Edinburgh Rockstar office working on GTA 6 suffers fire after boiler explosion

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 19/01/2026

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 developers, Rockstar Games, had fire services called to its Edinburgh office today after an early morning fire.

Fire services received a call at 5:02 am on January 19th and sent seven vehicles to the Rockstar North offices.

Reports suggest an explosion in a boiler room was the cause, as police taped off the street.

After three to four hours on the scene, fire crews then left the area once it was deemed safe.

A spokesperson from The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) revealed:

“Operations Control mobilised three fire appliances and specialist resources to the scene, where firefighters worked to secure structural damage at a commercial building.

“There were no reported casualties, and crews left the scene at 9:21 am.”

The Rockstar North Office has seen work on every major GTA and Red Dead Redemption title.

GTA 6 has always been delayed twice and is currently due to release on November 19th.

There were fears within the community that this could lead to more delays, but that appears not to be the case.

The office was expected to be closed today, but a Rockstar Games spokesperson has confirmed that development won’t be affected.

“Many thanks to those that 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,” the spokesman told BNO News.

Edinburgh protests following Rockstar layoffs

The Rockstar North office has also seen multiple protests recently after more than 30 employees were fired.

The layoffs were due to workers allegedly leaking “confidential information,” but Rockstar has been accused of union-busting.

It is claimed that these employees were actually let go for participating in a union Discord chat.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concerns over the Rockstar situation and promised that it would be investigated.

Rockstar has maintained that the firings were due to the leaking of confidential information and labelled union-busting claims as “false and misleading.”

Meanwhile, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has hit back at the publisher, saying:

“Rockstar’s latest statement is littered with falsehoods and disinformation – they have given multiple, conflicting reasons to explain why the workers were fired, as if attempting to reverse engineer a rationale for the dismissals.

“Once again, they have chosen to mischaracterise workers speaking about their working conditions in a private forum as ‘leaking information.’”

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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