A new report claims that Grand Theft Auto giant Rockstar’s recent firing of 34 employees for “gross misconduct” was triggered by an external discussion of the studio’s Slack policies.
That’s according to People Make Games, which has published a new video claiming that employees were let go after talking about changes to the company’s Slack rules in an invite-only Discord server. This closed forum was created in 2022 for Rockstar members showing interest in unionization, and included representatives from the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union. Discussions between representatives and union members took place in secure channels, but were a common channel used by unionized and non-unionized employees.
In early October, Rockstar shut down several internal Slack channels where employees could discuss hobbies and interests, citing concerns about their impact on productivity. One of these channels was a game forum that was used to post industry news, such as the many layoffs across the industry over the past few years. A later change restricted what Rockstar employees could put in their status messages on Slack.
Presumably, Rockstar has banned employees from accessing their email from outside the office. Some UK employees were not in the office when emails were sent detailing the changes to Slack policies, so employees who had access posted their content to Discord for others to read. It is claimed that a member of staff went to Rockstar management to express concern over these emails being discussed, prompting an investigation of the Discord server.
34 server employees were subsequently fired, in what Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive described as “gross misconduct”.
watch on youtube
Members who spoke to People Make Games did not recall any instances of confidential information being shared across servers, but said that topics such as salaries were discussed.
“I think it’s absolutely normal for people to discuss their material situations, whether it’s bonuses, whether it’s policies, whether it’s anything like that,” IWGB president Alex Marshall told People Make Games.
“It’s completely normal for workers to do this and for an employer to react in this way that is not only ruling by lack of transparency, but they’re also trying to rule by fear. They feel completely threatened by the idea of workers talking to each other and that’s why they’ve taken this step to destroy the union and destroy any kind of solidarity that was being built among the workers.”
When asked for comment by People Make Games, Take-Two declined to add anything new to previously made statements on the matter. It’s possible that external sharing of innocuous-seeming internal communications, such as a notification of a Slack policy change, could also be considered a contractual violation, but no details have been provided.
The IWGB union claimed that Rockstar was committing union busting when it fired the affected employees – a claim the company denies – and has filed a wrongful dismissal case against the Grand Theft Auto giant.
Since, more than 200 members of Rockstar North staff have signed a letter demanding that the affected staff be reinstated, while affected staff have held protests in London and Edinburgh.
<a href=