Twenty three former developers say they were sacked for union activity. Rockstar's HR chief told the tribunal the studio was busy planning a delay.
The short version
Rockstar Games was in crisis mode in October 2025 because GTA 6 was running late, HR vice president Rob Spampinato told an employment tribunal in Glasgow on 14 October 2026. He gave it as the reason Rockstar waited until then to sack 34 staff. Twenty three are suing, saying they were sacked for union activity. Rockstar denies it.
Quick answer
What did Rockstar tell the GTA 6 tribunal?
Rockstar Games was in “crisis mode” in October 2025 because GTA 6 was running late, HR vice president Rob Spampinato told an employment tribunal in Glasgow on 14 October 2026. He gave it as the reason Rockstar waited until then to sack 34 staff. The former workers say it was union busting, which Rockstar denies.
The GTA 6 delay has turned up as evidence in a Glasgow tribunal room. Rockstar's head of HR used it to explain when the studio sacked a group of its own developers.
Rob Spampinato, vice president of HR at Rockstar Games, gave evidence on 14 October 2026, BBC News reports. The hearing continues before judge Lucy Wiseman.
Why did Rockstar say it was in crisis mode?
Because GTA 6 was behind schedule in October 2025, Spampinato told the tribunal. He said the team needed to be “fully focused”.
“We were in a moment when we knew we were running late on the development of the (Grand Theft Auto VI)”
He went further, according to The Herald. “We were actually figuring out the timing of announcing a delay of the game and announcing that to the team,” he said.
That delay came on 6 November 2025, when Rockstar moved GTA 6 from 26 May to 19 November 2026. Our GTA 6 delay timeline has every date change.
Why were the Rockstar staff sacked?
Rockstar says they shared confidential company information on a private Discord server. The former staff say the real reason was union activity.
Rockstar dismissed 34 people across the UK and Canada in October 2025, The Herald reports. Most were based in Edinburgh, home of Rockstar North, the main GTA studio, according to the BBC. Twenty three of them are bringing the claim, backed by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB).
The tribunal heard that 722 posts across 109 Discord threads were cited against them. Some of those threads reached the company as early as March 2024. That gap is what the claimants' lawyer, Richard O'Keefe, pressed on, and crisis mode was the reply.
| Claim | Who says it | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| Rockstar was in crisis mode in October 2025 | Rob Spampinato, HR vice president | BBC News, The Herald |
| Rockstar was working out when to announce a delay | Rob Spampinato | The Herald |
| 34 staff dismissed in October 2025 | Reported | The Herald |
| 23 former staff bringing the claim | Reported | BBC News |
| Staff sacked for union activity | The claimants, via the IWGB | BBC News |
| Staff sacked for sharing confidential information | Rockstar Games | BBC News |
| HR tried to keep tabs on union members | Denied by Spampinato | BBC News |
Did Rockstar monitor union members?
Spampinato denied it. When O'Keefe said he had asked another HR manager, Charlie Kinloch, to keep tabs on union membership, he replied “That's categorically not true.”
The BBC reports that an anonymous employee, known as AB, had passed information to Kinloch since early 2024, including records of union meetings. Spampinato said he did not know it had been solicited.
He agreed it was “reasonably true” that the posts helped managers keep abreast of collective grievances. But he said removing union members was never the aim. He also told the tribunal Rockstar did not know until October 2025 who everyone on the server was. “We were not aware there was a journalist,” he said.
The union disputes the leak claim. An IWGB spokesperson told The Independent that the comments Rockstar pointed to “did not identify GTA VI”.
Does the Rockstar tribunal change anything for GTA 6?
Not for launch day. The case is about the sacked workers' claims, and GTA 6 is still due on 19 November 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
It does add a rare first hand account of the second delay, told by a Rockstar executive under questioning. It sits alongside Jason Schreier's reporting on the delays, covered in our Bloomberg report breakdown.
The hearing continues in Glasgow. We will add any new detail about the delay as it comes out in evidence.
Frequently asked questions
What did Rockstar say at the tribunal?
HR vice president Rob Spampinato said Rockstar was in crisis mode in October 2025 because GTA 6 was running late, and the studio was working out when to announce a delay.
Why did Rockstar fire 34 workers?
Rockstar says they shared confidential company information on a private Discord server and were dismissed for gross misconduct. The former staff say they were sacked for union activity.
Did Rockstar monitor union members?
Spampinato denied it. He told the tribunal it was categorically not true that he asked another HR manager to keep tabs on union membership.
Does the tribunal affect the GTA 6 release date?
No. The case is about the dismissed workers' claims. GTA 6 is still due on 19 November 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Sources
- BBC News: Grand Theft Auto boss denies trying to keep tabs on union membership
- The Herald: Rockstar HR chief denies monitoring staff union membership
- The Independent: Rockstar denies keeping tabs on staff union membership, tribunal hears
- Rockstar Newswire: GTA VI is now set to launch November 19, 2026
- Reuters: Take Two delays GTA VI for second time to November
- Bloomberg Businessweek: The Making of Grand Theft Auto VI, by Jason Schreier
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