly cancelled their IWGB memberships during the following week.

What this changes for GTA 6 players

The filings do not announce any change to GTA 6’s release date, platforms, price or access. For players following the game, the immediate significance is a clearer view of how Rockstar handled security and labor relations during development. The submissions show that the conflict over confidentiality and union activity was unfolding internally before the dismissals became public.

The filings do not yet establish which version the tribunal will accept. It remains unknown whether the contacts with informants will be treated as a legitimate security measure, a form of union monitoring or a mixture of actions carrying a different legal meaning. The tribunal must also decide whether the dismissals resulted from gross misconduct or an effort to weaken the union after considering the wider evidence.

The case is expected to continue with examination of the thousands of pages of evidence referenced by the opening submissions. Until a ruling is reached, statements about informants, server access and the reasons for the dismissals remain the positions of the parties rather than conclusions from the tribunal. Rock Paper Shotgun reported the filings and the contrasting arguments presented by Rockstar and the former workers.