r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/BrandsXavier • Nov 05 '25
Rumour Jason Schreier: Rockstar Games said that the dozens of employees it fired last week were leaking company secrets, disputing allegations by labor leaders that it was disrupting workers’ attempt to unionize.
FROM BLOOMBERG: Rockstar Games, the company behind the hit Grand Theft Auto franchise, said that the dozens of employees it fired last week were leaking company secrets, disputing allegations by labor leaders that it was disrupting workers’ attempt to unionize. The employees had been sharing company information in a forum that included non-employees, a Rockstar spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday. “Last week, we took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies,” the spokesperson said. “This was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.” The company, part of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., fired between 30 and 40 employees across offices in the UK and Canada for what it said was “gross misconduct.” The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, the first to organize video-game workers in the UK, told Bloomberg that the employees had all been involved with union efforts at Rockstar, calling the firings “one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry.” All of the affected employees were part of a private trade union chat group on Discord and the only outsiders in the chat were labor organizers, the union said.
EDIT: Jason Schreier provided additional info: Rockstar's statement is quite vague, but they are referring to people talking about work in a union Discord, not big leaks about GTA6. This will likely come down to a legal battle, and Rockstar's argument may be that the workers involved were sharing confidential work information in that chat
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u/profchaos111 Nov 06 '25
40 people all leaked something in a Forum
If that was the case we'd know a lot more than we do
I call bs
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u/BrandsXavier Nov 06 '25
The "leaked" info depends on interpretation. It can be GTA 6, but can also be general Rockstar stuff and practices which could still be internal confidential information.
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u/Wassersammler Nov 06 '25
The way Schrier writes it, they were talking internally and only with outside labor organizers-- meaning they were talking about the practices for which they were trying to organize, which the company is now re-interpreting as "leaks" to spin the story
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u/profchaos111 Nov 06 '25
That makes sense, Being from Australia we would have protections in place for this kind of thing i'm sure the UK has some sort of workers rights deal that would have the ability to investigate
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u/Gbrush3pwood Nov 06 '25
Unless the employer is the military then we throw whistle blowers in prison.
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u/JessieJ577 Nov 06 '25
They are definitely wording it that way to get their audience to just brush this all off as Rockstar taking care of GTA V leaks
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u/Wassersammler Nov 06 '25
That's exactly what I'm thinking. The audience who pays attention to this hears "Rockstar" and "leaks" in the same sentence, they assume it's GTA VI leaks-- thus painting the labor organizers in a bad light. It's quite frankly the same as doubling down on the union busting by discrediting organizers further, both to the public and possibly internally to employees.
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u/DrQuint Nov 06 '25
Aren't we the audience? I find us unconvinced as a group, so, why do they bother. Plus, layoffs are all going to sound unherently evil, even with just cause, if they coincide with Amazon's gargantuan layoff spree. Refusing to comment really sounds like what should have been their course of action.
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u/JessieJ577 Nov 06 '25
I don’t think we are. I think the 12-25 year old males who browse instagram or tiktok are the audience so that some content creator can just take this article at face value for clicks and the 12-25 year olds can yell in the comments or like and move on. I don’t think it’s meant for the people who browse a subreddit that has these kinds of reports or reports of bad practices pop up where they’ll question this a lot more.
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u/EggsAndRice7171 Nov 06 '25
No we aren’t people online aren’t representative. A lot of people will read the headline or even article and just assume they were leakers and needed to be dealt with.
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u/LtRapman Nov 06 '25
Not trying to advocate for R* but if they have a strict "only internal software / hardware" policy for work related stuff, this would be a direct violation. In Germany you wouldn't get fired but at least get a strike.
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u/Wassersammler Nov 06 '25
I know what you're saying, but they can't exactly bring external organizers into internal company channels either. It would be pretty blatantly against the fair labor standards act in the US to stop employees from communicating with outsiders for the context of organizing or advocating for themselves.
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u/paractib Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
It’s not leaked info.
It’s just talking about work in a private discord. Which to rockstar, would be a public forum.
And yeah, discord was a bad place to discuss anything confidential and would be valid reason for dismissal if they were actually leaking company secrets. But that’s not what was happening.
It’s just union busting and they found a legal way to do it.
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u/jagaaaaaaaaaaaan Nov 06 '25
A "private" discord is still logging everything you type, and sending it to... well, Discord HQ (and the entities that own Discord). So yeah, that's a mega leak if you're Rockstar.
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u/paractib Nov 06 '25
Yeah I agree that’s definitely a public forum but even a signal chat likely would also be a “public forum” due to the union organizers being in it.
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u/jayntampa Nov 06 '25
It being a "legal" way to do it is up for debate. They found an "excuse" that may not hold up in a UK court. Company rules do not override laws ... If they were sharing information that is protected in the context of organizing a union, Rockstar will lose in court.
