An early-morning explosion at Rockstar North’s Edinburgh studio briefly shook the global gaming community, which has been eagerly awaiting the release of Grand Theft Auto VI. The explosion immediately sparked speculation about whether the expected launch date of November 2026 would be delayed.
Emergency response at Edinburgh studio
Reportedly, emergency services were alerted to the incident at the Holyrood Road premises around 5:20 am. Police cordoned off the area while the fire department arrived with three engines. The fire department stayed at the scene for over four hours to conduct safety checks on the building.
It was later confirmed that the explosion had come from a faulty heating boiler. Although there was some structural damage reported in the building, there have been no reported injuries to staff members.
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Boiler malfunction identified as cause
Reportedly, preliminary investigations have pointed to the boiler room inside the building as the source of the explosion. The emergency response teams conducted a thorough sweep of the area to confirm that there were no potential hazards remaining before allowing personnel to return to the workspace.
There has been no official statement from Rockstar regarding the incident, except that none of their employees were injured.
Why Rockstar North matters to GTA 6
Edinburgh studio is more than an additional location for Rockstar Games; in fact, it is actually the lifeblood of the company itself. It is a part of Rockstar North that has been behind every major Grand Theft Auto title series and Red Dead Redemption franchise.
This central role is what fuelled concerns that any disruption at the studio could have a ripple effect on GTA 6’s development timeline.
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Will the explosion delay GTA 6?
Following the incident, fans took to social media to debate the potential impact. "It won’t. Rockstar North is one of MANY game studios working on it. Another studio could work on it while North gets repaired”, a Reddit user wrote.
Another user said, “I don’t think it would cause any significant delays. They might temporarily move some production elsewhere. They have other offices. Though hard to say if it will be impacted because I don’t know what kind of damage the building sustained or if it would be feasible to move production. Edinburgh would likely be feasible depending how easily it would be to move workstations and personnel, and how long that would take."
“You know, many games news accounts said today that Rockstar said it didn’t fact GTA 6 at all. They do have other headquarters locations and not just Edinburgh," wrote a third user.
