In a post on GTA Forums that was later verified by the site’s admins, a former Rockstar Games employee divulged information about the recent controversy that saw more than 30 employees suddenly dismissed from the company. In the words of Rockstar, they were fired for leaking game information in a Discord server, but that might not be the case.
As the user posted, nobody was leaking anything in the private Discord server that contained only Rockstar Games employees, but instead, they were using it to discuss unionization in a bid to encourage change at Rockstar Games for the better.
It has been alleged that Rockstar Games fired these employees for taking part in this activity.
Former Rockstar Employees Are Lashing Out
The lengthy post on the GTA Forums reveals a tale of heartbreak and disappointment at the sudden dismissal of more than 30 Rockstar Games employees in the United Kingdom and Canada.
In the post, the user named ‘Organize’, who joined the forums in June, revealed that Rockstar Games broke several UK employment laws when dismissing staff on grounds of gross misconduct. Many have claimed this was a thinly veiled attempt to bust unionization efforts.
Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were each individually messaged by HR for a short friendly meeting, under the friendly guise of “Hey, are you free for a quick chat?”
Upon attending this meeting they were handed an envelope with a short letter stating that their employment had been terminated for “gross misconduct” regarding posts made in Discord.
They failed to provide any evidence when asked, nor was any stated in the letter. And did not divulge any other information or reasoning – “and no other reason”
They refused their right to Union representation in the disciplinary meeting (which is against UK employment law) and were frogmarched out of the studio with the meeting lasting less than 5 minutes.
For colleagues who were not in the Studio that day, they received a phone call from HR that lasted less than 2 minutes telling them they were fired and that they’d receive the same letter as above. I am aware of one employee who had a panic attack at this moment, and HR hung up on them during this panic attack not caring at all about their wellbeing.
These colleagues of mine were hard workers who have spent many many years at R* in critical roles. With colleagues who have been at R* for more that 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines.
These are very senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers and producers. Including Leads. All super talented people who were proud of their work over multiple R* titles, and all they wanted was the best for R* and their fellow colleagues.
Some of these members were off sick, recovering from surgery or on paternity leave. Fired without pay, losing their careers and putting them into hardship in the lead up to Christmas, and even potentially losing their VISAs to work in the UK.
Let me make this clear! I never saw any discussion/leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord. The only ever discussion was around unionisation efforts and the working conditions at R*. The Discord wasn’t public. It was a private Discord group that only contained R* employees and the IWGB Union officials.
This was Union Busting and nothing else! Everyone fired was a Union Member, they were also predominantly from those who were on the Union Organising Committees of each UK studio.
The user revealed that almost enough members had been reached to ‘seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining.’
They have fired over 34 of us now. There were over 250 of us in that Union/Employee Discord group. There is the fear that if they get away with this, they’ll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again.
Those of us who are lucky and remain for now work in fear! Fearful when talking to each other at the tea prep, fearful that we’re next in line and are easily got rid of, too scared to go outside the studio and talk to (or even acknowledge) our colleagues outside protesting in fear of reprisals. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. When we should be excited about what’s to come over the next year we are now totally deflated and our trust and confidence in others is totally shot.
Which is the truly heartbreaking part, as for us in the Union, all of our ambition was to make R* a happier, fairer, safer and more equitable place. That’s all. What has happened clearly shows that we care more about the wellbeing of our colleagues at Rockstar than the Company does.
This would have allowed the employees to address key issues in the company: ‘worsening crunch, inadequate pay, and inflexible working arrangements.’ To protest the firing of these Rockstar Games employees, the IWGB union and former employees marched on Take-Two’s London office yesterday.
In recent Rockstar Games news, Grand Theft Auto 6 was delayed by several months and will now be released on November 19, 2026, rather than May 26, 2026.
Let me know what you think about these claims on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that fresh art of Rogue and Gambit in Marvel Rivals has been revealed
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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