Rockstar North, the Scottish game studio spearheading the development of Grand Theft Auto 6, has reportedly suffered an explosion.
According to Edinburgh Live, police and fire and rescue teams were in attendance for several hours after the initial call, and have cordoned off the street while they carry out their investigations.
While the precise nature of the incident is unclear, reports say there was an "explosion in a boiler room" within Rockstar North. The fire and rescue service responded to the call at about 5am this morning, 19th January 2026.
"I can confirm that we got a call at 5.02am this morning," a spokesperson said. "We mobilised three pumps and four of our specialist appliances. It's an ongoing incident and we're still in attendance at the moment with other agencies."
Speaking to The Herald, a separate statement was made by Scottish Fire and Rescue Services that provided slightly more detail about the incident.
"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."
We'll update this story as it develops.
[source edinburghlive.co.uk, via mirror.co.uk, dexerto.com, heraldscotland.com]
Comments 28
The creation of GTA 6 has been like WW3 🤯👀🪦🪦🪦🫠🤧😱🤔😑🙄
In a documentary post-release: “One very impatient gamer caused the game to be delayed a further six months.” /S
@Can-You-Believe-Sith Considering we're the closest we've ever been to it being a reality, this isn't particularly funny.
Hopefully it wasn’t done on purpose by a GTA Online griefer with a name like xXurmomsugly69Xx. All jokes aside I hope everyone is okay and it was just a boiler explosion from outdated parts considering it’s been like 13 years.
I remember passing the Rockstar office 6 years ago on a city trip to Edinburgh.
@MrPeanutbutterz "the closest we've ever been"
LMAO you are giving away your age. History didn't begin in 2016 bud. Ever heard of the Cold War?
@JamesLimited5990 yes, the Cuban missile crisis in the early 60s was a pretty tense situation, the closest the world has come to a nuclear war. (Way before my time, but I’m aware of its historical significance)
Couldn’t they have hit Tynecastle instead? Only way we’re making that points difference up.
@JamesLimited5990
Interestingly, they actually have a futurist survey where they predict the cause of human extinction and nuclear war is now second place to AI, although there is some overlap (AI could trigger the nukes instead of humans doing it)
@JamesLimited5990 Some say that we are currently in a Second Cold War.
I never thought I'd be Youtubing videos of boilers exploding but if it was anything like that then I can't imagine the shock people got or the damage it did. The steam one I saw blew a ten meter hole in a wall.
@kmtrain83 Never doubt humanity's ability to develop new ways of destroying itself.
@JamesLimited5990 Okay, the closest to Doomsday that we've ever been, which WW3 may as well be a metaphor for (and you can bet that the 2026 time will be closer to midnight than it is right now).
@MrPeanutbutterz This echos almost word for word what I keep hearing from that other side of the fence but it's been a constant for over a year now, and yet I wake up every day and the world is still here. I tend to just agree with Ministry 'fear is big business' and I have no time for it. I focus more on Megadeth 'peace sells and who's buying?'. Propaganda has made me cynical. Either way you get Metal, so you get what I'm saying. It's a universal language.
Least they have an excuse to push it into 2027. I hope everyone is okay.
@GirlVersusGame well said! The world is full of it nowadays. I gotta go listen to some Megadeth now.
Geez. Hope everyone and everything is okay.
The expression is "cooking", right? As in "let Rockstar cook"?
I, too, start kitchen fires every time I try to cook something!
(But seriously, I hope everyone's okay!)
@JamesLimited5990
One of my favourite Dr Who Quotes:
"Your species (humans) has the most amazing capacity for self deception, matched only by its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself"
Part of this self deception is not realising how close we are to destruction.
Anyway, hope everyone is OK and that this is just a malfunction. The fact I haven't seen it on BBC news is hopefully a good sign.
Oh god, I hope everyone is OK.
@SteveJaye Thanks Jaye. I think there's propaganda on both sides. Except on one side it's softer and it slowly works it's way into peoples minds and days by making them fear the ultimate scenario then stresses them out. Back home my entire Christmas was turned into battle plan, it was loud and nonstop every day and every where I went. I called it real life V for Vendetta for a reason, billboards all over Moscow. Propaganda and giving into fear is so dangerous. I had to leave early, people have lost their minds.
It's lead me to believe that conflict on such a scale is mental illness, almost like we've learned to wipe out life on an industrial scale before we've gotten past the illness of wanting to do it in the first place. Enjoy your Megadeth, I am.
@MrPeanutbutterz Open a history book and read about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
What's happening in history right now is called a boring Monday.
About the explosion, I live in Edinburgh and whatever happened wasn't important enough to warn anyone outside of the area, so hopefully no one was harmed.
@GirlVersusGame I used to work at a pipe fitters years back and occassionally they would have to test hoses / pipes to destruction to see at what pressure the seals would blow. One of these tests was seeing how much pressure a hose could take that was designed to pump snow for ski resort. The pipe never actually blew as the end blank came out first and took out a block wall as the pressure turned it into a cannon round. Pressue can be seriously scary at high levels.
@ everyone who thinks things are "just normal". I live in Minneapolis. I just want to say stop burying your heads in the sand. That is all.
Hope Rockstar staff are all ok - was expecting the announcement of another delay by next summer anyways...
@ilyn I was trained to use a cinema projector a couple of years ago, the guy owned a chain of theaters and had a projector in his home. I still don't know if he was winding me up but he told me that back in the old days the bulb was so strong that if it blew it could take out half of the room. I thought of that every time I laced up up a projector, it was 35mm film and comes on multiple reels then you splice it and run it off platters. The sound is separate and has to be synced by a computer system. That type of bulb would have to run a massive machine so maybe he was serious. I did it because I wanted to learn to lace a projector, it's easier with small hands. It took him maybe thirty minutes to lace one, I got it down to twenty minutes but after what he said about the bulb I said thank you and wanted to get away from that machine.
Some of those bulbs go from 10K lumens to 60K, we had an industrial sized blonde explode on a film set once. Grips call lights after women. That thing was running off it's own generator not the studios grid and when it went the BOOM was massive, they had to clear the set. I can't imagine what a machine like a boiler would be like, lights were enough. It sounds like an interesting job, I can't imagine you did it without some kind of Hurt Locker level of protection.
I wonder what caused the explosion in the boiler room. Curious to read about that once all of the details are out.
Did they find employees chained to their desks for the crunch until release?
Did they have to sign an NDA before entering the building?
Yes, these are the first questions that came to mind once I saw there were no casualties.
They'll do anything for another delay
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...