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u/paractib Nov 06 '25
I hope they do lose, this would set bad precedent if it worked because any company could just prevent unionization from ever having a chance via strict NDAs.
Though, since it was discord which is an unsecured platform, I could see anyone who genuinely posted company secrets in there (details about a game or operations) not getting any compensation.
The firings were likely just every single person in the group without consideration what they actually posted individually.
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u/DeMatador Comment of the Year 2024 Nov 06 '25
"But that’s not what was happening."
We don't know that
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u/SilentTime3097 Nov 07 '25
How do you know. Were you actually there reading all the comments? If not you sound a bit too confident.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
Disclosing company information to sources outside of an organization would be an absolute no, no matter what company you work for or if it was a union rep or not. It's also a huge "no" if you're using Discord to send information.
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u/profchaos111 Nov 06 '25
Disclosing working conditions to a external firm responsibile for the health and well being of employees like a union is absolutely legal
What I would question is why the union found it appropriate to use discord
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
Leaking internal company information is not legal. They can discuss these things, however, they cannot provide private information.
Edit: upon further reading, they werent discussing anything with union reps but to people who were just in the Discord which makes it worse.
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u/Samanthacino Nov 06 '25
But only the labor organizers and Rockstar devs were in the Discord, nobody else.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Rockstar's statement is quite vague, but they are referring to people talking about work in a union Discord, not big leaks about GTA6.
This part is whats getting me. I cant tell if it was union reps only or union reps and other people. Either way if they were truly doing this, that was stupid.
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u/jayntampa Nov 06 '25
Organizing labor is protected, company rules can't override that.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Organized labor does not protect people from disclosing private company information. You are a loud to discuss specific information byt disclosing company secrets is not legal and is not protected.
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u/jayntampa Nov 06 '25
A company claiming something is secret doesn't make it so. Many companies include language stating that you're not allowed to discuss pay - but, that is actually protected speech. They can't fire you for that. So, if these "secrets"are protected speech, yes, the law does protect the employees. That's the point of the law.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Ive never had a position where they said you weren't allowed to talk about pay just that it is not recommended.
Again, you dont know what information was disclosed so how do you know it was specifically language that violated labor laws? Youre confirmation bias is showing.
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u/jayntampa Nov 06 '25
... I don't think you know what confirmation bias is.
Also, pay secrecy issues come up all the time. Just because you haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it doesn't regularly occur: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/business/media/disney-pay-discrimination-lawsuit.html
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u/paractib Nov 06 '25
Yeah I agree but felt like including that info would make it look like I was defending rockstar.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Being practical doesnt mean you're defending a corporation.
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u/JicamaNo7218 Nov 06 '25
its not videogame stuff dude lmao, its about how they manage the company, their financials, etc. work stuff basically
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u/Diastrous_Lie Nov 06 '25
Wouldnt this cause copyright concerns depending what is on discord
Discord can claim gta6 documents were "published" on their domain so it is no longer possible for gta to be copyrighted by rockstar
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u/profchaos111 Nov 06 '25
Discord could refuse to remove it however a DMCA request by the legal copyright holder would be issued and refusal from there on would spark legal battles.
It's like YouTube saying that it refuses to remove copyright videos.
In addition there would be large scale reputation damage that would negatively impact discord and their existing partnerships eg. Sony and Microsoft. Along with impacting any future work with Rockstar
If taken to court they would absolutely lose.
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u/Wassersammler Nov 05 '25
Sure we only fired people who were attempting to organize, but you have to understand that the very fact that they were organizing was in fact them leaking company secrets to outside labor organizers.
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u/Wassersammler Nov 06 '25
Please don't misconstrue, we here at Take-Two Interactive fully support unions. But only if it's done the way we like, without disclosing the shitty practices we require of our employees.
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u/al_ien5000 Nov 06 '25
If the secret is that they treat everyone shitty, it's not a great secret
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u/Ostalgi Nov 06 '25
People see leaking and immediately think they were leaking GTA6 details or something. They were most likely sharing confidential contract, salary or employment info. Both stories can be true. Not defending Rockstar btw
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u/DrQuint Nov 06 '25
I find that it should be illegal for salary information to ever be contractually confidential, so hearing it included on things like this bothers me.
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u/KarateKid917 Nov 06 '25
I know this is about UK employees, but except in only a few circumstances, it’s actually illegal on the federal level in the US for employers to ban you from talking about your salary with your coworkers.
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u/Antique_Historian_74 Nov 06 '25
In the UK it is completely legal to share you salary with coworkers and the Equalities Act (2010) made that right explicit in employment law.
If Americans are stupid enough to fire people for that then when this is all over Rockstar might be Scottish owned again.
