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Fire Shuts GTA 6 Developer Rockstar North, Following Report of Explosion

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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.

Rockstar North and Take-Two Office Protest Photos Nov 2025 View 4 Images

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