At the Glasgow employment tribunal, Rockstar Lincoln's HR director was questioned about an employee said to have passed on screenshots of a union Discord. She ties the timing of the firings to the looming game announcement.
사진: Rockstar Games
Sources kotaku.com
The ongoing hearing at the Glasgow employment tribunal produced fresh material this week. According to Kotaku, Charlie Kinloch, co-studio manager of Rockstar Lincoln and HR director, was questioned at length on one point: a junior employee who allegedly acted as an informant inside a Discord server for developers.
First, the background. Rockstar maintains that more than 30 employees were dismissed last year for gross misconduct, including leaking sensitive information about the game's development, Kotaku writes. The fired developers argue instead that the studio wanted to keep the UK union IWGB from gaining a foothold. We previously covered their call not to boycott the game.
The new testimony concerns an employee identified as "AB". According to claims filed last month and relayed by Kotaku, this person passed screenshots of that Discord to Kinloch for more than two years. The fired workers add that the group was just 12 members, or 10% of the workforce, short of the threshold for union recognition. Kinloch replies that he had neither interest in nor knowledge of the group's union status: only the risk of leaks mattered to him.
The plaintiffs' lawyer pressed on the delay. Messages management had known about since March and June 2025 could not have been urgent, he argued, since they were not investigated sooner. Kinloch's answer, quoted by Kotaku: in October the company was "on the cusp, I later learned, of making a significant announcement about the development of our next project", and remarks on working hours and crunch became "incredibly significant". He adds that the Discord was growing "at an exponential rate" and that half or more of the new members could not be identified.
When the lawyer pointed out that Kinloch's own statement spoke of acting "as quickly as possible" after eighteen months, the question of timing stayed open. Kotaku notes the dismissals came at the end of October 2025 and that Rockstar announced the delay of GTA 6 from May to November 2026 just days later, which fuelled suspicion of a link. Nothing on record establishes one: it is a coincidence of dates the hearing is trying to clarify.
Nothing for the November 19 release, and no ruling has been made: this is still witness questioning. What changes is that Rockstar's defence now rests on the context before the announcement, while the plaintiffs describe long-running surveillance. The tribunal will have to choose between the two readings. For the rest of the game's news, see the journal.
Sources kotaku.com
By Solange Rocheval · VI Countdown newsroom, OKALAM Studio