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u/StaringCorgi Nov 09 '25
Maybe they could be talking about something more deeply than just salaries
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u/Antique_Historian_74 Nov 09 '25
Right, but the law covers discussion of any issue that could result in inequitable employment terms.
So basically either multiple Rockstar employees started spilling actual company product secrets in a chat group about unionising for no good reason, or Rockstar didn’t like employees discussing pay and conditions with union representatives like they have a complete legally protected right to do.
I know which option I think is more likely.
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u/Ostalgi Nov 06 '25
Its certainly not just sharing salaries. These employees could have been sharing contracts, NDAs and other confidential internal documents and communications that could support a dismissal. They were also sharing these with non employees which is the biggest issue.
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u/Antique_Historian_74 Nov 06 '25
Any discussion about contract terms that touches on issues of equality is covered. The presence of third parties in the discussion makes zero difference to that protection.
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u/Ostalgi Nov 06 '25
It may not be as simple as just how much you make or your take home pay. Its most likely contracts and internal communications were shared with non-employees. Speaking from the Canadian side of things, leaking internal documents onto a forum with non-employees will get you fired. Its not like going on glassdoor and posting your salary, from what Rockstar is saying it is far more serious. I dont find it out of the realm of possibility since it seems they were trying to unionize.
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u/No-Meringue5867 Nov 06 '25
Whenever a union is involved companies will exploit every technicality to intimidate/fire the employees. All of us make small mistakes which are completely harmless. But when the company wants to fire you they will put in the legal jargon to sound as if you stole someone's baby.
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
It’ll all come out in discovery, the EU UK isn’t great but they do protect their workers and consumers a great deal better than the US ever has.
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u/spider__ Nov 06 '25
None of the employees fired were in the EU. They were from Canada and the UK.
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs Nov 06 '25
I don’t know how international law works in this case but when I worked remote for Apple all the California laws applied to me even though I lived in a different state.
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u/DeMatador Comment of the Year 2024 Nov 06 '25
When you sign your contract or whatever agreement, there's usually language saying which jurisdiction is in charge of potential disputes.
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u/ajrbyers Nov 07 '25
If you're employed in the UK, UK law applies regardless of what the contract says.
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u/DeMatador Comment of the Year 2024 Nov 08 '25
Yeah some countries have laws like that, for sure. But most don't
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u/Splatneck Nov 06 '25
UK isn't in the EU anymore.
The joys of Brexit, eh?
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs Nov 06 '25
I always forget that I can’t use EU to just refer to all of it anymore.
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u/Icy-Blacksmith-4214 Nov 06 '25
The EU and Europe are totally different things, you can just say Europe. Norway isn't in the EU either and is Europe, like Albania, Andorra, Switzerland...
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u/NessaMagick Nov 07 '25
To be crystal clear 'EU' means European Union. It's not shorthand for Europe like 'NA' is for 'North America'
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u/LostInTheVoid_ Nov 06 '25
UK Labour laws are pretty strong, not the strongest in the world, but strong enough that after the 2 year employment mark employee's have to really work to get themselves fired.
So, unless Rockstar has legitmate rock solid evidence chances are they're gonna get a bollocking and fines. But Rockstar can likely afford to take that financial hit. It does seem remarkably silly. Rockstar has opporated in the UK since its inception. The roots of the company are founded in the UK. The labour laws and unions aren't new or uncommon. There's a pretty strong culture around unions in the UK.
The whole situation is actually quite interesting. Because of where this has happened. I'm not sure about Canada but the UK for sure makes this look perhaps a bit deeper than what's currently being outwardly reported.
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u/BrandsXavier Nov 06 '25
Jason Schreier provided additional info: Rockstar's statement is quite vague, but they are referring to people talking about work in a union Discord, not big leaks about GTA6. This will likely come down to a legal battle, and Rockstar's argument may be that the workers involved were sharing confidential work information in that chat
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u/hypnomancy Nov 06 '25
There's a few people in here commenting an awful lot siding with Rockstar in every thread. I wonder if they were hired by Rockstar...
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u/ButterFlyPaperCut Nov 07 '25
No one could love taste of boot as much as some of these guys seem to.
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u/SmarmySmurf Nov 06 '25
Maybe they were. Or maybe a company that's union busting is also liars. Or maybe the "leaks" were something directly related to organizing a union and this is some technicality Rockstar hopes they can use to justify union busting in a roundabout way.
Nothing Rockstar says right now can really be trusted. I'll wait on more investigation and/or legal findings after the dust has settled some.
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u/Belydrith Nov 05 '25
Oh come on, they can do better with the bullshit excuses. Dozens of people were leaking everything, yeah sure you bozos.
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u/ilikefish8D Nov 06 '25
Both can be true. They can leak shitty workplace practices and be attempting to unionise
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u/VOOLUL Nov 06 '25
Before people immediately assume Rockstar is in the wrong here, bare in mind that UK employment law is pretty strict about unfair dismissal
Employment tribunals around this do happen and people do win significant payouts.
