Rockstar Games confirmed it terminated a group of employees after concluding they shared confidential company information on Discord. The company said the workers “distributed and discussed confidential information in a public forum” and violated internal security policies. Rockstar did not specify how many employees were fired, what roles they held, or what information was allegedly shared.
The fired workers are represented by the IWGB Game Workers union in the UK. The union disputes Rockstar’s characterization entirely. According to the union, all affected employees were part of a private organizing channel on Discord. The only non-employees in the chat were external labor organizers invited to advise workers on their rights.
The union says the workers were discussing workplace issues like pay, hours, and working conditions. These conversations are protected under UK labor law when conducted with union representatives.
The union insists no game details or trade secrets were leaked. Rockstar has not provided specifics about the confidential information it says was shared. No public leak of GTA VI content has been tied to these firings.
The company frames the issue as a security and confidentiality breach. The union frames it as retaliation against protected organizing activity.
This dispute comes as Rockstar maintains heightened security after a major 2022 hack. An 18-year-old breached the company’s systems and posted early GTA VI footage online. UK courts later imposed an indefinite hospital order on the hacker. That incident pushed Rockstar to tighten its security measures across all operations.
In early 2024, Rockstar mandated that all staff return to the office five days a week. The company cited security and collaboration as reasons for the policy. The IWGB Game Workers union publicly criticized the mandate at the time, calling it unsafe and unnecessary.
UK employment law protects workers’ rights to organize and discuss working conditions with union representatives. Non-disclosure agreements cannot override these statutory labor rights. However, employees can still face discipline for sharing genuine trade secrets or sensitive business information outside protected contexts.
The key legal question is whether the Discord conversations qualify as protected organizing activity or as unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. If the workers contest their dismissals, the case could move to a UK Employment Tribunal. No tribunal filing has been reported yet.
Discord is widely used in gaming communities but is not typically approved for confidential workplace communications at large companies. Security policies at major studios generally prohibit sharing work materials on non-enterprise platforms. Whether a Discord channel counts as “public” depends on company policy and legal interpretation.
What happens next: GTA VI remains one of the most anticipated games in development. The first trailer dropped in December 2023 with a 2025 launch window for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive is particularly sensitive to leaks during the final stretch before launch.
