Rockstar North "remains open and operational", following boiler malfunction

Update: Rockstar confirm that "everyone is well"

Update: Rockstar have issued a statement on the incident to IGN.

"Early Monday morning, there was a malfunction in one of the heating boilers at Rockstar North," a spokesperson for the company said. "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."

Well, that's good news, and the fact the offices are already open again could point to the structural damage cited in the Scottish fire service's initial statement being on the minimal side.

Original story follows:

Rockstar North, the Edinburgh office of GTA 6 developers Rockstar Games, has been cordoned off by emergency services following reports of an explosion in the building.

Edinburgh Live and The Herald report that local fire crews were called out to Holyrood Road at around 5AM on January 19th.

"We were alerted at 5.02AM on Monday, 19 January to attend an incident on Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, reads a statement given to the latter by a spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. "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."

Both local outlets outline that the exact nature of what happened isn't fully clear as of yet, but cite reports suggesting an "explosion in a boiler room" was the cause of the incident.

That's it for details as of writing, I'll update this article or link out to a separate one as or when more information arrives.

This incident comes amid legal proceedings between Rockstar Games and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain union, with the latter representing 31 former Rockstar employees which the company fired last year. Rockstar allege the staff were dismissed for sharing info about GTA 6 and other unannounced projects over Discord, while the union have accused them of union busting. As part of the initial response to the firings, Rockstar North's Edinburgh offices were the site of a union protest last November.

To be clear, as of right now there is no suggestion of a causal connection between this incident and the above events.