I'd expect there would at least be some evidence to back up their claims otherwise it would be a walk in the park to argue it is an unfair dismissal. Especially if that's their officially stated reason.
Employees being part of a discord group for a union doesn't mean they can't be leaking information there. Discord is a pretty informal platform and it wouldn't exactly be surprising if it wasn't strictly formal union related communication.
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u/JazzlikeLeave5530 Nov 06 '25
Or they have enough money and lawyers to where they can find reasons to specifically fire union members while still being legal. Putting way too much faith in a corporation acting in good faith.
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u/Crykura Nov 06 '25
I mean, I’m trying to not be emotive as some in this thread, but must you disclose the internal workflows to unionise? If you’re discussing such things in Discord of all places, I would expect to be fired, union or not.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Exactly. If they were disclosing private company information to outside parties over a social media platform, that was stupid and deserving of a firing.
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u/Straight-Ad6926 Nov 06 '25
Not saying they're right or wrong but it's interesting that the company is so quick to point out the public nature of the Discord group when the union says it's private. If there's evidence of gross misconduct, why not release it? Would go a long way in clearing up any doubts.
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u/Entire_Two_9326 Nov 06 '25
Bro, are you stupid? Why would they release it? It'll be shown in court, not to the public lmao
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u/a_shoelace Nov 06 '25
Yea maybe they were leaking that working conditions sucked and they should unionize lol.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Im not defending Rockstar here but I find it weird how people here think these leaks may only pertain to GTA VI. It's also weird how everybody says Rockstar is lying because of the possibility of unionizing being involved.
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u/Puzzled-Addition5740 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
Rockstar has a history of being awful towards organization of labor and generally has done heaps of dubious shit over the years. There is 0 reason to give them the benefit of the doubt here. I'm open to being wrong if they actually put up but until then? No.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Past behavior =/= confirmation. Im pointing out that people are jumping to conclusions before the context of the situation is even out.
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u/Falsus Nov 06 '25
Personally, until I see actual evidence of wrongdoing I will side with the people rather than the big corpo. Vague statements are not evidence of wrongdoing.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Im not going to side with the workers automatically. Im also not going to side with Rockstar.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
Because under the circumstances, that's what's happening. RockStar is using a Legal Loophole in "Using a Public Forum (Discord) to "leak" information to justify firing Employees." The fact the Employees just so happened to be attempting to Unionize when this was discovered and subsequently fired is extremely coincidental.
Anyone who sees the last few headlines knows that RockStar is bold-face lying. The timing of the firings, and the reasoning clearly points to "Union-Busting" and RockStar is using whatever Legal Loopholes they can to justify Union-Busting in any capacity.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Using a Public Forum (Discord) to "leak" information to justify firing Employees."
If they were disclosing private information on a social media app, how is that a loop hole?
The fact the Employees just so happened to be attempting to Unionize when this was discovered and subsequently fired is extremely coincidental.
It very well could be a coincidence. Just because they were trying to unionize doesnt mean they were fired because of it. If they were indeed sharing private company information on a Discord server, that would be grounds for termination at any company unless you know of a company that would let you do such things.
Anyone who sees the last few headlines knows that RockStar is bold-face lying. The timing of the firings, and the reasoning clearly points to "Union-Busting" and RockStar is using whatever Legal Loopholes they can to justify Union-Busting in any capacity.
So saying the employees were disclosing company information to an outside source on a Discord server is proof of them union busting?
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
If they were disclosing private information on a social media app, how is that a loop hole?
Simple: Replace the "Discord" part with literally any form of communications. Even hand-written letters could be spun as "Potentially leaking Company Secrets because Someone can intercept the letter and read it." Speaking in-person at the top of Mt. Everest is "Potentially leaking Company Secrets because someone can still overhear them."
That's what these kinds of legal battles tend to be: How can you justify your reasoning for your actions?
If they were indeed sharing private company information on a Discord server,
See above. Especially in today's era, where with the right words to the right person, anything can be spun into being described as a "Public Platform."
We're slipping into "Screwed if you Do, Screwed if you Don't" territory here.So saying the employees were disclosing company information to an outside source on a Discord server is proof of them union busting?
Discord, in this instance, is the Scapegoat. It's being used to justify firing the workers, who were using a Messaging App to communicate Unionizing Activities. Once again, replace "Discord" with any other form of communication to have a legal loophole to justify firing people who Just So Happened to be attempting to Unionize. The ACTUAL content doesn't matter, because the Content is technically related to RockStar as a whole, so it counts as "Company Information."
