Next Rockstar Games' “ruthless” dismissal of more than 30 employeesThe Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain has assured that the sacked developers should have been “legally protected” discuss working conditions privately – but the situation is far from over.
There was a little back and forth on both ends. Although Rockstar claims that the layoffs occurred after internal leaks of “confidential information” and were “in no way related to people's right to join a union” (specifically accusing the former developers of “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum”), the IWGB disagreed, saying that the so-called “public forum” was actually a private Discord server.
On the server, IWGB reported that the developers were discussing “their material conditions within the company, and they should be legally protected from this,” but recently Rockstar doubled in their own statements, explaining that the employees were actually divulging “specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles” while calling the union-busting claims “false and misleading.” The IWGB became aware of this statement and published its own response to the statement. GameSpot.
The IWGB then concludes: “It is difficult to understand this statement as anything other than a desperate attempt to distract themselves from the global spotlight they have been under over the past month. From the UK Prime Minister in the House of Commons to protesting game developers around the world, all eyes are on Rockstar and their lawless attack on the people who make them their billions.”
We hope things pick up from here – both for the former employees themselves and for other workers who may benefit from any action taken. Of course, these are challenging times for the video game industry, and formerGrand theft auto 6 The situation of developers is no exception.
