The Rockstar Games employee dismissals have dominated gaming headlines for several weeks. Now, a new report has revealed the Discord messages that are believed to have led to the termination of 34 Rockstar Games workers.
Insider Gaming reported back in October about GTA 6 Workers allegedly being fired to prevent union forming. Since then, Rockstar Games has claimed that the fired employees were leaking information. There have been protests since, and the company has since been hit with legal action over the firings.
But now, a new development has seemingly uncovered the actual Discord messages at the root of everything.
Rockstar Games Allegedly Accessed Union Discord Server
People Make Games released an eye-opening video on November 24 titled: “The Messages Rockstar Saw Before Firing 34 Union Members.”
The reporter claims that they have “since spoken to a Rockstar insider, who has shared screenshots with People Make Games of what they believe to be the messages sent just a few weeks ago on that Discord server, which directly contributed to the firings of these 34 former employees. We also know how Rockstar got hold of these messages as well.”
According to People Make Games, the source is “not one of the fired workers” and isn’t even part of the union. The Discord server has apparently been around since 2022 and consisted of various Rockstar employees.
The reporter’s source claims that “They couldn’t recall a single example of any confidential game details being shared.” It’s said that the beginning of October 2025 saw Rockstar Games revise its policies pertaining to the company Slack—a messaging platform usually used by workplaces.
Various non-essential chats were removed, with the company claiming them to be a “distraction” and a source of “poor conduct”.
This “Slack purge” did not go down well. The union Discord server discussed these changes, with one individual saying: “I would really like to see the evidence for them being too much of a productivity hit. I can’t imagine it being worth the absolute dumpsterfire this will be for morale.”
It’s alleged that Rockstar’s Slack revision email was sent out after 5 PM—and employees can’t check their emails outside of work—and a second email about guidelines and conduct was also pushed. The emails were shared by people still in the office on Discord to inform other colleagues who hadn’t seen them yet.
“This led to one member of the Discord approaching studio management to express concerns about the discussions taking place,” the report adds. Additionally, “I’m told this either contributed to or kicked off an investigation into the Discord by the company, which does line up with the timings we now understand.”
The report claims it’s likely Rockstar did manage to access the union Discord server. Soon after, the whole world learned of the firings, with Rockstar presumably identifying individuals in the union chat who had broken guidelines, weren’t adhering to policy, and potentially attributed this to leaks.
This is one of the messages deemed to be a factor in Rockstar’s actions.
You can see recreations of the Discord messages in the full video below.
What do you make of these new findings? Who’s in the wrong here? Share your opinion on the whole situation down below or in the Insider Gaming Discord Server.
Insider Gaming has even more news stories to check out, including a New Marathon Community Playtest Being Announced, Black Ops 7 Suffering The Worst Japan Launch In Its 20-Year Franchise History, and Stellar Blade Being ‘The Best-Selling PlayStation-Exclusive Launch IP In History’ For PC.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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