Messages that reportedly led to GTA Studios firing union workers revealed

Several Union Discord messages from fired GTA Studios employees were recently revealed by People Make Games YouTube channel. These messages reveal more information about how and why Rockstar fired 34 employees, and what they meant by "gross misconduct".

On November 24, 2025, People Make Games released a long video revealing various messages that were sent by now-fired Rockstar workers who were also part of a British Trade union Discord server. In this Discord server, employees talked about their rights and discussed how companies could make a better working environment.

The video then explained how, at the beginning of October, Rockstar Games made changes to their Stack Policy. Stack is a platform where employees professionally communicate with one another.

In this policy change, the company decided to remove the miscellaneous chat tab where workers posted non-work-related things like pictures of their pets, other games they play, memes, etc. The employees reacted negatively towards the removal of the miscellaneous chat tab on the union's Discord server.

Then, another Stack Policy change was made where Rockstar disallowed their employees from using certain emojis in their Slack statuses. One of them was the seedling emoji, which was a symbol for supporting fired union game developers.

According to People Make Games, details from one of these Slack Policy change emails from Rockstar were sent to the union Discord channel for other Rockstar employees to read. Though the email was sent to everyone, it was sent after 5 pm, because of which most workers were unable to read it since Rockstar does not allow access to work emails after work hours and outside the office.

After the contents of the email were shared and discussed on Discord, Rockstar found out about it and launched an investigation. After reading all the messages, the company immediately decided to fire the employees who shared the Slack Policy details on the union Discord server.

IWGB president speaks about fired GTA Studios workers' rights after Discord messages revealed

In the same video, People Make Games talked to IWGB's president, Alex Marshall, about the Discord messages and his views on the matter. IWGB has been backing fired GTA developers, helping them build a case against Rockstar. Marshall himself has come out several times and spoken against the company, accusing them harshly of union busting.

Here's what he had to say about Slack Policies being shared on the union Discord:

"I think it is absolutely normal for people to be discussing their material conditions, whether that's bonuses, whether that's policies, whether that's anything like that. That's completely normal for staff to be doing that." [Timestamp: 11:46]

IWGB president Alex Marshall speaking with People Make Games (Image via YouTube/People Make Games)

He adds that by firing these employees who discussed policies on the union Discord server, Rockstar is trying to control the workers by fear and not let them communicate in any way possible.

"And for an employer to respond in a way that kind of comes down so hard on that shows not only that they are governing by lack of transparency, but they are also trying to govern by fear. They feel completely threatened by the idea of workers, talking to each other, and that's why they have taken this act to try and destroy the union."

As of now, the IWGB has issued two legal claims against Rockstar Games for firing 34 employees. The union organization is essentially pushing for an interim relief, which, if successful in court, the employees could either be reinstated in Rockstar, or the company would need to pay these workers until the tribunal hearing in the future.

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Edited by Akshat Kabra