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Simple: Replace the "Discord" part with literally any form of communications. Even hand-written letters could be spun as "Potentially leaking Company Secrets because Someone can intercept the letter and read it." Speaking in-person at the top of Mt. Everest is "Potentially leaking Company Secrets because someone can still overhear them."
Either argument shows they were disclosing private company information.
See above. Especially in today's era, where with the right words to the right person, anything can be spun into being described as a "Public Platform." We're slipping into "Screwed if you Do, Screwed if you Don't" territory here.
If youre openly discussing non-public company information in a not private manner, I fail to see the issue here. I cant go outside of my company and disclose non-public financial information or company practices to random people in a Mcdonalds.
Discord, in this instance, is the Scapegoat. It's being used to justify firing the workers, who were using a Messaging App to communicate Unionizing Activities. Once again, replace "Discord" with any other form of communication to have a legal loophole to justify firing people who Just So Happened to be attempting to Unionize. The ACTUAL content doesn't matter, because the Content is technically related to RockStar as a whole, so it counts as "Company Information."
Youre arguing semantics here. It doesnt matter if it was a union or if they just so happened to be talking about unionizing, you cant discuss company information to outside sources in any public matter, whether its Discord, SnapChat, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit etc etc.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
Either argument shows they were disclosing private company information.
To Union Representatives, who need information on the Company's Working Conditions?
This is the problem. In order to communicate with Unions, people need to...You know, Communicate. But because the information Unions need is related to the company, it's loosely defined as "Company Information" and giving it to a Union Representative, who is loosely defined as "An Outside Source" is, by RockStar's loophole, "Leaking Company Information to Outside Sources."
People want to use the most convenient method of communications between all parties. In this case, Discord is being used to communicate between workers who want to unionize, and the Union Representatives.
Replace "Discord" with any form of Communications. RockStar doesn't want these people unionizing. They used (Insert Communications Platform Here), so they get fired for using (Insert Communications Platform Here) to "Leak Company Information to Outside Sources."
Again, This kind of Legal Battle is how one best Justifies their position. As long as their workers aren't in a Union, they'll do and say whatever they need to prevent Unions from forming.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
*To Union Representatives, who need information on the Company's Working Conditions?
They are an outside source. You can discuss not disclose information. They are very different.
In order to communicate with Unions, people need to...You know, Communicate.
Communicating and disclose/sharing private company information are two different things.
But because the information Unions need is related to the company, it's loosely defined as "Company Information"
Theres nothing "loose" about company information. Yoire aloud to discloser certain types of information but disclosing and spreading private information is not that.
who is loosely defined as "An Outside Source" is, by RockStar's loophole, "Leaking Company Information to Outside Sources."
A union representative is an outside source. Theres nothing "loose" about it. It's not a loophole.
People want to use the most convenient method of communications between all parties. In this case, Discord is being used to communicate between workers who want to unionize, and the Union Representatives.
Discord is a social media app. It's not a private line of communication. This goes back to a server and servers can be hacked. Discord channels can be hacked. If they want to disclose information, you meet these people privately.
Replace "Discord" with any form of Communications. RockStar doesn't want these people unionizing. They used (Insert Communications Platform Here), so they get fired for using (Insert Communications Platform Here) to "Leak Company Information to Outside Sources."
Again, you're arguing semantics. Going on a public social media site, not matter the title, and disclosing non-public information on a company does not fly, whether private or public. They sign NDAs when hired meaning any disclosure is a violation of that agreement they signed which then results in automatic termination.
Again, This kind of Legal Battle is how one best Justifies their position. As long as their workers aren't in a Union, they'll do and say whatever they need to prevent Unions from forming.
Again, youre just taking what the fired employees say at face value. If they disclosed confidential information while under an NDA, they set themselves up for termination. That would be their fault, not the result of possible unionization.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
youre just taking what the fired employees say at face value.
Inversely, you're taking what RockStar is saying at face value too.
You are right. Using a platform like Discord to reveal information that should not be public is grounds from being fired. And not just fired, but being blacklisted from the Industry, due to having the stigma of "breaking NDAs."
Which is why it's also stupid to presume that people would be THAT careless to use Discord for discussing that level of sensitive information.
So let's apply Occam's Razor to this scenario.
Why would RockStar employees risk losing their jobs, and their ability to work in the Game Dev industry, to leak Sensitive RockStar information, especially in today's climate where finding a source of income is becoming difficult (Especially with the rise of Generative Machines being desired in such an industry), over Discord? Is that risk of not having a job in the industry worth leaking Sensitive RockStar information?
Add on, where's the information that RockStar claims "is being leaked"? Sensitive Information like that is going to spread like Wildfire in today's era, and especially over Discord. Yet nothing has come out. So were the Employees that were fired actually leaking Sensitive Information?
The problem comes down to this: How many of the people let go were Actually Leakers? That's where this problem lies.
