- Court documents from a UK tribunal have revealed new Discord messages from the 30+ fired GTA 6 employees
- A Rockstar representative told the court that employees were allegedly discussing a "top secret" game feature that was unannounced
- The feature was seemingly a 32-player online mode for GTA 6
Rockstar Games reportedly terminated over 30 Grand Theft Auto 6 developers in late 2025 for discussing a 32-player online mode in a private Discord channel.
After Rockstar sacked 34 employees in October, the studio claimed this action was due to leaks of company secrets, including "specific game features." The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) subsequently filed legal claims against Rockstar, accusing the studio of union-busting and seeking emergency relief from the Glasgow Employment Tribunal.
This month, a UK employment tribunal ruled against forcing the GTA studio to pay interim relief to the dismissed employees, revealing new details from the ruling.
As reported by People Makes Games, during the tribunal, Rockstar representative barrister Andrew Burns mentioned a "top secret" feature allegedly discussed in the Discord channel by the terminated employees.
While Burns did not elaborate on the feature in court, it was later disclosed in court documents that were not subject to reporting restrictions and accessed by PMG at the Glasgow Tribunals Centre.
This feature was reportedly a 32-player online mode for GTA 6.
PMG shared Discord messages from the court documents in its video, explaining that the discussion about the mode arose when one fired employee mentioned trying to request time off at the studio.
The conversation detailed how Rockstar was limiting the number of employees who could take time off simultaneously, before an employee referred to a "large session" that occurred in October 2025, which Rockstar found "difficult to do" with 32 people.
In response to an unseen message, the terminated employee stated: "Absolutely no idea, they mentioned the large session we did today 'being difficult to do' but that was 32 players, not sure how that was difficult."
Another employee later criticized the policy, stating: "Sounds like 'you have multiple studios of QA testers, surely someone can manage to organise a 32 player session and let people have their time off'..."
According to PMG, these messages were what Burns referenced when discussing the "top secret" game feature.
Rockstar was reportedly "gravely concerned" upon discovering that its employees were discussing "highly confidential and commercially sensitive information relating to the content and features of an unannounced online service."
"They discussed the specific number of online players planned for this service - a material feature of this new title - which has not yet been revealed by Rockstar," Rockstar's Grounds of Resistance states.
Given that GTA 5's online mode features 32-player sessions, it is reasonable to conclude that this feature likely pertains to GTA 6's unannounced online mode.
GTA 6 was delayed shortly after the firings and is now scheduled for release on November 19, 2026.