Rockstar North Navigates Fire Incident And Ongoing Developer Dispute

Emergency services attended the Edinburgh offices of Rockstar North in the early hours of Monday, January 19, following a boiler room incident. The event comes as the company continues to navigate a labor dispute with fired developers from the Grand Theft Auto 6 team. The developer has insisted that recent staff dismissals were a result of confidential information being leaked.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 5:02 a.m. local time. Seven vehicles were mobilized to the developer’s main building on Holyrood Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. The incident was described by local news as an "explosion in a boiler room." Fire crews worked at the scene for over four hours to address the situation before departing at 9:21 a.m. No casualties were reported as a result of the malfunction.

"Operations Control mobilised three fire appliances and specialist resources to the scene, where firefighters worked to secure structural damage at a commercial building."— Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson

Despite initial reports of "structural damage," a company spokesperson confirmed the studio was operational later the same day. Development on Grand Theft Auto 6, currently set for a November 19 release, continues at the location. The Edinburgh office has been central to the development of all major Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption titles.

"Early Monday morning, there was a malfunction in one of the heating boilers at Rockstar North. Many thanks to those who reached out with concern, and also to the police and fire crews who were on scene quickly to assess the situation - please know that everyone is well and our studio remains open and operational."— Rockstar Games spokesperson

The fire occurred amidst ongoing tensions related to the dismissal of 34 staff members late last year, which prompted protests outside Rockstar’s offices. An employment tribunal in Glasgow on January 12 rejected an application for interim relief filed on behalf of the fired developers. If granted, the relief would have reinstated the workers' pay and visas pending a full hearing.

"We welcome the decision, which is consistent with Rockstar’s position throughout. We regret that we were put in a position where dismissals were necessary, but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing."— Rockstar Games spokesperson

The GTA 6 dispute reaches UK Tribunal has been a significant point of contention for Rockstar. Rockstar has maintained that the 31 UK employees and three Canadian employees were dismissed for leaking confidential game features in a Discord server, not for their union activities. The company stated it did not know which employees were union members at the time of the dismissals and noted that the Canadian employees who were let go were not part of the union.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) had accused Rockstar of union-busting. Lord John Hendy KC, representing the developers, argued that sharing information in the group did not constitute "gross misconduct." However, Judge Eccles's ruling indicated that the union was not "likely" to prove union activity was the reason for dismissal, citing the presence of external parties, including a journalist, in the Discord group where the information was shared.