A fresh set of court documents from the Rockstar Games' ongoing employment tribunal reconfirms a detail we first learned in January. According to Rockstar, the 32-player online format for Grand Theft Auto VI is a highly confidential matter.
Here is the relevant paragraph as shown in the ongoing Glasgow case:
Other Claimants in Room C were candidly referencing game features – one of the most closely guarded secrets of the company. Two discussed an online 32 player format which was highly confidential at that time.
It continues by citing witness evidence from Rockstar Head of Publishing Jennifer Kolbe, who described seeing team members share details about online player numbers for a confidential project as “extraordinarily alarming.”
This isn't the first time we've seen the numbers thrown around. It first came after People Make Games combed through unrestricted documents from the preliminary hearing. Those earlier filings contained Discord messages showing fired employees discussing the difficulty of organizing “large sessions” of 32 players and company limits on how many people could take time off at once.
Rockstar’s legal team described those messages at the time as “highly confidential and commercially sensitive information relating to the content and features of an unannounced online service.” The new wording is a step above that language. “One of the most closely guarded secrets of the company” is stronger and more deliberate.
What We Already Knew vs. What’s New
Aspect | January 2026 Documents | September 2026 Documents |
|---|---|---|
Source | Discord messages submitted as evidence | Rockstar’s opening submissions / evidence bundle |
Player count reference | 32-player sessions discussed in QA context | Explicit “online 32 player format” |
Rockstar’s description | Highly confidential / commercially sensitive | “One of the most closely guarded secrets” |
Context | Leave policy and testing logistics | “Room C” on the union Discord + Kolbe statement |
What stood out in January, and stands out even more now, is how tightly Rockstar tried to control any mention of the online component’s scale.
These documents are part of the full employment tribunal that started in late October 2025 after Rockstar dismissed 34 employees. The company reasons they shared confidential information on a Discord server operated by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain. The union and the former staff argue the firings were a form of union-busting and blacklisting.
“Room C” is the specific channel Rockstar accessed after receiving reports from concerned members. According to the company’s own submissions, hundreds of people, including former employees, competitors, and a journalist, could see conversations that included both workplace criticism and references to game features.
If we had a nickel every time Rockstar put its secrets into public record through its own legal filings, we'd have two by now. It's not much but it's ironic that it's happened twice already.
Of course, as we've already mentioned, this doesn't confirm the final lobby size at launch. However, the documents do show that Rockstar was, for a time, testing and designing around 32-player sessions. Rockstar has not officially commented on GTA 6 Online at all and is unlikely to do so before the single-player campaign has had enough time in the spotlight.
With the tribunal expected to last until mid-October, we're bound to learn more about the next Grand Theft Auto as more documents are uncovered as part of the entire ordeal. It'll be interesting to see what else we'll find out before Rockstar themselves start confirming certain features in the lead-up to the game's release in November.