Former Rockstar Games worker claims staff were put on “watch list

A former Rockstar Games employee has told an employment tribunal in Glasgow that he believes staff were placed on an internal "watch list."

The alleged watch list followed a petition against a return-to-office mandate. Dayne Oram was among 34 workers dismissed by Rockstar North in October 2025.

The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain now represents 23 of the 31 Scotland-based employees who lost their jobs.

Discord messages at the centre of the dispute

According to The Herald, around 150 employees signed the petition back in spring 2023, though only 15 to 20 of them were union members.

Oram helped set up a Discord server used by roughly 300 Rockstar employees.

He alleged the petition may have marked the starting point for closer monitoring of staff. "I believe this forms the basis of a watch list of people to keep an eye on for further activities," he told the tribunal.

We previously covered how the dismissals were said to have originated, after Rockstar removed several non-work Slack channels it considered a "distraction," sparking backlash in the unofficial Discord.

Rockstar said the confidentiality breach came from employees allegedly copying internal emails about those Slack changes into the server, and that a member later approached management, prompting an investigation.

Some messages on the server also referred to a specific manager using a slur, and described managers as "cowardly corporate f****".

Rockstar's representative pressed Oram on whether that would constitute gross misconduct. "It would be misconduct. I disagree it would be gross misconduct," Oram said, adding: "We were human admins trying to keep the line without over-policing."

A Rockstar spokesperson said its position "has been clear and consistent throughout." "Individuals across the UK and Canada were dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity," they said. "We reject the claims and will defend them vigorously."

The tribunal, overseen by judge Lucy Wiseman, is expected to run for around six weeks.

It arrives just over two months before the November 19 release of GTA 6, with the union hoping to secure official recognition from Rockstar before the game launches.