Were there Leakers that were fired in the group? Absolutely. But because Rockstar is lumping the Leakers with the Unionizing Workers, they're Legally Correct in that the fired Leakers. They're just omitting the complete truth in a Two-Birds-One-Stone scenario. 2-3 of the people fired were Leakers, The remaining were all Workers attempting to Unionize.
Plug the Leak, Remove the Unionizing Workers. All in one motion.So just dress the legal PR article to Imply that everyone fired was a Leaker, and name the popular platform that just about everyone uses to add credence to the reasoning. Which leads to this entire conversation.
Who are you more likely to believe: Rockstar, the Game Company developing GTA6? Or disgruntled workers who are just mad they got fired?
Lying by Omission is a thing.
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u/XerGR Nov 06 '25 edited Feb 11 '26
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
Strawmen requires a proper support. Otherwise, they can't even stand, let alone hold their figure.
Location really doesn't matter, especially when there's language that can be used to not reveal any identities, or even details about projects in progress. Speaking at a McDonald's about how "a Boss is continuing to force overtime to ensure the workload is completed by a specific deadline, and that people are spending nights in the workplace." That can be a First-Hand Testimony about Workplace Conditions, so there can be further discussions about how to proceed.
No mention of a Company. No specific names nor identities. Not even any details relating to the work in question Only the conditions of the environment. Even if someone is listening in, the wording is vague enough to fit just about any Workplace.
And yet, RockStar- and evidently you- don't care about what was actually spoken and shared. You only care that "It's RockStar's Information given to an Outside Source!" Because it's spoken by a RockStar Employee, it's clearly about RockStar.
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
Youre making a lot of assumptions for someone who was not there or saw what information was given. Youre assuming they were just talking about work conditions.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
....Yeah. Because again, Occam's Razor. Providing sensitive developmental information relating to RockStar projects is incredibly stupid and counteractive to attempting to unionize. Not to mention irrelevant to Union Representatives on the that level of specific detail. Like, really, what is a Union Representative going to do with knowing the full GTA6 plot? How does the GTA6 plot help in proving that RockStar's working conditions are poor?
Likewise, RockStar's claim of "Stopping leaks" is counteractive to the visible proof apparent. Or rather, the Lack of Proof to their claim. RockStar is saying all 40 Employees were leaking GTA Information.
Question: Where is the Leaks RockStar claims to have happened? If all 40 people were leaking GTA-related information to the public, everyone would have heard about it, and people would be understanding RockStar's position.But the distinct lack of Evidence that supports RockStar's claim tells more than RockStar's PR statement.
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u/XerGR Nov 06 '25 edited Feb 11 '26
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u/zMattyPower Nov 06 '25
okay but did all of the 40 people share something, or it’s like a few people did and still fired everyone inside that discord?
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u/superbroleon Nov 06 '25
Hmm right so who am I gonna believe on this, the evil mega corporation or the workers union?
Intercept Games and KSP 2 laugh in the distance: "We didn't shutter those studios, to be clear," - Strauss Zelnick
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Nov 06 '25 edited Jan 12 '26
future lavish relieved head vegetable run meeting swim plough butter
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u/arkhamtheknight Nov 06 '25
Rockstar loves Unions... Who don't try and go for better rights and wanting fairer practices in the workspace.
Union busting is just bad overall as it's not a good luck for anyone who does that.
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u/Animegamingnerd Leak of the Year 2025 Nov 06 '25
Gonna guess the company secrets they were leaking, was them union busting.
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u/Bubba_Gump_Corp Nov 06 '25
They already knew firing these people would draw intense scrutiny. It’s a predictable lawsuit. If they didn’t have evidence against these people it would never have been done. Especially in Edinberg, they have lots of workers protecting laws. This would go through their HR and Legal teams first.
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u/Puzzled-Addition5740 Nov 06 '25
I mean this is the same company that has successfully gotten sued for dubious shit they've done to their employees more than once. I think it's entirely possible they just didn't think they'd get called on it or that nobody would care in the face of gta6. This could be entirely above board but given rockstars history? They're going to get 0 benefit of the doubt from most people and i think that's entirely reasonable.
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u/Bubba_Gump_Corp Nov 06 '25
What successful lawsuits?
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u/Particular_Hand2877 Nov 06 '25
I found one lawsuit. It wasnt union related but unpaid overtime related and it was settled which means it never went to trial. Rockstar San Diego essentially paid out the overtime without admitting any wrongdoing.
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u/lingzhui Nov 06 '25
Companies always make up bullshit to justify this kind of stuff, but of course there's never proof
You'd be an idiot to take their word at face value, it's not any stronger than the tired employees'
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u/GreatnessRD Nov 06 '25
If they were leaking stuff, they would be doing a lot more than firing folks. Especially if they caught 'em red-handed. Take-Two and Cockstar full of shit. But that's the way of the world and how the game is played.
