UPDATE: Rockstar Games has told IGN that its studio opened today following the incident attended by emergency services in the early hours of this morning.
“Early Monday morning, there was a malfunction in one of the heating boilers at Rockstar North,” a Rockstar Games spokesperson confirmed to IGN in a statement. “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.”
Earlier reports from emergency service personnel made mention of securing “structural damage” to the building, though Rockstar’s statement appears to suggest this was minimal.
ORIGINAL STORY: Fire services attended the offices of Grand Theft Auto 6 developer Rockstar North this morning and secured “structural damage” following a reported boiler explosion.
Seven vehicles were mobilized to attend the main Rockstar North building in Edinburgh, Scotland at 5.02am local time (just after midnight Eastern), following an incident that local news outlet Edinburgh Live described as an “explosion in a boiler room.”
Crews remained on-site for over four hours but have now left the scene, Scottish newspaper The Herald has reported.
“We were alerted at 5.02am on Monday, 19 January to attend an incident on Holyrood Road, Edinburgh,” a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said. “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 9.21am.”
Rockstar Games’ Edinburgh office has long served as the heart of the company, with development of every major Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption game taking place within its walls. Most recently, the building has been the site of protests over Rockstar’s sudden firing of workers amid an increasingly bitter dispute that the layoffs were due to the employees’ union membership — a claim that Rockstar itself has vehemently denied.
It’s believed that office remains shut today, though it’s too early to say how this setback might impact the release of the twice-delayed GTA 6. Rockstar’s hugely-anticipated game is currently set to launch on November 19.
IGN has contacted Rockstar Games for more.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
