Former Rockstar Games Employees were fired last month because internal company messages were discussed on a Discord server shared privately between employees and union workers, a new report says.
Rockstar Games has fired 34 employees for “gross misconduct,” although further details have not been officially released. the company has since been accused of union bustingwith the British trade union Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) filing a claim for unfair dismissal of employees.
Now, a new People Make Games video report has revealed messages posted on the Discord server from a Rockstar insider who believes this could be the reason for the dismissal.
Use of the Discord server began in 2022 and was only available to employees, with a “common” channel available to everyone and other channels only available to paying union members. Membership on Discord was limited to either Rockstar employees or representatives of the IWGB (which included Rockstar's union).
Most of the conversations on Discord concerned salaries, bonuses and other HR issues – topics protected by the Equality Act 2010 and relevant to union members.
After major leaks in the pastIt's clear that Rockstar will defend its work. But it appears that this Discord server did not contain any sensitive gaming information.
However, the catalyst for these layoffs appears to be an exchange and discussion on the server about changes to Slack's internal policies.
Rockstar employees are unable to access their work email outside of the office, and since at least one email regarding these internal policy changes was posted outside of work hours, it was instead discussed on this Discord server with details and quotes posted.
A People Make Games source believes that at least one of the server members reported this to Rockstar management, which reportedly led to an internal investigation into the Discord server. Slack's policy changes were initiated in the second week of October, and by the end of the month, 34 employees had been laid off – making the timing of these layoffs consistent with these reports, the source suspects.
The Slack policy changes themselves include the removal of various chat channels related to non-work topics that Rockstar found distracting. The “Slack purge,” as employees began to call it, proved unpopular and was therefore discussed separately on the Discord server.
One Slack channel dedicated to gaming became a place where employees could share industry news about mass layoffs. Union members often responded with seedling emojis to show support. Elsewhere on Slack, employees used emojis like these (or the Palestine flag) in their status to show support for important causes. All of this was prohibited by Rockstar's new Slack policy.
“We've seen time and time again that Rockstar is desperate to stop people from connecting,” IWGB president Alex Marshall told People Make Games. “And all these workers ever tried to do was negotiate their pay and conditions to try to improve them so they could create a game that would be loved by millions.”
Marshall also explained that the IWGB's presence on the Discord server is legal because it is normal for workers to receive support from union staff when they join a union.
Rockstar declined to comment on the People Make Games investigation.
In addition to the IWGB's lawsuit against Rockstar, more 200 Rockstar employees sign letter to management condemning layoffs their fellow employees.
the sacking was also discussed in the UK Parliament last week.