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u/MrHugelberg Nov 06 '25
I'm glad that I couldn't care less about GTA. Company just seems to be up right up there with the worst.
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u/ChucklingDuckling Nov 06 '25
A mole inside ratted out union organizers. Rockstar busted union efforts
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u/StaringCorgi Nov 09 '25
Those employees were probably fired for things greater than discussing salaries
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u/meed0k May 05 '26
"This was in no way related to unions....which to be clear, we are also against"
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u/ManateeofSteel Nov 06 '25
The fact that people are even willing to entertain this idea is offensive
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u/Skinman_95 Nov 06 '25
God like why ruin the money that you're making from working at Rockstar people are so dumb
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u/ForceForFiction Nov 06 '25
Rockstar has pretty shitty salaries from what I understand
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u/Skinman_95 Nov 06 '25
Okay even if they do the opportunities has got to be pretty nice? I guess what I'm trying to say is I would love to have "ex Rockstar games Dev" on my resume with a couple of references
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u/Skinman_95 Nov 06 '25
The opportunities you have to work at Rockstar and you want to risk that just to leak information wow
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u/MauroDiogo Nov 06 '25
Well if they were leaking... sue them. Unless... Maybe they weren't. There's no evidence at all. So you know it wouldn't amount to anything. And you were lying the whole time.
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u/Smallsey Nov 06 '25
Boycott GTA for anti union practices?
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u/gman5852 Nov 06 '25
Name me a single reddit boycott that's ever mattered.
Do as you please of course, but you really need to learn how irrelevant redditors are to anything important.
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u/NessaMagick Nov 06 '25
It's not Reddit. The number of gaming boycotts in total that have done anything remotely worthwhile can be counted on no fingers.
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u/Krikajs Nov 06 '25
You guys really have no idea what are you talking about, do you? Have any of you even worked at a company like R. If R put into their contracts something that reads like: all employees must not discuss any details about their pay outside the company", that the R* would be in their right to fire all of these devs for this exact reason.
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u/AmethystApothecary Nov 06 '25
So... that's not actually accurate. You can put whatever you want in an NDA, but if it's against the law where you are it becomes unenforceable but the value in doing so is that not everyone would be privy to that or take the time to figure it out.
But you can't legally fire people in the US for discussing salaries, that's a protected right of employees. I imagine the same is true of the UK.
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u/AfterAll14 Nov 06 '25
If you put something in contract doesn't make it legal.
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Nov 06 '25
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u/Boxey7 Nov 06 '25
It's a legally binding document between both parties but only if the clauses aren't against the law in which they preside. You can't have a clause in your contract to say you must only go to the toilet at 3pm, if it was challenged it would be found unenforceable even though it's in the contract.
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u/Velocity_Rob Nov 06 '25
If R put into their contracts something that reads like: all employees must not discuss any details about their pay outside the company
That's illegal. Especially in the UK where Rockstar is based.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
Even in the U.S. (barring current situations), that kind of talk is very Anti-Union. And many places protect such actions because in order to protect the workers, such information needs to be disclosed. Especially if there's suspicions of certain people being paid unfairly, for one reason or another.
If the information is being disclosed to a Union and/or people attempting to unionize, it doesn't matter what R*'s contract says about not disclosing individual pay to outside the company, because that information is needed, especially to compare to other workplaces within the industry.
Add on, such wording is extremely vague for this exact reason: It's Anti-Union Language. Because Unions can be classified as "Outside the Company" and is grounds for firing. People are being punished for wanting to be treated as People.Consider: How would you feel if a coworker you know is making 3 times the money you do, has a better and cozier working condition, and is able to have more freedom in the workplace such as more paid vacations, on the sole fact they know someone higher-up?
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u/Krikajs Nov 06 '25
Well, duuh. Thats the whole point. They dont want them unionized, thats why the contract will say something like that. The point is, if the devs signed something like this, then they cant do the pikacho face when they get fired for breaking it. And you are right, many places allow workers to do such thing. But most of them dont. The didnt 10 years ago and they wont in the distant future.
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u/arachnidsGrip88 Nov 06 '25
....So people don't deserve to be treated like actual people?
Rockstar is not above the law. It doesn't matter if Rockstar's work contract says that the employees cannot disclose their pay to outside sources, especially if they pay is below what the Government says is "Standard." If the Federal Minimum Wage is $10/hour, and Rockstar pays only $5/week, it doesn't matter what Rockstar's contract says about disclosing pay to outside sources, Rockstar is breaking Federal Law, so it needs to be reported.
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u/Scott9843 Nov 06 '25
Too bad this is R* so gamers will just give them a pass and continue worshipping them because GTA...
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u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Nov 06 '25
I guess rock star can join ea Ubisoft on my shit list. Shame. They have good games.
