Rockstar Union Case May Have Exposed GTA 6 Online Plan — 32-Player Cap Appears in Court Documents

Rockstar Union Case May Have Exposed GTA 6 Online Plan – 32-Player Cap Appears in Court Documents

This caught my attention because a labor dispute – not a marketing leak or a developer interview – is the vehicle that may have made early GTA 6 Online details public, and what’s appearing in the paperwork tells you as much about Rockstar’s workplace tensions as it does about the game itself.

• Key Takeaway 1: Court documents shown at a preliminary hearing include internal messages referencing a 32-player session, which Rockstar treats as confidential information tied to an unannounced online service.
• Key Takeaway 2: If 32 players is the intended cap, that aligns with the current GTA Online session size and undercuts rumors of 64-96 player ambitions.
• Key Takeaway 3: The case exposes bigger issues — dismissals for sharing seemingly mundane messages (about leave, crunch, or QA schedules), and the tension between secrecy and workers’ rights.
• Key Takeaway 4: The tribunal denied interim relief to the fired staff; the full trial is still pending, so legal and workplace ramifications are far from resolved.

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Publisher|Rockstar Games
Release Date|2026-01-14
Category|Industry News
Platform|Unannounced (expected consoles/PC)
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What showed up in court — and why it matters

At a preliminary hearing in Rockstar’s Glasgow employment tribunal with the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), lawyers presented internal Discord messages they say reveal “highly confidential” details about a future online service. People Make Games was able to view the documents because Rockstar hadn’t sought reporting restrictions. Among the excerpts: QA staff discussing a “large session” that was “32 players.”

Rockstar argues those messages constituted a commercial leak and grounds for dismissals; the union contends many of the sacked employees were fired unfairly. The judge rejected a request for interim relief for the dismissed staff, but the substantive case will go to full trial.

Why 32 players is interesting — but not shocking

A 32-player session cap, if that’s what the message reflects, isn’t exactly a bombshell. GTA Online currently supports 32 players in many session types, and keeping that cap could be a deliberate design choice rather than a technical shortcoming. Larger player counts (64, 96) bring big demands on netcode, synchronization, voice/chat moderation, and content pacing — and they change the feel of a matched open world.

There are sensible reasons to keep sessions at ~32 players: predictable server load, tighter gameplay balance, and reuse of proven systems from live-service design. If Rockstar were planning true 64+ player shared worlds, you’d expect them to flag that as a key selling point; its absence in these documents suggests continuity over headline-scale increases.

What the leaks — and the firings — reveal about Rockstar’s culture

Some submitted messages used as grounds for dismissal read as ordinary workplace chatter: notes about booking leave, short updates from QA, or comments about crunch and generative AI. Rockstar’s legal team treats even a 15-word status update as potential evidence of leaking development stage information. That stretches the usual definition of “confidential” and raises labor questions that go beyond a single number.

This case sits at the intersection of two trends: mega-studios’ obsession with secrecy around tentpole franchises, and growing unionization and pushback on workplace practices in games. The optics of firing 30+ people over Discord messages — some tiny or contextual — feed the narrative that devs are penalized for routine transparency while corporations clamp down hard on any perceived slip.

What this means for players and the industry

• If 32 players is the cap, expect gameplay that refines existing GTA Online systems rather than one that radically expands simultaneous player density.
• Design priorities may favor stability, matchmaking quality, and moderated social spaces over spectacle of huge player counts.
• The legal fallout could set a precedent about what studios can discipline employees for sharing internal details — even seemingly trivial ones — and how tribunals treat those claims.
• For fans hoping for radically larger shared-world encounters, this should temper expectations; for those seeking a polished sequel, it’s not necessarily bad news.

Personally, I’m skeptical of framing a single numeric detail as “top secret” when it’s already a reasonable engineering choice — but the situation makes clear that secrecy campaigns and blunt employment actions are part of the story now. The documents tell us less about GTA 6’s vision and more about how high-stakes protectionism works inside big studios.

TL;DR

Court papers in Rockstar’s dispute with the IWGB include internal messages mentioning a 32-player session, which Rockstar treats as confidential and used to justify dismissals. If true, a 32-player cap suggests continuity with GTA Online rather than a push to 64+ player sessions. The larger takeaway is about workplace dynamics: the case highlights how secrecy, small internal communications, and harsh disciplinary action are colliding with union organizing — and we’ll learn more as the full trial proceeds.