Rockstar HR Questioned Over Discord 'Mole' And Sudden Timing Of GTA 6 Dev Firings In Latest Labor Tribunal Hearing

Key Points:

• An employment tribunal in Glasgow is examining allegations that Rockstar Games fired over 30 employees last year to prevent unionization efforts by the UK trade group IWGB, with the company citing gross misconduct including leaks of sensitive GTA 6 development information.
• Rockstar's Lincoln co-studio manager and HR director Charlie Kinloch testified about a junior employee, known as "AB," who allegedly acted as a mole by passing screenshots of union activity from a Discord server to management for over two years, providing insight used to justify the firings.
• Kinloch defended the timing of Rockstar’s actions, stating that increased public interest and the imminent announcement of a major project milestone in October 2025 heightened the commercial sensitivity of internal discussions, prompting urgent action against leaks.
• The fired developers argue the union was close to meeting the threshold for recognition and that Rockstar’s monitoring and subsequent firings were aimed at union busting, while Rockstar claims it was focused solely on protecting proprietary information amid rapid growth in Discord server membership.
• The tribunal is also grappling with the absence of testimony from the "mole" AB, with fired employees' lawyers pushing for an adverse inference that Rockstar incentivized spying on union activities, a claim Rockstar denies.