Rockstar Games is being sued in Scotland after allegedly firing over 30 employees. The reason for the firings was that the employees supposedly leaked secret information about Grand Theft Auto(GTA) 6 in a private union chat on Discord. This information comes from a report by “People Make Games,” which saw the court documents from the wrongful termination case.
The “top secret” information that caused the mass firing was actually pretty normal. The leak only revealed that the online part of GTA 6 would support at least 32 players, which is almost the same as the 30-player limit (plus two spectators) in Grand Theft Auto V.
Court papers show that a lawyer for Rockstar reportedly wouldn’t read the leaked messages out loud because they were “sensitive,” asking the judge to read them instead. The messages, shared by QA testers, were about work logistics, not actual gameplay secrets.
One message mentioned that Rockstar required “at least 43 employees” from the Edinburgh QA team to be present, probably for big stress tests. Another message confirmed a test had happened with 32 players. A third message complained about not getting enough time off, even though the team was large.
The firings have flared controversy because the discussions happened within a private union Discord server, raising questions about workers’ rights to discuss working conditions versus non-disclosure agreements.
While a 32-player count isn’t a massive leap from GTA V, the context indicates GTA VI may feature a far more reactive and detailed simulation, making the player count more technically noteworthy than it seems on paper.
Rockstar has not yet publicly stated the specifics of the ongoing tribunal.