Rockstar’s Slack/Discord controversy in late 2025 involved the layoff of 34 employees for “gross misconduct.” Rockstar stated that employees created an invite-only Discord server, where, allegedly, the employees leaked confidential information about GTA VI. The employees then fought back, claiming they were fired for discussing Slack policy changes in the server. Affected employees were a part of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB).
Today, Bloomberg reports that a UK judge has not found a correlation between the layoffs and the case presented by these workers. Here’s a quote taken from the hearing given by Judge Frances Eccless:
“In all the circumstances, the tribunal was unable to conclude that it appears likely that the tribunal will find that the principal reason for the claimants’ dismissal was their membership of the IWGB.”
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An Easy Hearing For Rockstar
With six European game unions forming a cross-border alliance, you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that the workers had a strong case. However, the judge further adds that a handful of the affected workers were not IWGB members, dismissing the correlation with union membership. Eccles also states that certain individuals who supported the union or were part of it were not dismissed.
This is very much a “he said, she said” type of situation over here. Interestingly, the judge themself confirm that some of the affected staff barely had any involvement in the Discord server. So, who/what are we really to believe here? The judge goes as far as to agree that the affected were fired with very little or no notice. Despite this, the employees are not getting any interim relief.
This means that while waiting for the full hearing, workers will not receive any compensation from Rockstar and will not be reinstated to the payroll. While talking with IGN, a Rockstar representative said the following:
“We welcome the decision, which is consistent with Rockstar’s position throughout…We regret that we were put in a position where dismissals were necessary, but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing.”
Rockstar continues to insist that these are not union-busting efforts. Of course, the IWGB was not pleased with the hearing. Here’s their statement on the current events:
“We are emerging from this hearing, having now had a glimpse of Rockstar’s flimsy grounds for defence, feeling bolstered in our claims that these firings were not just deeply unjust but also plainly unlawful.”
While interesting, we find this story quite uncomfortable for the people who actually make our beloved games. You can’t help root for the underdog here, but so far, it’s not going well.