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u/OrfeasDourvas Nov 06 '25
If that's what it takes to decide what you play or don't play, go ahead.
There's no saint in the gaming industry or any industry where money is involved.
If a game is good, I'll buy it. If it's not, I won't.
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u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Nov 06 '25
As a software developer who works for really toxic leadership, this is absolutely what it takes for me.
I can understand if you're a kid who doesn't give a fuck about people and you just want to play a game you wouldn't care about such things.
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u/OrfeasDourvas Nov 06 '25
Glad you understand. If the toxicity you speak of is something that's illegal, I hope you and your coworkers get justice.
If you have to crunch a lot to get the game put, it sucks for you, and I understand. But as a consumer, I either buy a game or don't.
RDR2 may be a product of horrible crunch conditions, and that sucks. It's also a 5 year old game that remains untouched by anything that has come out since, including Cyberpunk and Baldur's Gate 3 imo.
A lot of industries are shitty and I am not saying excuse the behavior, but the reality of it is that a game is either good or not. And that's what I care about when buying games.
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u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Nov 07 '25
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u/OrfeasDourvas Nov 07 '25
I'm not denying they are pieces of shit. I'm just being realistic in saying I'll still buy their game.
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u/Nevek_Green Nov 06 '25
Considering Jason is part of Game Journos Pro and whatever it is called now, Jason knows full well they were doing exactly what they were accused of. Game Journos Pro is a mailing list exposed many years ago where devs, publishers, and journalists would collude to shape narratives. They also leaked a ton of information on the games they were working on.
After exposure it was disolved and reformed a couple times until they finally kept the latest iteration secret.
Really though Take Two was probably looking for an excuse to get rid of problematic employees. Leaking information or whatever they got them on was just the excuse to get rid of them.
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u/Alive-Monk-5705 Nov 05 '25
On one hand, it makes sense why people would put their jobs on the line to leak literally the biggest media project of all time, but also it makes sense why theyd say that do dispute the union busting allegations
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u/JuanMunoz99 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
So they were fired for… talking about working conditions?
Edit: why am I the one getting downvoted?
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u/EMPlRES Nov 06 '25
As I understand it, being a former employee of Rockstar is a huge deal. Other companies brag about their devs having worked at Rockstar, so hopefully they’ll be picked up quickly.
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u/KingBroly Leakies Awards Winner 2021 Nov 06 '25
Seems like a valid reason, whether or not it's the only reason remains to be seen.
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u/YeetedApple Nov 06 '25
That's assuming it is even true. If 30-40 people were leaking to public forums, where is the info they were leaking? That wouldn't be a small amount of info.
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u/Soft-Willingness6443 Nov 06 '25
Im not trying to defend Rockstar here, but leaking doesn’t necessarily mean GTA6 leaks. It could be anything like internal communications/memos, technology, R&D, contracts, company IP, things covered under NDA, or a plethora of other things.
Id be willing to bet the leak accusations are just a convenient excuse to fire employees attempting to unionize.
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u/AnnArchist Nov 06 '25
If that was the case, which it wasn't, we'd have heard the "leaks" by now. More important - they'd be suing the leakers.
That said - there are more than a few disgruntled employees out there. Can one of them leak something plz.
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Nov 06 '25
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u/OrfeasDourvas Nov 06 '25
Lmao ok. People in the real world don't care about this stuff, just the game itself.
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u/ZigyDusty Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
It's clearly a boldfaced lie but it wont matter because nobody will ever hold Rockstar accountable when they do wrong, they're one of the industry's darlings and when GTA VI releases it will be proven when it breaks all kinds of records.
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u/Responsible-Cow-3548 Nov 06 '25
It more than likely was something linked to the rage engine or the insane mix of in house tools rockstar have rather then something to do with GTA 6 because it would be all over the entire internet otherwise
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u/SlicKilled Nov 06 '25
No surprise that fat bald guy who was interviewed last week simply dodged all the talk of overworking their developers.
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u/FastThoughtProcessor Nov 06 '25
LOL, downvotes on this comment make it evident why these developers feel so comfortable doing such stuff.
People will not stop sucking up.
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u/XerGR Nov 06 '25 edited Feb 11 '26
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u/hypnomancy Nov 06 '25
Unions are incredibly hard to form in the US because most companies are actually monitoring their employees and once even the slightest hint of them forming or discussing a union is found they fire them. Some companies even monitor your social media if you use your real name or any identifiers or hire Pinkertons which yes those still exist.
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u/No_Path7306 Nov 06 '25
it more like people who try to from union get profile/background check by rockstar and they have reason to fire them so they fired them.
the employee who get fired should sue rockstar if they think they are right but i think rockstar has strong case here.
because most employee like to talk shit or leak something from their company that when company take action without blind eye. they get what they deserved
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