A new in-depth report claims that Rockstar’s decision to fire 34 developers had nothing to do with leaking GTA 6, but with what they said in a private Discord server, where they shared internal company emails that management later treated as a breach of conduct and tied to alleged leaks.

Rockstar Games let go of 34 employees a few weeks ago, triggering accusations that the move was really an attempt at union-busting. Parent company Take-Two later insisted that the layoffs were justified by gross misconduct and the leaking of confidential information related to GTA 6. New details now suggest something very different, indicating that these 34 workers were actually dismissed for private conversations held on the IWGB (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) Discord server about new internal policies governing Slack.

If Rockstar has indeed fired staff purely over private Discord chats that contained no GTA 6 leaks, the decision could have serious consequences for the company, especially as protests and outside pressure continue to grow.

The Messages Rockstar Looked At Before Firing 34 Union Members

People Make Games obtained copies of these Discord messages from a Rockstar source, showing staff discussing a so-called Slack Purge, during which many informal Slack channels were deleted in the name of productivity. The employees were unhappy about the changes and warned colleagues about the new rules by sharing the contents of internal company emails. Rockstar discovered the Discord server after receiving a complaint, which either fed into or directly triggered an internal investigation into the staff involved.

According to the report, “these messages directly contributed to the firings of the 34 former employees.” Rockstar appears to have taken a very broad view of its policy on sharing confidential information, treating the Discord discussion as a violation of workplace conduct rules and eventually linking it to the wider narrative around GTA 6 leaks. However, the people involved said they could not recall a single instance of any confidential game details actually being posted in these chats.

Some of the developers who lost their jobs had been with Rockstar Games for more than a decade, and every one of them was escorted out of the office by security staff once their termination was confirmed.

GTA 6 Delayed Again

Since the layoffs, multiple protests have been staged outside Rockstar’s offices demanding that the fired developers be reinstated. The IWGB has also begun legal action and plans to sue the company for unfair dismissal if its demands are not met.

Source: tech4gamers