Court filings from the battle between GTA 6 studio Rockstar and fired workers have revealed how Rockstar accessed a Discord server set up by union organisers.
  • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    126·
    3 days ago

    Rockstar management did not have direct access to the server prior to October 2025, but the former workers and their legal team allege that “from at least February 2024, [Rockstar HR director] Charlie Kinloch had been receiving information from a junior employee on trade union activity inside the Server”. They claim that “over 21 months, at least 26 meetings or communications took place between Mr Kinloch and [the junior employee] concerning the Server, roughly half of them initiated by Mr Kinloch himself”. Related

    The “mole” is said to have “supplied screenshots and recordings, reported union meetings, training sessions and union membership numbers, and identified individual union activists”. On 7th October 2025, they allegedly informed Kinlock that the union were 12 members away from the statutory threshold for recognition - 10% of the workforce. The union eventually reached this milestone on 18th October, with Kinloch learning of this on 20th October, the fired workers claim. At some point in this period, they go on, Rockstar management got hold of logins for the server, with Rockstar’s vice president of information security Abid Ansari eventually signing in to download “the contents of the Announcements and General channels”. Rockstar began firing members of the Discord at the end of the month.

    Just classic union busting. Srsly. Don’t fucking give Rockstar money now of all times. Sales number is the only language they speak. If you support unions, at least fucking wait on GTA 6. Wait until workers get rehired, unions enancted, Rockstar stops breaking employment laws.

    If waiting too much of a bother, if you want the game too much, then go ahead and cross the picket line. Know it’s full of fired workers with families to support, some losing their homes, some losing the country as work visas getting revoked/being deported, all becoming unhirable in the industry since their last reference is claiming misconduct. But if none of that is a problem, then go ahead and be a scab.

  • Guitar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    73·
    3 days ago

    Rockstar is a disgusting company. I wish everyone would see them for the filth they are rather than blindly guzzling GTA VI hype. More than ever in their history, their game deserves to fail. But unfortunately, too many people will hold their nose and ensure it’s a giant success.

    • theparadox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      307·
      3 days ago

      Not that I personally give a fuck about GTA generally, but it does make me upset that one of the few methods we have to “police” these companies as consumers is to not buy the game. To take a massive project that consumed however many years of work by however many developers and artists just and make it a commercial failure just to… stick it to their bosses? It’s like refusing to buy a musician’s CD because you don’t like the record company they made a deal with. Nobody gets to enjoy the music and the musician makes less money. This system sucks.

    • dudeface@lemmy.worldEnglish
      134·
      3 days ago

      They won their initial case, the other tribunals will be done before launch

      Not sure where your hate is coming from but it doesn’t seem anyone was fired unfairly

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      16·
      3 days ago

      How’s opsec going to help against a rat anyway? If an insider gives out information, you’re toast anyway, unless you have some kind of a cell network going on like some terrorist organizations and that’s, uh, a bit too much for organizing an union

      • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.netEnglish
        9·
        3 days ago

        OpSec includes vetting people and structuring your organization in a way that frustrates a rat’s ability to gain access to sensitive information.

        Having a structured internal network for the union isn’t “a bit much”, it’s a basic necessity to proper organization.

        • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          92·
          3 days ago

          And yet - if the people organizing are completely anonymous and you can’t even know for sure they’re your coworkers, would you trust them?

          • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.netEnglish
            6·
            3 days ago

            If you’re allowing anonymous people into your private server you have failed in your OpSec.

            The solution to this is to not allow anonymous people into a private server used for organizing. You vet them first before giving access. Basic OpSec 101.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        3 days ago

        Like saying how is a fire extinguisher going to help a house fire.

        Point is, good opsec prevents it from becoming a house fire.

    • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      I don’t see how it’s some advanced technical process. It all comes down to the quandary of who to trust. If you don’t trust enough people, you don’t grow the movement. In this case, all it took was one figure to whom they overextended how much trust he was worth.

      • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        And that means there was a failure of OpSec in that it allowed someone untrustworthy access to sensitive information.

        A key part of OpSec is figuring out who to trust and how much of it they are extended.

  • bigmamoth@lemmy.worldEnglish
    212·
    2 days ago

    I want rockstar to miserably fail gta6 Not for union busting Cause rockstar make wokke trash So yeah boycott that shit