Dayne Oram #

Introduction #

Dayne Oram is a former Rockstar North employee caught up in the biggest labour dispute the British games industry has seen in years. Oram worked at the Edinburgh studio where production of the Grand Theft Auto series is led until October 2025, when Rockstar dismissed him alongside dozens of colleagues. In September 2026, Oram took the witness stand at an employment tribunal in Glasgow, giving evidence in a case examining whether Rockstar Games unlawfully fired 31 employees for trade union activity. He told the tribunal he believed employees who signed a petition about remote working were placed on a “watch list” before the dismissals — claims the company flatly rejects.

Background Information #

Oram worked at Rockstar North, the Scottish headquarters of Rockstar Games. The studio was helping to make Grand Theft Auto VI, which is set for release on 19 November 2026 and is expected to be among the biggest launches in gaming history; its production has reportedly generated more than $3 billion (£2.27 billion) in preorders, and the game was previously delayed twice.

Two threads of Oram’s time at the company later became central to the case. The first was a petition about working from home, which around 150 Rockstar employees signed and which was handed to the company in the spring of 2023; between 15 and 20 of the signatories were union members. Rockstar’s lawyers said there was nothing in the signatures that could identify who was a union member, but Oram told the tribunal it could be “inferred” by those who handed in the petition. The second was a Discord server Oram helped set up and moderate, used as a forum where around 300 Rockstar employees could discuss the company — the forum at the centre of the dispute.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from Dayne Oram and his union, the IWGB, advanced in an employment tribunal that is still ongoing. They have never been admitted by Rockstar Games and have not been adjudicated; no ruling has yet been made. Rockstar denies all of them and claims the dismissals were for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of trade union membership or activity.

In October 2025, Oram was dismissed for what the company called gross misconduct, in a mass dismissal that saw some 34 Rockstar workers lose their jobs — 31 of them at the Scottish studio, with three in Canada. Twenty-three of the dismissed workers are now claiming unfair dismissal at the Glasgow tribunal, represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB).

Oram gave evidence on Friday, September 11, 2026, at the start of the hearing. He said he believed the 2023 petition became the basis of a list of employees kept under observation. “I believe this forms the basis of a watch list of people to keep an eye on for further activities,” Oram told the tribunal, while acknowledging the petition was not the sole reason for his dismissal: “It was maybe the start of them keeping an eye on things but it was not the sole reason,” linking it instead to his other union organising activities.

Under cross-examination by Thomas Cordrey, representing Rockstar, Oram was pressed on how a list of names held since February 2023 could explain dismissals two years and eight months later — and on the fact that 141 of the 154 people who signed the petition were not fired. “How can that even be the starting point?” Cordrey asked. Oram replied: “I believe it was the starting point and used to watch people for activities that were considered distasteful.”

The hearing also examined the Discord forum. Cordrey read out posts disparaging management, including one calling a named individual the C-word, and suggested the forum’s rules requiring users to be “professional and constructive” had been “routinely broken”. Oram accepted a derogatory post would be misconduct but said “I disagree it would be gross misconduct”, conceded the discussions could “get a bit out of hand”, and said “If I had to remake some of the moderation decisions, probably I would make them differently now”, adding that moderators were “human admins trying to keep the line without over-policing”. Rockstar alleges it was in this forum that confidential company information was shared and discussed.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Allegations. The claims described below are the claimants’ contentions in a live tribunal. They are untested, and Rockstar disputes them outright.

Lawyers for the claimants are expected to allege that workers were unlawfully blacklisted and targeted for their union activities. Rockstar has rejected that account: “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. We reject the claims and will defend them vigorously before the tribunal,” a company spokesperson said. The case has drawn national coverage, and Oram joined a rally outside the Glasgow Tribunals Centre during the hearing. The case is expected to last about six weeks, with testimony from Rockstar Games witnesses set for October, and the company remains in talks with current workers who hope official union recognition can be secured before Grand Theft Auto VI’s release.

Current Status #

The tribunal continues before judge Lucy Wiseman, and no judgment has been issued — Oram’s watch-list claim and the wider union-activity claims remain unadjudicated, while Rockstar’s gross-misconduct account remains its own untested position. Oram remains dismissed from Rockstar North. The company, meanwhile, is preparing for the 19 November release of Grand Theft Auto VI, whose preorders are already thought to be worth hundreds of millions.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The dismissal ended Oram’s job at one of the world’s most prominent game studios and placed his conduct at work under public scrutiny, with his role setting up and moderating the Rockstar Discord server dissected in open tribunal testimony. Whatever the tribunal rules, the case has become a defining test of union organising in the UK games industry: Oram’s testimony about a purported watch list goes directly to whether the dismissals were lawful, and the outcome will shape the IWGB’s drive for recognition at Rockstar ahead of the industry’s biggest game launch in years. For now, Oram’s name is attached to the leading case over whether one of gaming’s most valuable companies fired staff for organizing.